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Jonathan Schwab and Yael Steiner confront the Judensau, a grotesque medieval motif that fuses Jews with pigs in obscene, degrading scenes carved straight into churches and cathedrals. They trace how this single vile image taught generations to see Jews not as human beings but as something filthy, animal, and disposable.
From a 13th century column in Brandenburg to the choir stalls of Cologne and Luther’s Wittenberg church, they follow this stonebound hatred across eight centuries, asking what it means when a symbol of pure contempt is still defended as “heritage.” Along the way, they probe how visual culture outlives theology, how dehumanization becomes architecture, and how, for worse, this too has become a Jewish symbol.
If you like this show, please write a review wherever you get your podcasts. And be in touch. Write to us at nerds@unpacked.media. We want to hear from you.
Click here for Isaiah Shachar’s book, The Judensau.
Click here for Daniel Leeson’s work on The Judensau.
Click here to see images of the Judensau on the church in Wittenberg.
Click here for additional images of the Judensau.
Click here to see images of the Judensau in Cologne.
Click here for a news article about the court order to keep the Judensau in Wittenberg.
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