Hamburg's former culture senator Christina Weiss has been appointed by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as the new State Minister for Culture to succeed Julian Nida-Ruemelin who announced last week that he is to return to his professorship in philosophy at the University of Goettingen.

Speaking at a press conference with Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin on Monday evening (October 7) , Schroeder explained that the decision on Weiss' appointment had been brought forward because she had received another job offer from the world of arts which required a swift response.