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3 MINUTE READ
February 2, 2023

The Second Gentleman of the United States, Douglas Emhoff, visits Berlin

Douglas Emhoff speaking at the meeting of special envoys
Douglas Emhoff speaking at the meeting of special envoys

 

The Second Gentleman of the United States, Douglas Emhoff, and U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt spent two days in Berlin, January 30-31, focusing on Holocaust remembrance and combating rising antisemitism.

In Berlin, Mr. Emhoff and Special Envoy Lipstadt met with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, Germany’s Commissioner of Jewish Life, Dr. Felix Klein, and several EU Special Envoys focused on antisemitism.  They also participated in an interfaith roundtable hosted by the Central Council of Jews in Germany.  The Second Gentleman toured the Jewish Museum Berlin and met with Jewish community representatives and Ukrainian refugees at the historic Neue Synagoge on Oranienburgerstrasse.  He also visited the memorials to those murdered and persecuted under the Nazis — Sinti and Roma, LGBTQI+ people and people with physical and mental disabilities.  The Second Gentleman wrapped up his visit with a wreath-laying at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  In that memorial’s underground Information Center, he met with Holocaust survivors, including those who had to flee their homes in Ukraine in the face of Putin’s unprovoked war of aggression against that country.

Mr. Emhoff is the spouse of Kamala Harris, who is the first female Vice President in America’s history.  That makes him the country’s first-ever “Second Gentleman” and the first Jewish spouse of either a U.S. president or vice president.

Here is a link to a Flickr photo album that takes you through the stops of the visit:

 Douglas Emhoff Second Gentleman of the United States Visits Berlin
https://youtu.be/InZwXKt1Rno