Germany’s top Jewish leader, Dieter Graumann, met the resignation of German President Christian Wulff with “respect, appreciation and regret.”
Wulff, 52, who recently was awarded the Jewish community’s top prize, announced his resignation Feb. 17 amid a growing scandal involving possible financial improprieties and attempts to hush up the media.
Graumann, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a statement that Germany’s Jewish community was especially grateful to Wulff for his “special attention and friendship,” for “consistently defending the rights of religious minorities, and his special sensitivity toward the darkest chapter of German history.”
In November, the Central Council presented Wulff with its highest annual honor, the Leo Baeck Prize.
The German presidency is a symbolic office whose holder is considered to represent the country’s moral conscience. — jta