The interim director of the Potsdam Rabbinical Seminary Abraham-Geiger-College, Gabriele Thöne, has promised a comprehensive clarification of the allegations of sexual assault.
Her door is open to students and those who may be affected in order to obtain full clarification, said the lawyer and former Berlin Secretary of State for Finance on Wednesday in Potsdam.
Background are allegations of abuse of power and sexual harassment by employees of the only liberal rabbi training center in Germany.
Thöne, who has taken over the functions of the previous Rector Walter Homolka for a week and a half, spoke of possibly four known attacks.
However, she is only at the beginning of her work.
Homolka let his offices rest after the allegations became known.
Thöne wants to secure the future of the rabbinical training center.
At the same time, new institutional structures should also be considered, she said.
She did not want to speculate about the future of Homolka.
She expects a final report from the commission of inquiry in August.
At the center of the allegations of sexual harassment is a long-time employee of the training center at the University of Potsdam.
In an open letter, students at the college demanded that the entire management team of the rabbinical seminar be replaced.
They complain about a “toxic environment” and abuse of power.
According to the communications agency commissioned by the Geiger College, some of the signatories have now distanced themselves from the letter.
In addition, former graduates of the Jewish training center also spoke on Wednesday.
You write that the Abraham Geiger College is "very close to everyone's heart and, moreover, it is indispensable for the preservation and future of liberal Judaism in Germany, Europe and the successor states of the Soviet Union."