Buildings, like books, have their own destiny. Here, for example, is the Stadtschloss in Berlin, the city palace of the Electors of Brandenburg and then the Prussian kings, rebuilt again and again according to the tastes of different eras, fulfilling different functions. The baroque palace, built on the Italian model and decorated with a giant dome, remained the last version until the end of the Second World War, when it was hit by a bomb. It could have been restored, but the East Berlin comrades decided to demolish it. All protests were in vain: the burdened German past had to be completely erased together with the unburdened. On the site of the palace, on the large square called Marx-Engels Square, Walter Ulbricht gave a speech, and here the people of the Endeká drank their free beer at the party celebrations.
Berlin is a windy region, it rains a lot, so the comrades decided it would be better to retreat to a covered place, so they built the Palace of the Democratic Republic on the square. The people's chamber met here, the party events took place here, the building was equipped with all the beauty of socialist modernity. The asbestos embedded in the steel structure disrupted the health of the people from the inside, the huge glass surface shone from the outside, reflecting the sacred splendor of the cathedral opposite. Who knows what disruptive intent was behind this?
After German reunification, the building was first closed for health reasons, then reopened as a party venue, until the Bundestag voted to demolish it and recycle the area. Of course, all this was preceded by a decade-long social debate, first there were demonstrations against the demolition, then there were demonstrations against the recycling. It was possible to vote and come up with ideas according to the democratic rules of the game. In the end, the decision-makers decided to faithfully reconstruct the facade of the original baroque palace on three sides of the building, the interior of the building and the side facing the Spree will be modernized, the stronghold of culture and science, with the politically neutral name Humboldt Forum. A Patyomkin building erected in German fashion, if you can still say that in the world of anti-Russian sanctions in Berlin.
The government commissioner for construction was not attentive enough, so it may have happened that for the sake of historical fidelity, the cross was added to the top of the dome, and the text running at the bottom of the dome was put back in place with gold letters. The biblical quote is easy to read: "There is no salvation in anything else, (...) but in the name of Jesus to the glory of God the Father. At the name of Jesus, let every knee bow, both in heaven and on earth and in the underworld, because only Jesus Christ is Lord." It did not occur to the restorers that the inscription contained symbols of Christian colonial rule. They also only saw the authentic historical reconstruction in the cross on the dome. However, in the world of doublethink, they could have perceived BLM's exclusion and humiliation, as the African critics of the inscription do. According to the cosmopolitans, the Christian image does not fit the facade of the Humboldt Forum, a universal museum and exhibition center.
The biblical quote is the builder IV. It was the motto of King William of Prussia, the humility of the worldly ruler before the divine power. I don't think anyone would have thought of making a problem with this if the German government commissioner for culture and media affairs, Claudia Roth, hadn't caught the eye of the inscription. Claudia Roth believes that Christian symbols are symbols of colonialism, are outdated, exclude other religions, and therefore offend the sensibilities of many. Moreover, they do not express the openness of today's Germany to the world. As he declared this, the institutions of the Humboldt Forum immediately placed a sign next to the dome, letting the country and the world know that they distance themselves from Christianity's claim to exclusive rule, from everything that the inscription expresses. There, in the stronghold of German science and culture, they really think in a progressive way!
It is an old mistake if progressive thinking covers incomplete universal knowledge and gaps in textual interpretation. The quote taken from the apostle Paul called the Philippians to bow the knee only to Christ, not to the Roman emperor. In other words, he gave people freedom of choice in worldly matters. What can we expect from ordinary football players who kneel before a game out of respect for prominent representatives of the BLM movement or out of an artificial sense of guilt? They must not have read the Bible, but apparently neither did the progressives, which is why they misinterpreted, for example, the Hungarians' behavior based on Christian traditions.
Claudia Roth earned her cultural government appointment with her long and loyal career for the Greens. He never had too much to do with culture, in his youth he studied for two semesters at the university. He thought that instead of knowledge, he would rather gain experience in the world of alternative art and politics. There is no problem with this, he brings roughly the same level as the majority of the current members of the German government, incomplete studies, incompetence, professional incompetence, combined with strong political commitment. The political slogan today is "Progressive forces of the world, unite!"
Perhaps the temporary removal of the five-hundred-year-old cross from the Münster town hall is also due to his expert work. Due to the shortness of time, no other symbols were placed there, although who knows whether the two huge seven-branched candlesticks were left in the room because they thought they were menorahs, or because the association did not even occur to them.
Attacking Jewish culture is not yet part of the art project that the German government commissioner for culture is working on. At the moment, he is concentrating on the reconstructed inscription, he wants to temporarily display alternative, commenting and reflective texts in place of the biblical quotation. I think they keep the light blue background and the gold letters to express their solidarity with the Ukrainians in this way.
It is not known what will be the fate of the inscription. Because according to a poll, 98 percent of Germans do not think it is a good idea to cover up the biblical quote. Is there still democracy in Germany? As a Hungarian, I would add to the story that we have already experienced similar things here in the Carpathian Basin, only then, proletarians of the world, unite! in the context of a password.
Source: Magyar Hírlap/The author is a historian
Featured image: berlin.de
