"Judensau" process goes to next instance The controversial relief of the so-called Judensau at the Wittenberg town church has been the subject of controversy since Monday in court. A member of the Jewish Community in Berlin had sued. A comparison did not materialize. Now the case was referred by the district court to the district court. Medieval Judensau, a taunt and ridicule at the church St. Marien in Wittenberg The medieval relief of the "Judensau" has been attached to the town church of St. Marien in Wittenberg for centuries. Copyright: IMAGO The process for the so-called "Judensau" relief at the city church in Wittenberg goes to the next higher instance. A member of the Jewish community in Berlin had sued and wants to achieve that the Schmämelief is removed from the city church. On Monday, however, no settlement could be reached before the district court in Lutherstadt. The judge also declared the court not responsible. The District Court may only bargain disputes of up to 5,000 euros negotiate. The amount in dispute in the case of "Judensau" is about twice as high. Therefore, he referred the case to the district court to Dessau-Roßlau. The process on Monday had come to about 50 spectators, including many religious sisters. The trial had to be moved to the largest courtroom so that everyone could find a seat. Before the courtroom there were minor protests. Among other things, the indictment was insulted, as the approximately 700-year-old sculpture on the façade of the church defames Jewish citizens. Judensau protest on the market square in Wittenberg Protest against the "Judensau" relief on Monday in Wittenberg Image rights: MDR / André Damm "Memory culture" against "defamation" The controversial sandstone relief from the year 1305 shows a rabbi, who looks under the tail of a pig and there sees Jews drinking at the teats of the sow. Members of the Jewish denomination would be "degraded and defamed" by the mockery, it was said by plaintiff Michael Düllmann. Attorney Hubertus Benecke told MDR SACHSEN-ANHALT that his client wanted the relief to be taken to a museum "where Judensau can reasonably be thought of". Before his complaint Düllmann had written to the city administration, but had been fed with a standard letter. A memorial in front of the town church of St. Mary in Wittenberg (Saxony-Anhalt) reminds since November 9, 1988 at the beginning of the Jewish program in the Third Reich. The memorial in front of the town church St. Marien in Wittenberg Picture rights: IMAGO The defendants - city and church - do not want to remove the relief. This is justified by the reference to the culture of remembrance . Wittenberg's city church pastor Johannes Block understands the reservations about the relief, but also does not want to deviate from his attitude. The ridicule is a terrible legacy from the Middle Ages, that's why it should not be disposed of. It was a piece of commemorative culture. The consequences of the hatred of the Jews are indicated by a commemorative plaque. It was taken in 1988 in the ground at the church. Show history, not hide history, but deal with the negative so that something positive is out of it. Johannes Block pastor Stadtkirche Wittenberg Block said MDR SACHSEN-ANHALT, the city church community was also scared and affected by this legacy. Nevertheless, in his view, the original place should be remembered with the original piece of history. So far, we are convinced: show history, not hide history, but deal with the negative so that something positive out of it, that is: never again such a history of despising and ridicule. " In the Middle Ages, Jews were mocked at other churches in Germany by similar pictures as those at the Wittenberg town church. The debate over Wittenberg sculpture picked up again in 2017, the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation . see also https://www.bild.de/regional/sachsen-anhalt/judentum/prozess-um-judenfeindliches-relief-spaltet-wittenberg-55626506.bild.html