Documenta, an international contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, has new exhibitions that are perceived as anti-Semitic. These are drawings that partly show anti-Jewish stereotypes in the image of Israeli soldiers, according to the Thursday, July 28, newspaper Die Welt. According to the publication, the German-Jewish association Werteinitiative drew attention to these drawings.

In response to a request from Die Welt, documenta’s management stated that the works that drew attention were thoroughly reviewed. “In the verification process, a clear reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was found, but Jews as such are not portrayed in them,” said an official representative of the exhibition. According to her, the “contextualization of the exhibition” is already planned. However, there are no plans to carry out a comprehensive review of the exhibited works on anti-Semitic grounds, the speaker explained.

Tough criticism of exposure management

The representative of the parliamentary faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) for cultural policy Helge Lind (Helge Lindh) criticized the controversial designs. They “clearly resemble typical Nazi designs,” she told Die Welt. Lind requires German and foreign experts to carry out a thorough verification and examination of all artworks displayed in the documenta on anti-Semitic grounds.

Documenta’s leadership “does not take anti-Semitism seriously, perhaps even tolerates it,” says Marlene Schönberger, in charge of combating anti-Semitism in the Soyuz-90/Verdes parliamentary faction.

Criticisms were also voiced by the conservative bloc in the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU). “Attempts to hide inhuman anti-Semitism under the label of artistic freedom are unacceptable,” said Dorothee Bär, vice president of the CDU/CSU parliamentary faction. “It’s extremely important that a check is done,” she stressed.

Elio Adler of the Werteinitiative Association called it “a slap in the face” that documenta leaders have no plans to examine the exhibits. According to him, this is in line with the way documenta treats anti-Semitism. “They are clearly aware of its existence – and they treat it with tolerance,” Adler said.

It’s not the first scandal over allegations of anti-Semitism.

By mid-July, there was already a scandal in documenta, linked to the fact that the curators of the current exhibition, the Indonesian collective Ruangrupa, invited artists who support the cultural boycott of Israel to participate in the exhibition. After accusations of anti-Semitism were leveled against documenta organizers in connection with this, the general director of the art exhibition in Kassel, Sabine Schormann, was forced to resign.