Anti-semitism scandal at heart of German government leads to resignation

After the scandal about an anti-Semitic artwork at Documenta, the General Director of the exhibition, Sabine Schormann, has resigned.   There had already been calls for her resignation.  Among other things, she was accused of inactivity in dealing with the scandal.  The Documenta scandal had come to a head in recent days.  The Director General resigned from her post at a meeting of the Supervisory Board on Friday evening.  The Parliamentary groups of the government parties in the Bundestag welcomed the move.  But was the resignation too late?   

Roth and Schormann

There have been consequences four weeks after the opening of the art exhibition, Documenta where anti-Semitic agitprop images were shown.  Director General, Sabine Schormann is vacating her post, "by mutual agreement", according to a statement on Saturday.  This was decided at a meeting of the Documenta Supervisory Board, which met late into the night on Friday evening at a meeting chaired by Kassel's Mayor, Christian Geselle (SPD).  There has long been a bitter dispute about who bears responsibility for the anti-Semitism scandal.  There were calls for the resignation of both Schormann and Geselle.  But the Minister of State for Culture, Claudia Roth (Greens), has also been the subject of ongoing criticism.  Despite the decision of the Supervisory Board, she will continue to be questioned about the role she and her staff played in the decline of Germany's most important art festival.  Claudia Roth gave an official statement to the "Frankfurter Rundschau": "These are the first important steps towards a necessary re-positioning of this regular event which is so important for contemporary art worldwide." If Schormann had not resigned, Roth's position would probably have been under threat.

The future of Documenta is still in danger

Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, hopes for the beginning of a comprehensive reappraisal.  The resignation of Schormann was the "right step, but unfortunately no longer at the right time", Knobloch told WELT AM SONNTAG.  "The blatant hatred for Jews in some works of art and the extremely tough debate of the last few weeks have long since shown how difficult parts of the cultural scene still find it to name and fight anti-semitism."

The Federal Government's Anti-Semitism Commissioner, Felix Klein, also found  clear words.  The step was "overdue", he told "Bild am Sonntag".  He calls for further consequences regarding the role of the Israel boycott movement BDS at the Documenta: The BDS resolution of the Bundestag should in future "be the binding guideline for the use of public funds in the promotion of culture", Klein explained.  Parliament have classified the movement as anti-Semitic.  Linda Teuteberg, responsible for Jewish life within the FDP parliamentary group, agrees with Klein in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG.  The anti-semitism scandal at Documenta is an announcement and goes beyond the art show: "Israel-related anti-Semitism is unacceptable, as is trivialisation with reference to the 'global south'. There must be no political or cultural discount and no double standards."

Helge Lindh, cultural policy spokesperson for the SPD (Socialists) in the Bundestag, calls the termination of Schormann's employment contract an "overdue liberation from a vicious circle of mis-management and mis-communication".  In a globalised world, such scandals would be repeated if no active efforts were made to clarify the situation.  "I therefore call for a major debate on the complex of topics 'cultural institutions, post-colonialism/racism, global south, BDS, Middle East conflict, anti-Semitism', in which tough and painful straight talk will finally take place," Lindh told WELT AM SONNTAG.

Green Party Member of Parliament, Marlene Schönberger said, "Finally the Director General has decided to jump." She said that with each passing day, additional details had come to light that showed that Schormann had not consistently opposed anti-Semitism at any time.  "Now there must be an examination of the artworks." Erhard Grundl, cultural policy spokesman for the Green Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told WELT AM SONNTAG: " Ms. Schormann is clearing the way to finally be able to constructively debate how it was possible for anti-Semitic pictures to be exhibited at the Fifteenth Documenta.  This debate is overdue and it is crucial precisely because we must preserve Documenta as one of the most important art exhibitions in the world."

See also Roth called upon to resign