After a complaint from the Berlin Court of Auditors: Kai Wegner dismisses Senator for Culture Sarah Wedl-Wilson

As State Secretary for Culture and since 2025 as Senator, Wedl-Wilson has succeeded in promoting and strengthening the quality of Berlin’s art and culture, even in challenging times, said Wegner. And she did everything she could to strengthen social cohesion in the city and at the same time combat anti-Semitism.

Wedl-Wilson had asked for her release that morning. She said this morning that she was taking this step out of responsibility towards the office, towards the city and towards the citizens. “But I am also doing it primarily to prevent damage to the important fight against increasing anti-Semitism in Berlin,” she explained.

The politician thanked Wegner for the trust he had placed in her. “As a non-party British woman, it is anything but natural to be able to hold and shape this office. The past three years have been a very challenging and at the same time very fulfilling time for me,” said Wedl-Wilson. She is proud that important impulses were given during that time.

On Thursday it became known that the Berlin State Audit Office considers the funding process carried out by the cultural administration for funding for projects against anti-Semitism to be “evidently unlawful” and arbitrary. This is what it says in the inspection report from the control authority on the allocation of funding. The cultural administration violated the state budget regulations and other rules when allocating 2.6 million euros for 13 projects. The auditors explained that the funding notices should not have been issued.

On Thursday morning, the Senator for Culture in the House of Representatives referred to the question of the consequences of the audit report to her summons to the parliamentary investigative committee that is dealing with the funding affair.

The pressure on her and the governing mayor had finally become too great. However, Wegner had already marked the red line in a Tagesspiegel interview in November. Regarding the audit of the events by the Court of Auditors, he said: “If formal errors have been made, consequences must be drawn from them.”

On Thursday evening, there was an increasing number of voices in the ranks of the coalition factions – including within the CDU – saying that Wedl-Wilson would hardly be able to stay in office. According to Tagesspiegel information, Wegner spoke for a long time with Wedl-Wilson in his office in the House of Representatives. Wegner is said to have made it clear to her that stepping down from office was inevitable. Wedl-Wilson is said to have later appeared visibly dejected.

Wedl-Wilson’s predecessor also resigned

It is the second time that Wegner has had to look for a new senator for the cultural administration. Wedl-Wilson became State Secretary for Culture with the change of government in 2023. In 2025 she was promoted after the resignation of the then Senator for Culture Joe Chialo (CDU). Chialo justified his move with massive criticism of the far-reaching budget cuts in the cultural sector.

Under pressure from the CDU parliamentary group, Wedl-Wilson then pushed through the funding of projects against anti-Semitism against all the rules. At the beginning of March, the Tagesspiegel exclusively evaluated the chat between Wedl-Wilson and the CDU budget expert Christian Goiny. In it, Wedl-Wilson wrote that he did not want to adhere to the requirements of the state budget regulations for the funding. Regarding a central funding requirement, she wrote: “But we can ignore it.”

Will State Secretary Cerstin Richter-Kotowski now take over?

What is piquant, however, is the way he deals with the previous State Secretary for Social Cohesion, Oliver Friederici (CDU). He was fired by Wedl-Wilson on Tuesday. At that time, the cultural administration already knew the draft of the audit report. Regarding Friederici’s dismissal, Weld-Wilson said on Tuesday that she wanted to quickly implement the ACA’s recommendations. The aim is to thoroughly review and re-implement processes and procedures in order to “operate in a stable, legally compliant manner”.

According to the files relating to the funding affair, it was Friederici who, within the administration, had repeatedly urged that the millions against hatred of Jews be allocated in accordance with the rules. Friederici repeatedly warned against handing out the funds without examining the content of the applications. Wedl-Wilson personally ignored this under pressure from the CDU parliamentary group. According to Tagesspiegel information, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office is therefore checking whether there is initial suspicion of a possible crime. Infidelity is an option.

It initially remained unclear on Friday whether the senatorial position would be filled for the remainder of the legislature until the House of Representatives elections in September. The solution being discussed is that State Secretary Cerstin Richter-Kotowski (CDU) will take over the task until then. According to reports, Richter-Kotowski has so far refused to lead the cultural administration on an interim basis.

Richter-Kotowski became State Secretary in Cultural Administration in 2025. She was a member of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office for almost 20 years: first as a city councilor for education, culture and community services, then from 2016 to 2021 as the first female district mayor.

Top candidates from the Greens, SPD and Left criticize Kai Wegner

The top candidate of the Berlin Greens, Werner Graf, sees Wegner as responsible for the funding affair. He wanted to draw conclusions, but now the Senator for Culture is getting ahead of him, said the Green parliamentary group leader.

“Even after the state auditor’s office announced that it was evidently illegal in its Senate, the government itself is not taking action,” said Graf. Wegner has been apathetic about the CDU funding affair for months and has watched the goings-on doing nothing.

In addition, the Berlin CDU has lost its compass for law and order and no longer seems to feel committed to the common good and urban society. “This caused immeasurable damage not only to the fight against anti-Semitism, but also to trust in democratic institutions as a whole,” said the Green politician.

Weger also took a look at SPD top candidate Steffen Krach. “As governing mayor and CDU party leader, Kai Wegner is responsible for ensuring that the funding affair continues to be fully clarified, and this also includes the question of why he did not intervene for months to stop the self-service mentality in his group and the illegal actions,” said Krach.

Elif Eralp, the left’s leading candidate, said that the Court of Auditors’ report was “a resounding slap in the face for Wegner, who loudly announced clarification and consequences, but instead ducked away.” It is unbelievable that Wegner claimed in the House of Representatives on Thursday that he had not been aware of the report. “After all, the draft report was available to the Senate in advance and was also the basis for the dismissal of State Secretary Friederici,” said Eralp.

The left-wing politician also called for further consequences. The actions of CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner and budget politician Christian Goiny in the funding affair are “unacceptable” and have caused serious damage to the fight against anti-Semitism. “It cannot be that the CDU parliamentary group leader Stettner and his MP colleague Goiny, the two alleged masterminds of the affair, are spared,” said Eralp. “They have put considerable pressure on the senator and submitted their desired funding lists. I expect consequences here too, and Wegner, as party leader of the CDU, is also responsible for this.”