Six million Jews were killed and one is painting for reconciliation.

A Jew, a Russian by birth, a Parisian and a world-renowned artist - all this is Marc Chagall.

On the other hand stands post-war Germany, a divided Germany that has not yet come to terms with the Holocaust.

And the city of Mainz with one of the oldest Jewish communities in Europe.

Carlota Brandis

volunteer

  • Follow I follow

In 1973, Monsignor Klaus Mayer, who was pastor of St. Stephen's Church in Mainz at the time and died in December 2022, decided to bring these elements together.

He asks Chagall to set an example with specially designed church windows.

A sign of peace.

After three years of fear, hesitation and doubt, he agrees.

Deep Blue Worlds by Chagall

His decision marks an important moment in the modern history of Mainz.

Around 200,000 visitors come every year to see the Chagall windows in the Catholic Sankt Stephans Kirche on Stephansberg.

The building, whose origins date back to the 13th century, is not very conspicuous with its light red and white facade.

On entering, however, a new space is opened up to the visitor.

The atmosphere in the church is filled with the deep blue worlds of Chagall and glass artist Charles Marq, who worked closely together.

The windows push the cold air and the smell of incense onto the shoulders of the visitors.

Hardly a light burns on the Gothic columns and walls - the rich colors of the windows characterize the impression.

Thoughts circle and a religious humility grows.

Six windows by Marc Chagall face each other in the choir.

They show Adam biting into the apple while the blue snake looks on.

Or the creation of a still sleeping human being carried by a blue angel, accompanied by a rainbow and a rooster.

Blue as the color of sin, saints, heaven and infinity, but also the Star of David on the Israeli flag.

With Chagall, they all come from the same color pot.

The association carries the message further

The fourteen biblical stories in the windows are brought to life.

Chagall's intense colors break through the blue, Marq's sweeping glass mosaics move the figures.

"They show how God reveals himself to people through various miracle stories," says Ariann Faupel-Ziehmer.

She is the chairwoman of the association "Biblical Message Marc Chagall" and is involved in Sankt Stephan.

She adds that Chagall wanted to emphasize that Christianity has its roots in Judaism.

Symbols connecting both religions appear in the biblical stories in the windows: the crucifixion of the blue and white Jesus Christ, King David, but also the Torah and seven-branched candlesticks.

To this day, the parish of Sankt Stephan maintains a close exchange and cooperation with the Jewish community in Mainz.

According to Faupel-Ziehmer, the blue message of peace does not only apply to the Christian community.

All are welcome.

Also in this order, the association invites to events in St. Stephan.

Most recently, the Jewish author Gunda Trepp spoke in the church of the "symbolic value" of the place against anti-Semitism.

A sign of peace and reconciliation

Marc Chagall personally represents this message.

"After the Shoah, he swore he would never set foot in Germany again," says Faupel-Ziehmer.

Chagall's personal suffering during the Holocaust becomes evident in his works from 1930, when the colors become darker.

Chagall paints the misery of displacement, pain and pervasive loss.

Jewish symbols come to the fore.

Marc Chagall's current exhibition at the Schirn in Frankfurt brings these years together under the exhibition title "World in turmoil".