Oliver Moody, Sabine Schu, Berlin
Tuesday June 16 2020, 12.01am, The Times
Religion
Europe
Germany

The Judensau gargoyles can be seen on about 30 churches in Germany
THOMAS VICTOR
 
A medieval church in Germany has been told to restore an antisemitic sculpture to its collection of gargoyles after the local authority ruled that it had protected status.

The stone carving depicts a male Jew crouched in an obscene pose with a pig, in a motif known as the Judensau, or “Jew-sow”.

St Stephen’s church in Calbe, a town 45 miles northwest of Leipzig, is one of about 30 churches and cathedrals around Germany with Judensau sculptures, most of which date back to the high Middle Ages, a period of virulent antisemitism.

The carving was recently taken down from the church’s north wall along with 13 other gargoyles, including mythical beasts, naked women and pot-bellied monks, so that they could be restored.

In March the parish decided that the Judensau was much too offensive to be put back on top of its buttress. Instead, it would be hung elsewhere, with a placard explaining its origins.

 
That plan has now been derailed by the listed buildings authority for the surrounding Salzland district, which insisted that the sculpture was an integral part of the church’s history and belonged with the other gargoyles. As a compromise, the Judensau will be restored to its old perch but covered up until the parish and local officials can agree what to do with it.

“Of course everyone involved is entirely clear that this is an abusive caricature that needs to be dealt with very critically,” said Alfred Reichenberger, of the Saxony Anhalt state office for monument protection and archaeology.

“There just seems to be disagreement about how to do that. One side says you should take the sculpture down and put it in a museum and then have a critical discussion about it there. The other says you should leave it where it was and do the same thing.”