Jewish group describes statue’s placement – which was not opposed by Poland’s chief rabbi – as ‘senseless provocation’
A statue of Adolf Hitler praying on his knees has sparked controversy after going on display in the former Warsaw ghetto.
The artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, titled Him, has been installed in the Polish capital where thousands of Jews were killed or sent to their deaths by the Nazi regime.
The statue has attracted large numbers of visitors since its installation last month, but some organisations have criticised the decision to erect it in such a sensitive area.
One Jewish advocacy group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, described the statue’s placement as “a senseless provocation which insults the memory of the Nazis’ Jewish victims”.
“As far as the Jews were concerned, Hitler’s only ‘prayer’ was that they be wiped off the face of the earth,” the group’s Israel director, Efraim Zuroff, said in a statement.
The Hitler statue is visible from a hole in a wooden gate and viewers can only see the back of the small figure praying in a courtyard.
Cattelan has not made it clear what Hitler is praying for, although organisers of the exhibition in which it features claim the statue is meant to make people reflect on the nature of evil.
Fabio Cavallucci, director of the Centre for Contemporary Art, which oversaw the installation, said: “There is no intention from the side of the artist or the centre to insult Jewish memory.
“It’s an artwork that tries to speak about the situation of hidden evil everywhere.”
It is estimated that about 300,000 Jews who lived in the ghetto either died from hunger or disease or were sent to their deaths in concentration camps under the Nazi rule.
Poland‘s chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said he was consulted on the installation’s placement but did not oppose it because it conveyed a strong moral question by provoking the audience.
He said he was reassured by the organisers who told him the statue did not aim to rehabilitate Hitler but instead show that evil can present itself in the guise of a “sweet praying child”.
“I felt there could be educational value to it,” Schudrich added.
Categories: OP-ED, STRANGE NEWS, WORLD NEWS
Tags: Adolf Hitler, Efraim Zuroff, Maurizio Cattelan, Michael Schudrich, Nazism, Poland, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Warsaw ghetto
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Reblogged this on Lyn Leahz.
That is disgusting and outrageous, why would anyone do something so stupid??? This is where I thought this comment was posted! Oops!
Thought so, and Happy Sunday to you too.
That is funny! I promise, when I saw that on the other article, I had just posted this one, and I thought you must’ve been looking at that and thinking of it as you commented. LOL Good thing I’m not the only one who does stuff like that!
And I would have swore up and down that that comment was posted in the right place! Oooooops!!
This is a prime example of how an Antichrist can come to power. This was the way Hitler was portrayed as a savior, and the rest is history. He was not praying to our God though, it has been proven that the 3rd Reich was a satanic cult, practicing black magic and other satanic rituals. If one of the most powerful in history can do it, why does everyone not want to believe that our current era government doesn’t practice some of the same things? Just sayin.
Couldn’t agree with you more sister!
I agree, people are blind!