An appeal by a Jewish man to remove an antisemitic relic from an ancient church is being considered by a German federal court.
Plaintiff Michael Duellmann's case hinges on his longstanding request that a 700-year old antisemitic statue depicting Jews doing lewd acts to a pig be removed from a church connected to Martin Luther, a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation.
The court is considering the man’s request and stated it will give its verdict in June 2022, the Washington Post reported.
The statue – known as the “Judensau” (“Jew pig”) – on the wall of the Town Church in Wittenberg is one example of at least 20 similar antisemitic statues from the Middle Ages that can be found today on churches across Germany.
In 1570, after the Protestant Reformation, an inscription was added to the statue quoting an antisemitic tract written by Luther.
Duellmann’s petition was sent to the Federal Court after lower courts ruled against him in 2019 and 2020. Duellmann is arguing that the statue is a “a defamation of and insult to the Jewish people [that has had] a terrible effect up to this day.”
He suggested that the statue, which is about 12 feet up on the church's outside wall, be moved to the Luther House museum, located nearby.
In 1988, a memorial was placed in the ground below the statue in honor of Jews who faced persecution in the past and the six million Jews who were killed in the Holocaust. It also contained information about the “Judensau” in several languages.