ZPS installation: Jewish activists wanted to dismantle controversial Holocaust memorial

Jewish activists in Berlin have started to dismantle the controversial steel pillar of the artist collective "Center for Political Beauty" (ZPS). A group of about 20 people tried to dismantle the plant opposite the Reichstag building. When the police arrived, the demolition work was interrupted. According to its own information, the ZPS was not informed about the campaign and wants to take action against the dismantling.

The column of artists, known for its controversial actions, set up the column in early December. It also wants the installation to be understood as a warning to the Union parties about working with the AfD.

Above all, however, the action received strong criticism because the artists claimed that the pillar contains ashes from victims of the Holocaust. The ZPS was accused of disregarding the Jewish religious law. It stipulates that a corpse must be treated with respect and completely buried - for all eternity.

The journalist Johannes C. Bockenheimer, for example, recalled that in the Holocaust the contempt of German perpetrators for their Jewish victims went beyond death by the Germans burning the bodies of the Jews. "Now, decades later, a few grandchildren of the German perpetrators consider it an opportune idea to dig up the ashes of the Jews who were abused during their lifetime and afterwards and to take them for political action." Read a comment on the topic here.

The city district administration had given the responsible persons a deadline for removing the now concrete pillar by December 20. The ZPS has objected to this.