The church window by the artist Markus Lüpertz for the Marktkirche in Hanover, financed indirectly by the former Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD), will not be installed for the time being.

The church community announced on Friday after a meeting of the church council that they condemned Schröder's "lack of distance" from Russian President Vladimir Putin and therefore wanted to return the donated funds for the window that had already been completed.

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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According to his own statements, Schröder had asked German companies where he gave lectures to make a donation to the market church community for the window instead of a fee.

It is now unclear whether and when the 13 meter high and 150,000 euro window, which has been the subject of debate in the Lower Saxony state capital for five years, will be installed.

It is also unclear who will ultimately pay for the Schröder-Lüpertz window.

The congregation announced that they would have to “find new sources of funding”.

It cannot be ruled out that the costs will remain with the parish itself.

The reverse processing of the donations could also be complicated, since the companies are said to have received donation receipts for them.

The exuberant praise of Lower Saxony's migration commissioner Doris Schröder-Köpf (SPD) for Putin will continue to be debated in Hanover.

She announced it during the 2017 state election campaign on the Russian propaganda channel Sputnik, which has since been banned by the EU.

According to a FAZ report, Gerhard Schröder's former wife distanced herself from Kremlin politics and said that today's "Putin's face" was not recognizable at the time.

In the political journal Rundblick, however, she described it as "quite normal" that she had shared her personal impressions of Putin in various ways in 2017.

Schröder-Köpf described the Vice President of the State Parliament, Frank Oesterhelweg (CDU), who is demanding her resignation, as "not capable of satisfying the issue".

The CDU parliamentary group leader Dirk Toepffer called this "unacceptable" in an interview with the FAZ and demanded an apology from Schröder-Köpf.

The criticism of her is appropriate in the matter.