Should They Preserve It?

Mr.Webs · Apr 19, 2006

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2078310_1,00.html

Priests plan jumble sales to help save Nazi church for posterity
From Roger Boyes in Berlin

A GROUP of German priests and parishioners have begun a politically sensitive fundraising campaign to save the countrys last Nazi-era church.
The Martin Luther Memorial Church in Berlin has embarrassed the authorities for six decades.

The image of a Nazi storm trooper side by side with Jesus Christ has been carved into the pulpit, the entrance is lit by a chandelier in the shape of an iron cross and the organ was used to stir the spirits at a torch-lit Nuremberg rally.

Throughout the church, consecrated in 1933, there are bare patches where swastikas, illegal since the end of the war, have been ripped out.

There was a bust of Adolf Hitler in the nave, Isolde Boehm, dean of the church, said. A carved face of Hitler has been replaced by one of Martin Luther. There is even a rumour that the church was supposed to be called the Adolf Hitler Church.

The Protestant church smelling of damp and spine-chillingly cold has been closed for the past year because tiles were falling off the tower.

The priests Frau Boehm and the Reverend Malte Jungnickel have applied to have the church declared a listed building and are lobbying the Government to come up with 3 million (£2 million) to fund the restoration.

There is no other church in Germany that is so obviously fascist-designed, said Ilse Klein, a parish councillor and local historian. Fundraising activities to preserve this fascist monument are likely to include bring-and-buy sales and sponsored runs.

Look at the face of Christ on the cross, Herr Jungnickel said. It is the face of a victorious Aryan, with a bodybuilders frame, not the suffering Jesus.

The exterior of the church was designed in the Bauhaus style in 1929, before the Nazis came to power. The problem, however, lies with the interior: the big fascist-style sweep of the nave and the Nazi iconography carved into every niche.

So far, thank God, the neo-Nazis have not discovered the church as a place of pilgrimage, Frau Boehm said.

The ethical dilemma of preserving Nazi iconography has been gripping German art critics. Debate has also been raging as to how much from the Nazi era should be cleared away or allowed to stay.

The World Cup final this summer will be played in the Berlin stadium designed for the 1936 Olympics. Part of the German Foreign Ministry used to be the Nazi central bank, while the Finance Ministry served as Hermann Goerings air force headquarters with a roof so broad that he could land aircraft on it.

A Nazi church, however, is even more politically sensitive: it highlights how clearly the Protestant Church aligned itself to Hitler.

In 1932 Nazis were encouraged to become German Christians and joined their local parishes to undermine the Churchs power to resist the dictatorship.
Click to expand...

While the what it represents is horrible, it is still a hostorical artifact nonetheless. What do you think?

PhotoJones · Apr 19, 2006

i think it should be kept and preserved. as both a reminder, and as a historic site. i'm sure the architecture is beautiful.

Mentok · Apr 19, 2006

Hell yeah, keep it.

You cant pretend like the whole NAZI thing didnt happen.

Mentok · Apr 19, 2006

The image of a Nazi storm trooper side by side with Jesus Christ has been carved into the pulpit

I want to see that now.

Mentok · Apr 19, 2006

Check it out! Nazis had time machines

More photos...

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MTI5NDEmbnI9MQ_3_3,00.html

Mr.Webs · Apr 19, 2006

What in the world is a German doing in Bethlehem?

Mentok · Apr 19, 2006

Mr.Webs said:

What in the world is a German doing in Bethlehem?
Click to expand...

Time machine dude

The real question is... Why is he covering his nuts?

Ultimate Doom · Apr 19, 2006

Mentok said:

Check it out! Nazis had time machines

More photos...

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,PB64-SUQ9MTI5NDEmbnI9MQ_3_3,00.html
Click to expand...

ZOMG how do they have time machines!?

THiS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR INDIANA JONES AND SEAN CONNERY TO INVESTIGATE!!!

8Ball2/JanG5 · Apr 19, 2006

DER NETZHT HAUTE AUF AUSCHWETZ MEINEN KAUMPTFER SLOGHAN.

Woah, was I asleep?

Cyclops · Apr 19, 2006

"Junior! Look! The Nat-sheesh are powering up their time machine!"

Mentok · Apr 19, 2006

Nazis. I hate these guys. - Indy.

ampersand · Apr 19, 2006

There needs to be a Hellboy comic based in that church.

NDX · Apr 19, 2006

They need to turn this beautiful church into a museum. Can't let any of those carvings go to waste. As long as the building doesn't fall under it's own weight, that is.

Motown Marvel · Apr 19, 2006

why would there be a christian nazi church? i thought the nazi's practiced paganism?

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