She was repeatedly warned – and did NOTHING to prevent the Jew hate scandal at the Documenta. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (67, Greens) is now under massive pressure.
the Jewish General Newspaper calls for Roth’s resignation!
Under the headline “documenta der Shame” the newspaper writes: “For those who don’t consider the promise ‘Never again anti-Semitism’ to be a cheap phrase, and the Federal Government can be quite sure that this is the case, the Ministry of Culture must entrust someone with credible action against Jew hatred. Someone who will carry out his or her duties with competence and dignity.”
And further: “Claudia Roth has shown neither one nor the other with her kosher seal for the BDS ideology.” Responsible for the anti-Semitism scandal is “above all” Claudia Roth, who remained inactive despite all the warnings and fire letters, writes Philipp Peyman Engel.
It is part of the “commitment to Israel and standing up against any form of anti-Semitism in the DNA of the Federal Republic”. Tax money should “never” be spent on “flawless hatred of Jews”. The documenta has now given this self-image a “resounding slap in the face.” And it was Roth’s job to prevent that.
The Jüdische Allgemeine: “It failed miserably.” Either it couldn’t or didn’t want to confront this hatred of Jews. “Both of these disqualify her to the highest degree as Minister of State for Culture.”
► The fact is: on April 13, the President of the Central Council, Josef Schuster (68), wrote a letter to Roth (is available to BILD), in which he expressed his concern about the Documenta. In it he reported on unsuccessful talks with Documenta boss Sabine Schormann (60), during which “it should be ensured” that “no anti-Semitic works of art should be exhibited at the fair and no anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel should be propagated”.
In his April letter to Roth, Schuster already criticized the fact that the Central Council of Jews was not involved in the Documenta management. While the art fair was curated by an Indonesian artist group sympathetic to BDS anti-Semites (“Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” agitating against the state of Israel), Jewish representatives were consistently ignored.
“Unfortunately, we were not informed about the further progress from your company either,” Schuster wrote to Roth. Meaning: Roth made no effort to involve the Central Council in order to prevent anti-Semitism at the Documenta.
Despite urgent warnings from the Central Council of Jews, Roth was looking forward to the opening of the art exhibition without worrying – and refused to intervene. As late as June 11, the Greens explained in the “Spiegel” that they “do not raise or lower their thumbs over individual works of art as a cultural police officer”. For her, the Documenta is “a happy occasion”.
Instead, Roth scolded BILD because BILD had described the Documenta as an “art exhibition of shame”. This was “a clear crossing of borders”, said the Minister of State for Culture in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ).
Only on Monday did Roth admit that there were paintings with “anti-Semitic imagery” at the Documenta – and suddenly demanded “consequences”.
The Jew hate painting was taken down on Tuesday evening Photo: Kurt Heldmann
CDU anger: “A scandal with an announcement”
The fact that anti-Semitic paintings were exhibited at the art fair is “a scandal with announcement,” says CDU politician Gitta Connemann (58) to BILD. She makes serious allegations against Roth. The Minister of State for Culture “knew about the BDS connections of the curators” and had “violated the BDS resolution of the Bundestag with her toleration”.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja (46) finds it “shameful that Claudia Roth, as the responsible Minister of State for Culture, ignored the many warnings in advance”. According to Czaja, Roth’s “lack of sensitivity harms the reputation of the Documenta and Germany’s reputation in the world”.
The anti-Jewish painting by the Indonesian group “Taring Padi” was covered up on Monday evening. It was completely removed about 24 hours later.
Shortly after 8 p.m., a police patrol arrived, and at 8:31 p.m. on Tuesday evening, work began on dismantling the banner, which was around five meters high and twice as wide. Three men and a woman took turns climbing onto the scaffolding, first loosening the brackets, then the shell and the picture were taken down in individual parts.