Remove or not? How to deal with the so-called Judensau at Regensburg Cathedral has been controversial for many years. Now the anti-Semitism commissioner for Bavaria, Ludwig Spaenle, and the chairwoman of the Jewish community in Regensburg, Ilse Danziger, have presented a solution. The anti-Jewish depiction from the Middle Ages should not be removed, but re-labeled. In this way, the abusive sculpture could also be understood as a memorial against anti-Semitism, said Ilse Danziger on Friday.
In principle, a responsible approach must be found for dealing with anti-Jewish depictions, said Spaenle. They shouldn’t remain uncommented, but neither should they be removed in a kind of “iconoclasm”. Spaenle does not consider the suggestion to exhibit the portraits in a museum instead. It is downright grotesque to remove the figure from the original location in order to then highlight it in a showcase.
Ludwig Spaenle, anti-Semitism commissioner for Bavaria and Ilse Danziger, chairwoman of the Jewish community in Regensburg, are in front of a plan for the Regensburg Cathedral.
(Photo: Armin Weigel / dpa)
In the case of the “Judensau” at Regensburg Cathedral, representatives of the church, politics and building authorities had agreed to renew the existing information board. This is hardly recognizable on the stone walls of the cathedral and the text is outdated in terms of content, said Spaenle. Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, was also involved in the dialogue. According to Danziger, there is broad consensus within the Jewish community in Regensburg to keep the figure. Especially at a time when anti-Semitism is becoming socially acceptable again, it is important to show that anti-Semitism has always existed and that it must be countered.
The new board will explain and classify the motif of the “Judensau”. It shows Jewish men suckling the teats of a sow like piglets. According to the text, this portrayal caused disgust and contempt for Jews and wanted to denigrate Judaism. It was alleged that Jews were in league with the devil and were nourished by him. Further: “Today this sculpture is intended to warn all people to take action against all forms of propaganda, hatred, marginalization and anti-Semitism.” The text was written in collaboration with Eva Haverkamp-Rott, professor at the chair for Jewish history at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich. In addition to the board, extensive information material is to be made available digitally, according to Spaenle. It is also being considered to create information leaflets and include the topic in the training of city guides.
There are several dozen anti-Jewish representations nationwide. The anti-Semitism officer referred to a case in Wittenberg. A Jewish citizen there has been trying to legally remove a “Judensau” from the town church for years. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) will deal with it in the spring. The lower regional court in Naumburg decided that the anti-Jewish relief did not have to be removed.