Previously, Heinrich had said she would not give any interviews or appear in public in the coming days.

If she were to withdraw, “then the shitstorm would have achieved its goal,” she said in an interview with the online edition of the Zeit newspaper published on Thursday evening.

Heinrich was the subject of a social media storm over the weekend over tweets the now 20-year-old had posted several years ago.

“I am looking forward to representing the Green Youth as federal spokesperson. Especially in times of the formation of a new government, the role of the Green Youth changes and also our responsibility,” Heinrich said.

The Young Greens spokesperson had written on Twitter on Sunday: “I just became aware of a tweet in which my account commented ‘Heil’ under a tweet with a swastika in 2015.”

She said she could not recall ever having sent such a tweet – but that did not make it any better.

“That was not okay, just like all the other discriminatory statements. No matter how ironic I might have wanted to be at 14,” she told Zeit Online.

“I am happy to face the criticism for my statements and I also find it important. But a shitstorm makes critical debate impossible for all sides,” Heinrich explained.

She called for more tolerance in public debate.

“I think it is important to measure people by their acts and by the positions they hold in the present,” she said.