We have to endure the "Judensau".

The past does not disappear if you “cancel” it, i.e. dismantle its evidence, destroy it, store it or (at best) make it disappear in the museum. The parish church council of the municipality of Wittenberg has now decided to leave the disgusting relief of a "Judensau" on the main church of Lutherstadt.

Under the Hebrew name of God, it shows small figures with pointed hats hanging from the teats of a sow. How to deal with the relief had been disputed for years, even before the Federal Court of Justice. Legally, the matter is clear: there is no incitement of the people. Nevertheless, in July 2022, a panel of experts recommended removing the depiction, which was only restored in 2017.

But it is correct to leave the relief created around 1290 where it hangs at a height of about eight metres. Of course, this hideous testimony of Christian anti-Judaism (which is similar to at least 21 other German churches) must be explained on a plaque. But that is consensus anyway; a metaphorical inscription embedded in the ground in 1988 is not enough.

Why not lose weight? Because the past – and in this case that means the many centuries of discrimination and persecution of Jews in Central Europe, which culminated in the murder of millions – does not disappear according to the “out of sight, out of mind” principle. It is ahistorical to demand the opposite.

History, the image that a group of people – whether a people or a family – have of their own past, can be painful. You have to endure this pain, because that's the only way to learn from previous mistakes. The whereabouts of the relief does not justify modern-day anti-Semitism, other than reading it occasionally. On the contrary: anti-Jewish people feel more confirmed by "Cancel" than by a critical confrontation.