Dhe Federal Government Anti-Semitism Commissioner, Felix Klein, considers the handling of an anti-Jewish relief in the cathedral of the city of Brandenburg an der Havel to be appropriate. “I welcome the decision to wrap the anti-Jewish abusive plastic in the Brandenburg Cathedral,” he said at the request of the German Press Agency. It is particularly commendable that the evangelical bishop Christian Stäblein clearly acknowledged the churches’ guilt for actively promoting hatred of Jews and anti-Semitism.
According to the community in Brandenburg, they are aware of the anti-Jewish significance of the relief. The abusive sculpture from the 13th century shows a sow with a human face and a Jewish headgear, with other creatures hanging from its teats. In the Jewish faith, pigs are considered unclean.
The relief in the cloister of the evangelical cathedral will remain in its historical location, but is to be covered in the future, as a spokesman for the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia said. It is not yet clear when the position will be imposed at a height of two meters. “There are no longer any content-related issues that still need to be clarified before the “visual elimination”, only technical-aesthetic ones,” said the spokesman. For about ten years there has been a display in front of the sculpture, on which a position is taken regarding the content.
“Not only in Brandenburg, but in many churches in Germany, the architectural legacies have raised the question of the continuity of Christian hatred of Jews from the Middle Ages to the present day,” said Klein.
Criticism of Wittenberg’s decision
A similar relief can be found, among other things, on the town church of Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Here Klein considers the conscious handling of one’s own history to be insufficient. The church community had recently adapted an information sign for the “Judensau” and announced that it would set up a permanent exhibition in the long term to provide information about anti-Judaism.
Previously, in October 2022, following a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice, the municipal church council had decided to leave the abusive plastic on the outer facade and to further develop the existing “place of warning”. A previously appointed panel of experts had voted in favor of acceptance. A decision by the Federal Constitutional Court on a complaint is still pending.
A similar abusive sculpture from the Middle Ages can be seen at Regensburg Cathedral. As in Wittenberg, the connections and anti-Semitic backgrounds are explained and classified on information boards.
The previous debates about how to deal with the abusive sculptures have shown that there is not just one right way to face history, emphasized Klein. Each individual case should be considered separately. “However, it must always be taken into account that disparaging and disparaging representations, even if they are historical, still hurt people today, still have an effect today.”
