A new information board in German and English was put up on Monday for the "Judensau", a medieval abusive sculpture on the outside wall of Regensburg Cathedral.
It replaces an older version from 2005.
The Free State of Bavaria, as the owner of the cathedral, and the Diocese of Regensburg, as the user, are thus distancing themselves from the anti-Jewish portrayal of the late Middle Ages.
Bavaria's Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) said that the path taken in Regensburg could serve as a model for dealing with similar abusive plastics.
In Bavaria there are such representations in the Evangelical Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg and at the castle gate of Cadolzburg, which also belongs to the Free State.
At the initiative of the Bavarian Anti-Semitism Commissioner Ludwig Spaenle (CSU), leaders of the Jewish communities, Christian churches and state agencies discussed how to deal with the historical heritage at a national and local round table.
Motif mainly in the German-speaking area
Spaenle said on Monday that the burdened past would be worked through in the long term.
“We make the place a place of remembrance.
The sculpture is intended to warn everyone to take action against all forms of propaganda, hatred and exclusion.” The chairwoman of the Jewish religious community in Regensburg, Ilse Danziger, said that with the new information board, the discussion about the abusive sculpture from the 14th century could “finally come to an end find the end".
Cathedral provost Franz Frühmorgen described the cooperation with the other participants as "extraordinarily good".
The panel uses a QR code to refer to the Anti-Semitism Commissioner's website.
There you will find further information on anti-Jewish depictions on historical buildings and on the history of the oldest Jewish community in Bavaria in Regensburg.
This is the full text of the new text of the tablet, written by Eva Haverkamp-Rott, Professor of Medieval Jewish History and Culture at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich:
"Depictions of 'Judensau' are anti-Semitism set in stone.
The motif can be found almost exclusively in the German-speaking world from the 13th century.
Although the pig is considered unclean in Judaism, it has been falsely claimed that Jews suckle like piglets on a sow.
This depiction was intended to arouse disgust and contempt for Jews and to attack Judaism.
In Christian art, the pig primarily embodies the devil.
It was therefore claimed that Jews were in league with the devil, were 'nourished' by him and absorbed his teachings.
This sculpture on the cathedral was placed opposite the Jewish quarter in the 14th century.
It shows men sucking a sow's teats and speaking in her ear.
The men are identified as Jews by 'Jewish hats'.
With this inhuman propaganda, Jews were declared enemies of Christianity.
Hatred has been fueled against them for centuries.
Exclusion, persecution and even murder were the result.
Today, this sculpture is intended to remind everyone to take action against all forms of propaganda, hatred, exclusion and anti-Semitism.”
There are abusive sculptures of this kind on churches and secular buildings throughout Europe.
The “Handbook of Anti-Semitism” states that 48 plastic images can be verified.
Most of them are badly weathered or damaged.
The motif was reproduced from the Middle Ages to the 20th century: on prints, in anti-Semitic pamphlets, also on playing cards.
Over time, the variants had become more and more obscene.