After finding more pictures at the Documenta that had been criticized as anti-Semitic, the shareholders of the Kassel art show see omissions.
For the time being, they no longer want to show the drawings that are the subject of the complaint.
On Thursday, Jewish organizations criticized Documenta interim director Alexander Farenholtz and some called for his resignation.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) Berlin demanded that documenta fifteen “be ended prematurely”.
The Documenta and the Museum Fridericianum Gesellschaft emphasized in Kassel: "The shareholders assume that the artistic direction will remove the drawings discussed from the exhibition until they are appropriately contextualised." The handling of the drawings shows "how urgently external expertise is needed when analyzing works for anti-Semitic (image) language".
The Documenta shareholders learned for the first time on Tuesday evening via social networks "that the facsimile of the brochure 'Presence des Femmes' and the drawings it contains by the artist Burhan Karkoutly depicting Israeli soldiers are another problematic item at documenta fifteen in terms of anti-Semitic imagery .”
The Documenta management was already aware of this three weeks ago after a visitor drew attention to the drawings.
"The immediate legal assessment of the drawings by external parties was a step in the right direction, the question of whether anti-Semitic imagery was present here was unfortunately only assessed internally," the shareholders continued.
The events would not have taken place under the responsibility of Farenholtz, who - after the resignation of general director Sabine Schormann - has been in office since July 19, according to the shareholders.
The drawings are not an exhibited work of art, "but rather archive material that will be presented at documenta fifteen".
But here, too, "responsible curating is important in view of the anti-Semitic imagery".
The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, was stunned.
"This documenta will go down in history as an anti-Semitic art show," he said in Berlin.
With a view to the new discoveries of controversial images, Schuster said: "Even Mr. Farenholtz himself could not or did not want to recognize any anti-Semitism." That the Documenta could run as planned until September 25 seems "hardly imaginable".
The Jewish association “Werteinitiative” called for Farenholtz’s resignation: “He obviously puts anti-Semitic stereotypes into perspective and glorifies them as unproblematic.” This means that Farenholtz is “no longer sustainable”, according to the association’s chairman Elio Adler.
When is the apology coming?
The AJC Berlin director Remko Leemhuis said: "In view of these recent developments and against the background that those responsible have obviously still not understood what damage the documenta has caused, there can be no 'business as usual'." The same is expected "finally a serious apology from those responsible to the Jewish community".
On Tuesday, the "Values Initiative" published photos of the drawings that depict anti-Jewish stereotypes of Israeli soldiers.
In one depiction, an Israeli soldier is seen pinching the ear of a boy - the soldier is drawn in the style of a robot;
a mass grave can be seen in the background.
In another picture, a boy is threatened with a gun - the depiction of Jews as potential child murderers.
Another drawing shows a woman kicking a soldier between the legs.
The man with the Star of David on his helmet is writhing in pain - and is characterized by his small body size and a large hooked nose.