Dr.h.c. Katharina von Schnurbein (born 1973) is a German civil servant who has served as the European Commission's coordinator on "combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life" since 2015. She is the first person to hold this role, which reports to Vice-President of the European CommissionMargaritis Schinas under his portfolio of European Commissioner for Promoting our European Way of Life.
Von Schnurbein was born in the German state of Bavaria in 1973. Von Schnurbein is not Jewish.[1] According to The Times of Israel, von Schnurbein grew up in Bavaria in a pro-Israel and pro-Jewish household.[2]
Von Schnurbein completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science and Slavonic Studies at Charles University in Prague and at the University of Bonn. She earned a master's degree in Slavonic Studies from Oxford University in 1997 and a master's degree in European Studies from the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn in 1999.[3]
Von Schnurbein is married and has four children.[1]
Professional career
After her studies, von Schnurbein worked for a management consulting firm. From 2000 to 2002, she worked for the chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Bundestag in Berlin.[3]
In October 2015, the EC created the new Antisemitism coordinator position in response to rising Antisemitism in Europe.[4] As a career EC bureaucrat, Von Schnurbein was appointed by then First Vice-President Frans Timmermans for the position in December 2015.[5]
Her key responsibilities are to liaise with European Jewish communities and bodies and to propose and implement policies to address Antisemitism, promote Holocaust education, and foster Jewish life.[4]
In 2022, von Schnurbein argued that Belgian bans on ritual slaughter risked painting the Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe as "medieval".[6] In response, von Schnurbein convened the first joint meeting between European Jewish and Muslim leaders and EU officials to discuss slaughter based on religious rules in the light of Freedom of Religion.[7]
At an event hosted by the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in 2023, von Schnurbein stressed the importance of cracking down on disinformation on social media platforms in the struggle against antisemitism. Noting that this was especially commonplace during the Covid-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories are catalysts for bigotry against Jews; “Where conspiracy grows, antisemitism has already grown.”[8]
In September 2024, von Schnurbein stated at a United Nations workshop that the current rise of antisemitic events ‘reminds us of the darkest days of Europe’.[9]
In 2025, von Schnurbein stated that anti-Zionism is "the denial of a state for the Jewish people. And that in itself is antisemitic".[10]
Criticism
At a confidential meeting with EU ambassadors in Tel Aviv in May 2024, Katharina von Schnurbein expressed concerns that potential EU sanctions against Israel could be based on “rumors about Jews” rather than factual evidence. She downplayed reports of hunger and hardship in Gaza, emphasizing that Israel was providing humanitarian aid, and characterized contemporary expressions of solidarity with Palestinians — such as charity campaigns for Gaza and fundraising appeals for the Red Cross — as potential forms of antisemitism.[11] Her remarks met with strong opposition from several EU ambassadors, who warned against equating legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. According to reports, von Schnurbein echoed rhetorical patterns used by the Israeli government, including accusations of manipulated media coverage and claims that European protests were orchestrated by Hamas.[12] Human rights organizations like Amnesty International, as well as Israeli historian Amos Goldberg, criticized von Schnurbein for blending her mandate to protect Jewish life in Europe with foreign and security policy judgments on the Middle East conflict. They warned that such positions risked diluting and instrumentalizing the definition of antisemitism, while also minimizing human rights allegations against Israel.[11][12] Following her statements, 26 Members of the European Parliament from various political groups called for her immediate resignation. They accused her of branding humanitarian solidarity and previously accepted forms of political protest as inherently antisemitic, thereby weakening efforts to combat antisemitism and undermining the EU’s credibility. Further criticism arose from von Schnurbein’s social media activity, including the sharing of a post that portrayed Greta Thunberg as a Holocaust denier.[13] Within the European Commission itself, opposition emerged as well: the initiative “EU staff for peace” accused von Schnurbein of discrediting charitable actions for Gaza.[13]
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