German court says bell dedicated to Hitler can stay in church

A German appeals court rejects the complaint of a Jewish man against a town’s decision to allow a bell dedicated to Adolf Hitler to continue to hang in a church tower.

The Koblenz state court upholds a lower court’s rejection of the complaint from the unidentified relative of Holocaust survivors, who argued the bell was a “mockery and ridicule of the victims of Hitler’s terror.”

The Herxheim am Berg council voted last year to preserve the bell, which carries the inscription “Everything for the Fatherland — Adolf Hitler” above a swastika. It also announced plans to place an explanatory plaque nearby in the hope of sparking dialogue about violence and injustice.

The Koblenz court finds the response appropriate, saying the town wasn’t trying to downplay the Holocaust.

— AP