A medieval German church has returned a statue known as the “Jew Pig” gargoyle to its original perch.
The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported that the church, which is located in the Salzland district in central Germany, was decorated with, among other statues, one called Judensau, German for “Jews’ sow,” which depicts a Jewish man sucking from the sow’s teat. The church decided to take down the statue in March for restoration but considered it to be “too offensive to return to the buttress,” JC reported. However, the district later decided to bring back the statue because it considered the statue to be a key part of the church’s history.
In the interim, the statue will be covered but remain at the church.
Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement, “What’s wrong with this picture? German Church within whose walls Jews were demonized and vilified, the Church that did nothing to stop Hitler, the Church that does nothing to combat today’s anti-Semites in Germany reinstates the Jew/pig Medieval obscenity to preserve its history? Depraved.”
The StopAntiSemitism.org watchdog tweeted, “While statues around the world are being removed because of their racist origins, a German church had the genius idea of reinstating a statue of a Jewish man sucking from the teat of a pig. REALLY?!”
The group added in a subsequent tweet: “Note the spikes on the pig; specifically placed to not be defaced by birds. Because heaven forbid we would want to ruin this anti-Semitic beauty.”
While statues around the world are being removed because of their racist origins, a German church had the genius idea of reinstating a statue of a Jewish man sucking from the teat of a pig.
REALLY?!
More here: https://t.co/5pOgYu42Yy pic.twitter.com/wP6eprUf4n
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 16, 2020
Note the spikes on the pig; specifically placed to not be defaced by birds. Because heaven forbid we would want to ruin this antisemitic beauty.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 16, 2020
According to the JC, there are 30 churches in Germany that have similar Judensau statues. In February, a German appellate court rejected a Jewish man’s attempt to have one of the statues removed at the Town Church in Wittenberg.
“The presentation of a part of the building in its original condition that was originally meant to be insulting is not necessarily insulting,” the ruling stated. “Rather, you can neutralize the original intent with commentary as to the historical context.”
According to the Times of Israel, the Town Church is where Martin Luther preached and his “his later sermons and writings were marked by anti-Semitism — something that the Nazis would later use to justify their brutal persecution of the Jews.”
