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meA Nativity Scene without the Wise Men: Members of the Ulm Minster Community will not find Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar in the manger under the window of peace this year. The parish council has decided this year to install the manger based on the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, without kings from the East. Like many visitors to the church, church councils take offense at Melchior’s greatly exaggerated description. In fact, Melchior is portrayed by sculptor Martin Scheible according to outdated stereotypes, namely, with puffy lips, overweight, and a gold ring on his foot.
As a result of the debate over racism, people were convinced that these cradle figures would no longer be shown, said Ulm dean Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl. “It’s not about the black king, it’s about the way he presents himself. Melchor is shown grimacing and in a grotesque posture. A Moorish boy also serves as a trailer for a white king. And another image shows a black boy riding a donkey and a monkey whispering something to him, “Gohl said.
Of course, you are aware that the figures created by the artist Martin Scheible a hundred years ago are represented in an expressionist way. “But there must be a limit to character overdrawing if people feel discriminated against.” For example, Gohl names gospel singer Siyou Isabelle Ngnoubamdjum from Cameroon. She felt the figure was “racist and in no way grateful.”
Discussion also from a historical point of view of art
The dean of the Münster community with 2,500 community members wants to openly discuss racism in the coming months. In church care facilities there are always instances where individual residents refuse to be treated by nurses or geriatric care workers from Africa. “For Christians human dignity applies, for us there can be no differences. Anything else would be against the gospel, ”said the dean.
In the next year, the parish wants to discuss the history of the impact of racism and also the importance of the nativity scene in terms of art history. The pastor wants to invite art historians and Baden-Württemberg anti-Semitism officer Michael Blume to give a lecture. The crib is a gift from the Mößner family in Ulm, and the donor family should also be included in the discussions.
Overloaded with abusive emails
After the discussion in the United States, a debate on the crib figures could not be avoided. “If we had not decided now, it would have been discussed at Christmas, but it should be separated.” Despite his well-founded decision, the parish was overwhelmed with irrelevant vicious emails at the beginning of the week. The parish is preparing the ground for a “third socialist dictatorship,” he said in an email. Another reviewer wrote: Due to a “ridiculous debate on racism” in the United States, “German cultural property” is now being abolished. The dean and his staff were dismayed by the level of some of the lyrics.
