According to a report in the “Jüdische Allgemeine”, the scandal surrounding an anti-Semitic work at the Documenta caused Chancellor Olaf Scholz to forgo visiting the art exhibition.

A government spokeswoman told the weekly newspaper that the SPD politician had "probably not missed a documenta in the past 30 years", but would not be traveling to Kassel this time.

The reason is anti-Jewish images on the now dismantled work "People's Justice" by the Indonesian collective Taring Padi of the Indonesian artist group Taring Padi.

According to the report, the Chancellor finds this representation "disgusting" in the words of the spokeswoman.

It was "completely right and appropriate" to remove the mural.

In his opinion, “there is no place in Germany for anti-Semitic depictions, not even at an art exhibition”.

Scholz: "Take responsibility"

Scholz spoke out in favor of reviewing the inclusion of the controversial works in the exhibition.

"The Chancellor is convinced that the Documenta management should face up to their responsibility for this process and examine themselves," said the government spokeswoman.

Before the start of the documenta, there were a whole series of warnings - "it is all the more irritating that this scandal has nevertheless happened."

The "Jewish General" had previously called for the resignation of Claudia Roth (Greens) as Minister of State for Culture.

You have proved unable to prevent the looming scandal.

Central Council: That doesn't end the issue

"It is correct that the anti-Semitic work of the Indonesian artists' collective Taring Padi was removed from the Documenta," said the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, in Berlin.

However, this does not mean that the topic of anti-Semitism and the debate about whether this year's documenta is related to BDS are over.

BDS stands for Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions.

The movement wants to isolate Israel economically, culturally and politically.

"Now we have to think about personnel consequences," said Schuster.

He did not give any further details.

Germany's image in the world has already been damaged by this incident.

FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai said that now it is important to "relentlessly clarify how this shameful incident could have happened and who was specifically responsible for which decisions and when".

The most important thing is that consequences are drawn from it.

"Anyone who approves of these inhuman failures must not be responsible for an internationally known cultural event in Germany," demanded the FDP politician.

The Missing Curator

How did it even come to this?

Hesse's Minister of Art Angela Dorn (Greens) sees the problem partly as a result of the lack of a responsible curator.

“Responsibility for the art shown lies primarily with the artistic direction.

The fact that the selection committee assigned this to a collective this time, and not to a single curator, apparently meant that the diligence and responsibility of curating suffered," she told the German Press Agency on Wednesday.

Dorn emphasized that she had always been assured when she asked Documenta GmbH several times that there was no evidence of anti-Semitic imagery at the exhibition.

"Why not all works were examined in detail in the light of the debate in the run-up to the opening and what contribution better communication through society could have made will have to be clarified." The shareholders had given the documenta the clear mandate to " in terms of responsible curating”.

Meeting with the Anne Frank educational institution

The head of the Anne Frank educational center, Meron Mendel, meanwhile pleaded for a look ahead: "All is not lost yet, now this crisis must be used as an opportunity to really start a conversation," Mendel told the dpa.

Without dialogue, the debate will continue to escalate.

The Anne Frank educational center wants to support Kassel with educational offers to educate about anti-Semitism and racism.

The educational institution is also in contact with the documenta.

An event together with Minister Dorn is planned for Wednesday next week.

The documenta initially did not comment on the further course of the debate on Wednesday.