A protester with the group New Generation superglued herself to a display case housing important historic coins at the Bode Museum in Berlin on Tuesday.

The protester was pictured wearing a mask of Economics Minister Katherina Reiche, who has faced criticism for her energy proposals seen as prioritizing industrial stability and fossil fuel flexibility over faster emissions cuts.

“I'm Katherina Super-Reiche, and I'm glued to the money!” New Generation said in a post claiming responsibility for the incident.

The caption uses a pun on her surname—echoing the German word for “rich”—to cast her as overly aligned with financial and industrial interests.

“Her protest is intended to highlight that Reiche does not maintain the necessary critical distance from the business community to make independent decisions as a minister in the interests of the public,” New Generation said in its post.

Berlin authorities confirmed to German news publisher Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the incident occurred around 4 p.m. local time Tuesday, prompting a police response.

The woman, who was not identified, was removed from the display case and is under criminal investigation for potential trespassing charges. Police confirmed that no exhibits were damaged.

New Generation is a successor group that grew out of the climate change protest group Last Generation, which ended its operations in January 2025—amid a trend of environmentalist groups closing shop or moving away from actions at museums.

The new protest group is not solely focused on addressing climate change, instead focusing on economic and broader political issues.

Follow along with other art crime stories at Urgent Matter’s art crime tracker.

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