The anti-Semitic bas-relief called The Sow of the Jews (Judensau, in German) and located since 1290 on one of the facades of St. Mary’s Church in Wittenberg (in Saxony-Anhalt, south of Berlin) – where Martin Luther, father of the Reformation, officiated – can remain in place . The Federal Court of Justice ruled in this direction, Tuesday, June 14, temporarily ending four years of legal soap opera.
The statue in question depicts two Jews suckling a sow – an animal considered unclean – as well as a rabbi lifting the animal’s tail and looking at its crotch. In 1570, that is to say after the Protestant Reformation, this bas-relief was adorned with the inscription « Shem-HaMeforash », corresponding to the secret name of God in Jewish tradition and direct reference to an anti-Jewish treatise by Martin Luther.
“Combating Age-old Christian Anti-Semitism”
While recognizing the anti-Semitic character of this bas-relief, the judges of Karlsruhe say they see no “current offence” and recall the work done by the local community which has “managed to distance themselves from the content” anti-Semite of this statue. In 1988, the GDR regime had an explanatory bronze panel placed at the foot of the bas-relief, to recall the context and character « commun » of this kind of anti-Semitic representations in the Middle Ages.
This panel also evokes the anti-Semitic writings of Martin Luther and the persecutions suffered by the Jews since the XIVe and 15e centuries in the region, as well as the six million deaths of the Holocaust. Following this court decision, Alexander Garth, the pastor of St. Mary’s Church, however, recognized that this information work could still be improved. “The important thing is to combat centuries-old Christian anti-Semitism”he believes.
About fifty “Judensau” in Europe
This decision marks an important milestone for the many other Judensau of the country, visible in particular in the cathedrals of Cologne, Regensburg or Nuremberg. They would be about fifty in total in Europe, including three in France, Metz and Colmar. It is unlikely, however, that this decision will calm the heated debate between supporters and opponents of the maintenance of such sculptures. For the former, these anti-Semitic representations are a part of German history that must be remembered and not denied or hidden. The argument is insufficient for the latter, who recall that the swastikas and the name of Adolf Hitler have been removed from the public sphere. The plaintiff, Michael Düllmann, at the origin of this judicial soap opera in 2018, could now bring the case before the Constitutional Court and, why not, before the European Court of Human Rights, as he mentioned. idea.
The decision of the Federal Court of Justice in any case displeases the Jewish community. Josef Schulter, president of the Central Committee of Jews in Germany, said on Wednesday that he did not understand the judges’ arguments and called on the various churches to find “appropriate solutions” for the many other anti-Semitic representations visible in the country. The International Auschwitz Committee recalls for its part that this “age-old stigma (Jews)in one of the most important places of Protestantism, and whose message also led to Auschwitz, still weighs today on the relations between Jews and Christians..