Anti-Semitic sculpture to remain on German church

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Anti-Semitic sculpture to remain on German church

4 February 2020

A 13th-Century anti-Semitic carving may remain on the wall of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, a court has ruled.

A Jewish man, Michael Düllmann, is seeking to have the sculpture removed.

The relief shows a rabbi lifting a sow's tail and peering at its behind while other Jewish figures suckle on her teats. Pigs are considered unclean under Jewish law.

The image is on the wall of the Stadtkirche, where Protestant reformer Martin Luther preached.

-snip-

There is also an information board, erected more recently, which aims to put the anti-Semitic relief in its historical context. These additions informed Tuesday's ruling by the regional appeals court of Saxony-Anhalt, in Naumburg.

The court found that while the sculpture would be offensive if viewed in isolation, "in the context in which it has been placed by the church it has lost its insulting character", according to spokesman Henning Haberland.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51380171

[Cartoonist]

1. Its historical context

Here's your context, Martin Luther was an antisemite.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Very fine people, I am told by the President.