The ''Judensau'' at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral is a medieval, antisemitic wood carving at the side of one of the seats in the choir of

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese o ...

. It was produced between 1308 and 1311. It shows a '' Jews' sow,''Concordat Watch
The Judensau (Jews' sow) on mediaeval churches.
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folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

image of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s in obscene contact with a large female

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

, which in

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

is an

unclean animal In some religions, an unclean animal is an animal whose consumption or handling is taboo. According to these religions, persons who handle such animals may need to ritually purify themselves to get rid of their uncleanliness. Judaism In Jud ...

. It is one of the oldest representations of this theme. Directly beside is another antisemitic motif, which is generally interpreted as an illustration of the

blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...

legend. This combination is only known from one other case, a painting from the 15th century at the Old Bridge in Frankfurt. The cathedral chapter and mason's lodge of the cathedral want to keep and display the wood carvings at their original position. This decision has been controversially discussed and criticised by parts of the public on several occasions, although the sculptures may only be accessed by permission within bespoke guided tours.

Location

Cologne Cathedral floor plan Hasak 1911 Judensau marked

The

choir stall A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...

consists of wooden seats. Two longitudinal rows of them are installed each on the northern and southern side of the cathedral choir, just in front of the chancel screens. The front rows are divided in two equal parts each, to provide access to the row behind. The woodcarvings of ''

Judensau A ''Judensau'' (German for "Jews' sow") is a folk art image of Jews in obscene contact with a large sow (female pig), which in Judaism is an unclean animal, that appeared during the 13th century in Germany and some other European countries; i ...

'' and of the

are shown on the eastern, i.e. on the right hand side of the northern walkway. This area is normally roped-off, and may only be accessed on special occasions with a tour guide.

Manufacture

The choir stall of Cologne Cathedral is with 104 seats one of the largest in Germany. It was carved from 1308 to 1311 by craftsmen, whose names are not known anymore. The interior construction of the choir was completed by 1300, when the

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

s were finished. The interior decoration was built subsequently, until the choir was inaugurated on 27 September 1322. Some of the 500 figures and ornaments were made by craftsmen from the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

area or the

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gra ...

, who were specialised in

stone mason In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

ry and/or

wood carving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

. Others show by a mix-up of styles and their blunt finish that they were made by

laborer A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

s or

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

s. The ''Judensau'' and the other two wood carvings were probably made by a local man due to their unelaborate design and the unusual motif.

Description

The ''

'' and

motifs are wooden

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s, which fill side-by-side two quatrefoils. The quatrefoil on the left hand side shows three men, who can be distinguished as Jews by their

Jewish hat The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, ''Judenhut'' ( German) or Latin ''pileus cornutus'' ("horned skullcap"), was a cone-shaped pointed hat, often white or yellow, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe. Initially worn by choice, its wearing wa ...

s. One of them lifts up the rear end of the pig, one feeds it and one sucks at one of its

teat A teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals from which milk flows or is ejected for the purpose of feeding young. In many mammals the teat projects from the udder. The number of teats varies by mammalian species and often corr ...

s. The quatrefoil on the right hand side shows two Jews, who empty a tub, out of which a slaughtered pig and three piglets fall. The Jew on the right hand side leads a young boy to the scene, who can be distinguished as Christian because of a hint of a

halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

. A third relief on the other side of the armrest may be associated by its location and its motif with the other two. On a

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

of the inner armrest are shown two pigs, which eat the leaves of an acorn. One of the two pigs jumped-up onto its rear legs and a third one sucks on one of its teats. A monk observes the scene from the background partially covered by a

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an Ion ...

Symbolism

The pig symbolises gluttony,

vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

or the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

in early Christian iconography. It was only disrespectfully associated with Jews in the 9th century. The caricature of Jews as pigs or Jews sucking at the teats or anus of a pig makes reference to the kashrut, according to which the consumption of pig products is prohibited. The historian

Heribert Reiners Heribert Reiners (23 August 1884 – 4 June 1960) was a German art historian and academic teacher at the Universities in Bonn and Fribourg. Life Born in Lobberich''Die rheinischen Chorgestühle der Frühgotik. Ein Kapitel der Rezeption der Got ...

described in 1909 the connection between the two motifs at the front. He interpreted that the Jews on the right hand side throw away the pork, which had been given to them by others, to look as if they were kosher. Their true immoderateness was shown in the scene on the left hand side, where they drink the milk of the pig. Bernhard von Tieschowitz explained the scenes in 1930, while he highlighted that they are controversely interpreted. He concluded that both of them showed the

, an accusation that Jews kidnapped and murdered the children of Christians in order to use their blood as part of their religious rituals during Jewish holidays. The Israeli art historian Isaiah Shachar interprets the scene on the right hand side, as if the Jews throw away the pork meat and kidnap a Christian child to be eaten. It could be a depiction of the alleged ritual murder of

Werner of Oberwesel Werner of Oberwesel (also known as Werner of Bacharach or Werner of Womrath; 1271 – 1287) was a 16-year-old boy whose unexplained death was blamed on Jews, leading to revenge killings of Jews across Europe. He was venerated as a Christian ...

, who was killed in 1287. Shachar sees all three scenes relating to each other as a representation of vice and gluttony. Virtue opposes vice on many occasions in the choir stalls. In this case we find directly opposite two reliefs with the ''

Judgment of Solomon The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which Solomon ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting the baby be cut in tw ...

'' as a symbol for justice. The left panel shown the well-known story of splitting the baby. The one on the right hand side shows the less known motif of shooting the dead father. This motif stems from the time around 400 AD as an illustration of the honest distribution of property in the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

. For the Jews, the wise judge was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

instead of the figure of Solomon.

Other antisemitic sculptures at Cologne Cathedral

2017-06-16-Wasserspeier Judensau Kölner Dom-2466

On the back of the

Shrine of the Three Kings The Shrine of the Three Kings (German ''Dreikönigsschrein'' or ''Der Dreikönigenschrein''), Tomb of the Three Kings, or Tomb of the Three Magi is a reliquary traditionally believed to contain the bones of the Biblical Magi, also known as the Th ...

(1190–1225) is a scene, which shows the

flagellation Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

of Jesus Christ by two

henchmen A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies pri ...

with

s. It is interpreted not because of the hats, but because of the caricature-like distorted faces of the henchmen. It is probably one of the first examples of overemphasised Jewish noses as an anti-Jewish stereotype. An exterior cornice of one of the chapels of the cathedral is a

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

, which shows a squatting pig. At its teats suckles a male figurine, which depicts a Jew. It dates from around 1280.

Controversy around the ''Judensau''

In 2005, the Munich-based artists Wolfram P. Kastner and Günter Wangerin requested emphatically to remove the ''Judensau'', or at least put up a sign with an explanation. In addition, they wanted two pieces of stone masonry approximately tall, depicting two swastikas, to be removed. Kastner made repeated requests for their removal and staged acts of protest against the Christian church. The artists placed signs in front of Cologne Cathedral, in which they claimed "all Christians lie" (''alle Christen lügen''). The cathedral chapter and

Barbara Schock-Werner Barbara Schock-Werner (born 23 July 1947, Ludwigsburg) is a German architect, and was until her retirement end of August 2012 the master builder at Cologne Cathedral with overall responsibility for conservation and restoration work. With the offi ...

, the head of the cathedral workshop, raised their opinion that the anti-Jewish wood carvings could not be removed from the choir stalls. An explanatory sign was not acceptable, because Cologne Cathedral was a church and not a museum. In addition they explained that the choir stall with the reliefs was not accessible to the public. In 2006, the controversy triggered a conference by the cathedral workshop in collaboration with the Karl-Rahner-Akademie with the title "Cologne Cathedral and 'the Jews (). In 2008, the cathedral workshop and the Zentral-Dombau-Verein zu Köln dedicated a complete issue of the Kölner Domblatt to this topic and the results of the conference.

Literature

* Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' Text and inventory (''Jahrbuch 1986/1987 des Rheinischen Vereins für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz''). Neuss: Neusser Druckerei und Verlag 1987, . * Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl'' (''Meisterwerke des Kölner Domes 3''). Verlag Kölner Dom, Köln 1995, (48 pages, many detailed photos). * Ulrike Brinkmann and Rolf Lauer: ''Judendarstellungen im Kölner Dom.'' In: ''Kölner Domblatt'' 2008, 73rd Volume, pages 13–58, , . * Georg Bönisch: ''Bartholomäusnacht am Rhein''. In: ''Spiegel Geschichte'' 2015, Heft 1, pages 80–83, , PDF 1,4 MB. * Bernd Wacker and Rolf Lauer (editors): ''Der Kölner Dom und ›die Juden‹.'' Conference of the Karl Rahner Akademie Köln in collaboration with the mason's lodge of Cologne from 18 to 19 November 2006. (Kölner Domblatt 2008, 73rd Volume). Cologne: Verlag Kölner Dom, . * Isaiah Shachar: ''The Judensau. A Medieval Anti-Jewish Motif and its History.'' Warburg Institute, London 1974, . * Bernhard von Tieschowitz: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes.'' Marburg: Verlag des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars der Universität Marburg 1930.

External links

* Georg Bönisch: , PDF 1,4 MB, retrieved 18 July 2017. Über den ersten beiden Seiten ein aktuelles Farbfoto der "Judensau". * Marc Steinmann
Wange NC Westen, Judensau
auf www.koelner-dom.de, downloaded on 7 October 2017.

References

Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' Textband, S. 11–23. Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' Textband, S. 59–66. Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' Textband, S. 96. Ulrike Bergmann: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' Textband, S. 107. Ulrike Brinkmann und Rolf Lauer: ''Judendarstellungen im Kölner Dom.'' In: Bernd Wacker und Rolf Lauer (Hrsg.): ''Der Kölner Dom und ›die Juden‹'', S. 13–58. Susanne Gannott:
Sauerei im Dom
'' In: ''die tageszeitung'' 19 November 2005, S. 4. Wolfram P. Kastner: ''Alle Christen lügen.'' Flugblatt, undatiert, c. 2005
Online PDF
96 kB. Sandra Kiepels:
Kölner Domblatt: Der Kölner Dom und die Juden
'' In: ''Kölner Stadtanzeiger'' 19 December 2008. Marten Marquardt: ''Judenfeindschaft in der christlichen Kunst am Beispiel der Kölner Judensau.'' In: ''epd Dokumentation,'' Nr. 10 3 March 2003, S. 40–45
Online PDF
(gesamter Band), 1,1 MB. Heribert Reiners: ''Die rheinischen Chorgestühle der Frühgotik. Ein Kapitel der Rezeption der Gotik in Deutschland'' (= ''Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, 113. Heft''). Heitz & Mündel, Straßburg 1909, S. 64, Tafel XIX, , PDF 9,5 MB. Isaiah Shachar: ''The Judensau,'' S. 24–25, Fußnoten S. 78–79, Tafeln 16b und 17. Bernhard von Tieschowitz: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' S. 9, Tafel 15. Bernhard von Tieschowitz: ''Das Chorgestühl des Kölner Domes,'' S. 10, Tafel 21b. {{Coord, 50.941359, N, 6.958450, E, display=title, format=dms Antisemitism in Germany Cologne Cathedral Jews and Judaism in Cologne Judensau Pigs