A crucifix at Auschwitz and an artists conception

[Christopher D Anderson]

I was pastor at Samuel Church in Muskegon MI for 20 years and during that time the congregation sponsored an annual Arts Festival which challenged participants to interpret biblical faith from a Christian perspective. One of the artists, Rita Miller, has done a number of wood sculptures of the prophets and saints and symbols. My favorite is of Samuel for obvious reasons. but it is also rather creative.
Rita completed a sculpture recently and sent me a picture of it. I am retired from full time parish ministry and actively involved in the Shoah Remembrance Committee and its programs. It is in regards to the Shoah that she sent me this picture of the sculpture and ask if I might be able to see its use as an educational piece.
When I saw it the image troubled me. The menorah is at the top of the cross; to the esus' right are shoes; to his left, Barb wire fencing; at the foot, children lined up for experimentation.
In talking with Rita I felt she was struggling with how the Church can speak faithfully, remembering and addressing the complicity in the shadow of Auschwitz.
I would appreciate your reflections, approaches, understanding. Does this work have a place in Holocaust education?

[Pier Marton]

Thanks for posting this as a subject of discussion.
There are various issues for me that need to be distinguished and discussed separately.

First, whenever artists/filmmakers use symbols, it is in my view a shortcut, and not art per se.
I will give you a quote by the playwright Beckett to say it more clearly:
His writing is not about something, it is that something itself. Samuel Beckett

Second, the crucifix as used by a Christian artist to possibly "speak to Jews" (unlike Chagall's Christ figure, with a prayer shawl, a tallis - reflecting Jesus' Jewish identity) is a loaded topic/path:
Jews have had to survive innumerable attempts to convert them, to accept the crucifix. When I traveled in Europe, where I grew up, it was a common sight to enter a hotel room and have a crucifix in the room (I think this has changed). A book that speaks about some of this kind of tension is "The Mezuzah in the Madonna's Foot".
So, it is a very loaded topic and path to engage upon. I would only use this work to address some of the issues described above.

[Dana Humphrey]

WOW. This image is very powerful for me, yet I don't quite understand it. As a Christian, I have always believed that my God is a kind, loving God and in the end, He will not keep the Jews from entering the Kingdom of Heaven because they, following their faith (which was Jesus' faith) have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah. I believe with all my heart that He will not turn his back (even though many Christians feel otherwise).

So, when I see this image of Christ, along with the menorah and the images of the camps, I see several things:
1. Jesus suffering, the Jews suffering, and Him suffering with them
2. I see Jesus honoring the Jews and their faith (menorah)
3. I see the the church, taking responsibility for standing by.

Now, these are my initial thoughts, and I'm sure there will be more! This is very complicated!

As a middle school teacher, I don't think I would ever use this image in my classroom. First, because of the religious overtone and second, because of the cognitive level of my students. I could see this used in a religion class though.

I'll be interested in hearing other responses!

[Darryle Clott]

I would shy away from using this in my classes even at the university level. It has nothing to do with combining the Jewish Christian ideas. It is more because like Dana, I don't really understand it, or it doesn't grab me or speak to me. There are other artists whose work I really like and find powerful. Two examples are the work of David Olere & Samual Bak. By the way several members of the Ning were privileged to hear Bak speak at Yad Vashem this summer. As he talked about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, he did a power point which included several of his paintings, many of "The Little Boy in the Warsaw Ghetto with his Hands up" ( I cannot remember the actual title.) HIs paintings absolutely grab me & force me to confront my feelings.

[Christopher D Anderson]

I have still not thought through this image totally, much less how and if I would employ it. Right now I am sitting in the library of the Lutheran Seminary in Bratislava Slovakia waiting to go with one of my former students to Rabbi Sofer memorial, and to the Jewish center here. I know what unfolded in this vibrant religious community when the Nazis came and the complicity of the church and the head of the Slovak government at the time and Tisos vocation as a priest.
There is much to do with children in the piece and the artist is fully aware of the many paintings and renditions of children at the feet of Jesus and Jesus holding the child in his hands. This image stands in sharp contrast to those more pastoral scenes.
If I were to employ this image it would be for Christians to learn 1. to first draw out what the participants see in this image after spending time with it 2. the sign of the cross as one which provoked and provokes fear among Jews especially in countries where it is assumed that the state is Christian and is held by Christians to be a sign of triumph 3. the contrasting of this image and the pastoral Jesus gathering the children and the appropriateness of the crucifix in this situation.

I think I would employ the image to heighten awareness of the inability of Christians and the Church to dispose of the Constantinian model of the slogan in this sign go forth and conquer.

And second, I would not embark on this course of study and reflection except to do so with a Rabbi.

The something itself is still disturbing. And I do not think disturbing is bad. I think Christians need to be disturbed or a the very least, the Christian construct of the world needs some disturbing.

Darryle Clott said:

I would shy away from using this in my classes even at the university level. It has nothing to do with combining the Jewish Christian ideas. It is more because like Dana, I don't really understand it, or it doesn't grab me or speak to me. There are other artists whose work I really like and find powerful. Two examples are the work of David Olere & Samual Bak. By the way several members of the Ning were privileged to hear Bak speak at Yad Vashem this summer. As he talked about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor, he did a power point which included several of his paintings, many of "The Little Boy in the Warsaw Ghetto with his Hands up" ( I cannot remember the actual title.) HIs paintings absolutely grab me & force me to confront my feelings.

[Richard Gair]

I agree with Daryll...even at the college level I would not use this. I do use art and other media in my Literature and Multimedia of the Holocaust course at the college. I use the art of David Olere and Samuel Bak as she points out because they are more reflective of the suffering from a Jewish-victim perspective. If we are educating students about the roots of antisemirism and the indirect road to Auschwitz then we are already exposing them to Christianiy's part in the proprgation of antisemitism through the ages and how the Nazi acts often paralleld those actions of the chuch. It is not necessary to impose the image of that in such a forceful and somewhat artificial manner. Take a look at the art lessons I have attached which I find very powerful when students respond to them.
Rich

[Richard Gair]

Richard Gair said:

I agree with Daryll...even at the college level I would not use this. I do use art and other media in my Literature and Multimedia of the Holocaust course at the college. I use the art of David Olere and Samuel Bak as she points out because they are more reflective of the suffering from a Jewish-victim perspective. If we are educating students about the roots of antisemirism and the indirect road to Auschwitz then we are already exposing them to Christianiy's part in the proprgation of antisemitism through the ages and how the Nazi acts often paralleld those actions of the chuch. It is not necessary to impose the image of that in such a forceful and somewhat artificial manner. Take a look at the art lessons I have attached which I find very powerful when students respond to them.
Rich