Memorial to the "Entjudungsinstitut"
The memorial for the “Entjudungsinstitut” is a memorial installation that was commissioned by eight Protestant regional churches in Eisenach . The memorial commemorates the responsibility of Protestant regional churches for the anti-Semitic institute they founded to research and eliminate the Jewish influence on German church life , which was active between 1939 and 1945 during the Nazi era . The memorial installation is regarded as a confession of guilt by the Protestant churches and as a reminder of the victims of church anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism . Its unveiling took place on May 6, 2019, 80 years after the "Entjudungsinstitut" was founded.
background
On May 6, 1939, eleven Protestant regional churches in Eisenach founded the Institute for Researching and Eliminating the Jewish Influence on German Church Life, called the “Entjudungsinstitut” for short. Its task should be to eradicate the Jewish roots of Christianity , to remove all positive references to the people of Israel and Judaism from the Holy Scriptures and to adapt the teaching and worship practice of the Protestant Church to the National Socialist ideology. The institute was dissolved at the end of July 1945.
Emergence
Since the beginning of the 1990s, efforts have been made to make the work and effects of the “Entjudungsinstitut” publicly visible in Eisenach. Attempts to install a memorial plaque on the building of the institute's former office at Bornstrasse 11, the former seminary of the Thuringian Church , did not get beyond the planning phase.
In the run-up to the exhibition preparations for the special exhibition “Research and Elimination. The church's 'Dejudification Institute' 1939–1945 ”suggested the scientific director and curator of the Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation , Jochen Birkenmeier, in a letter to the superintendent of the Eisenach-Gerstungen parish , Ralf-Peter Fuchs, and the Eisenach mayor Katja on March 27, 2018 Wolf to make another attempt to put up a memorial plaque or stele. The proposal met with support from those who were written to; However, Fuchs recommended that the memorial be organized at the regional church level. Birkenmeier therefore turned to the regional bishop of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany (EKM), Ilse Junkermann , on April 16, 2018 , who supported the initiative and asked the successors of the regional churches involved in the founding of the “Entjudungsinstitut” to be willing to participate.
On June 18, 2018, a joint inspection took place by representatives of the Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation, the Eisenach city administration and the Eisenach-Gerstungen church district. The location at the beginning of Bornstrasse was found to be particularly suitable after joint consultation. The location at a fork in the road also offered the opportunity to make the phrase “We went astray” from the “ Darmstadt word ” part of the memorial design. After a lengthy coordination process, the project was finally implemented on schedule in cooperation between EKM and the Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation. Jochen Birkenmeier took over the project management for the memorial; the coordination with the regional churches was in the hands of regional bishop Ilse Junkermann. The Eisenach city administration supported the project by providing advice on the construction and approval process. On May 6, 2019, the memorial was ceremoniously unveiled by six representatives of regional Protestant churches.
carrier
The memorial was commissioned by the legal successors of the regional churches involved in the founding of the “Entjudungsinstitut” in 1939: Evangelical Church in Central Germany, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany , Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church of Saxony , Evangelical Regional Church of Anhalt , Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau , Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg , Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Regional Church) and Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions in Austria . The Union of Evangelical Churches is represented by individual member churches.
Location
The memorial is located in Eisenach, at the beginning of Bornstrasse (corner of Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Strasse / Am Ofenstein), approx. 240 meters from the former headquarters of the “Entjudungsinstitut” office at Bornstrasse 11. The location was chosen because it is more visible and easier to reach from the city center than the building itself, which is situated on a steep rise. The structural conditions at the chosen location were also considerably more favorable for erecting a memorial.
layout
The approx. 200 × 148 × 42 cm large memorial was designed by Marc Pethran from the Leipzig design office KOCMOC.NET based on suggestions from the Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation in conjunction with the EKM and its advisory board for Christian-Jewish dialogue; It was carried out by Obornik Werbetechnik KG from Hildesheim. The body of the memorial consists of Corten steel plates from which individual segments are cut out. This is u. a. to be understood as a reference to the textual 'de-Judaization' of the New Testament and the Protestant hymn book as well as the destruction of the common Judeo-Christian beliefs by the "Entjudungsinstitut".
Inscriptions
The memorial bears the German inscription "We went astray ..." on the outside, a quote from the Darmstädter Wort , a confession of guilt by Evangelical Christians from 1947. On the inside there is a plaque with an explanatory inscription in German and English Language. The text is based on a draft by Jochen Birkenmeier and has been slightly supplemented by Bishop Ilse Junkermann. The German text is:
“The 'Entjudungsinstitut' in Eisenach
On May 6, 1939, eleven Protestant regional churches in Eisenach founded the 'Institute for Research and Elimination of the Jewish Influence on German Church Life'. The task of this institute was to erase the Jewish roots of Christianity, to remove all positive references to the people of Israel and Judaism from the Holy Scriptures, and to adapt the teaching and worship practice of the Evangelical Church to the National Socialist ideology.
In the name of so-called theological-folk 'science', the institute's staff falsified the word and meaning of the gospel, stoked hatred of Judaism and pushed for the exclusion of Christians of Jewish origin from the Protestant Church. With their work, they helped to justify the persecution and murder of millions of Jewish fellow citizens.
The office of the 'Entjudungsinstitut' had its first seat just a few meters from here in Bornstrasse 11. The successors of the regional churches involved at the time therefore had this memorial erected here as a confession of their guilt and in memory of the victims of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism.
Eisenach, May 6, 2019Evangelical Church in Central Germany, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Saxony, Evangelical Church in Anhalt, Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg, Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Church), Evangelical Church of Augsburg and Helvetic Confession in Austria "
See also
literature
- Jochen Birkenmeier, Michael Weise: Research and Elimination. The church “Entjudungsinstitut” 1939–1945. Accompanying volume for the exhibition. Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation, Eisenach 2019, pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-3-9818078-3-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Memorial installation reminiscent of “Entjudungsinstitut”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung online, May 6, 2019 (accessed June 29, 2019).
- ↑ Jochen Birkenmeier, Michael Weise: Research and elimination. The church “Entjudungsinstitut” 1939–1945. Accompanying volume for the exhibition. Lutherhaus Eisenach Foundation, Eisenach 2019, p. 111.
- ↑ Oliver Arnhold: "Entjudung" - Kirche im Abgrund, Vol. 2. The "Institute for Research and Elimination of the Jewish Influence on German Church Life" 1939–1945 (= Studies on Church and Israel 25/2). Berlin 2010, pp. 476-482, 748 f.
- ↑ “We went astray” - Evangelical Church reminds us with a memorial of “De-Judaism Institute”. In: MDR - Religion and Society of May 7, 2019 (accessed June 29, 2019); Memorial installation commemorates the “Entjudungsinstitut”. Berliner Morgenpost , May 6, 2019, archived from the original on June 29, 2019 . .
- ^ Katja Schmidberger: Memorial in Eisenach as a place of learning and a place of repentance. In: Thüringische Landeszeitung , May 7, 2019 (accessed June 29, 2019); Memorial in Eisenach is reminiscent of the “Entjudungsinstitut”. Homepage of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (accessed June 29, 2019).
- ↑ Dark Church History. In: Glaube und Heimat , No. 18, May 5, 2019, p. 5.
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 17.5 ″ N , 10 ° 19 ′ 42.3 ″ E