White Crucifixion and Listening to the Cockerel: Marc Chagall

In White Crucifixion, Chagall documents the deliberate targetingof Jews inNaziGermany thatwas theprelude to theHolocaust (Figure 1). Chagall uses religious imagerywhenhedepicts Christ on the Cross as the central figure, not as the Christian savior but as a Jewishmartyr.2 Thus, Chagall brings the Crucifixion to bear on contemporary Jewish tragedy. He starkly depicts Christ’s martyrdom as a Jew whose sacrifice speaks to the unspeakable suffering of Jews brought about by Nazi ideology. Chagall was reacting to events that took place in 1938, a year that marked the renewed persecution of Jews inGermany. It beganwith the registrationandmarkingof Jewishbusinessesandwas followedby the forceduseof thenames Abraham and Sarah for men and women and the required stamping of passports with a “J.” Concurrently that June and again in August, synagogues were destroyed in Munich and Nuremberg. The destruction reached its climax on the night of November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht (Crystal Night, or Night of BrokenGlass),whenmore than7000Jewish-ownedstoresand buildings had their windows broken, when more than 1000 synagoguesweredesecrated,andwhenmore than30 000Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and at least 90 were killed. Historically, Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the Holocaust. InWhite Crucifixion, Chagall documents the desecration of 1938 and calls the world to witness. In this painting, light shinesdown fromabove to illuminatebothChrist on theCross and amenorah (a symbol of the Jewish faith) at the foot of the Cross. Both the head of Jesus and themenorah (an ornamentalmenorahwith6candles, 1 ofwhich is extinguished) are surrounded by a halo of light. To signify his Jewishness, instead ofa typical loincloth, Jesuswearsa fringedJewishprayer shawl with 2 black stripes across it. Rather than a crown of thorns, hewears awhite head cloth. The Roman’s traditional derogatory Latin inscription INRI (“Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”) appearsabovehishead.Beneath it is theAramaic (a language spoken by Jews) translation Yeshu HaNotzri Malcha D'Yehudai in Hebrew characters. According to Ziva Amishai-Maisels,2 Chagall’s Aramaic spelling was a play on words because HaNotzri is more usuallyused tomean“theChristian,” rather thaneither “theNazarene” or “the man from Nazareth.”2(p139) In the Book of Acts, Nazorean is used to refer to a follower of Jesus (ie, a Christian rather than an inhabitant of a city), and in modern Hebrew, Notzrim is theword forChristian.Thus,Chagall’sAramaicdesignation indicateshis recognitionof Jesus’ importance toboth Christians and Jews. Hovering above the Cross are 4 alarmed figures inmourning (3 biblical patriarchs and 1matriarch)who express anguish at the tumult beneath them. Jesus’ left hand reaches out toward a pillaged and burning synagogue. Flames leapout todestroy theTorahark.Remnants of the pillaging are shown—a torn prayer book, an overturned chair, a lamp, a menorah, and, sadly, a burning Torah scroll. In the lower right side, a “Wandering Jew” (emblematic of the fate of the Jewish nation) is carrying a sack on his back, seeking toescape.Threebearded Jewishmenare shown in the lower left side.Onewipesawayhis tears.Anotherwears anunreadable sign (originally with the words Ich bin Jude [I am a Jew]). A third man holds a rescued Torah scroll tightly in his arms. To the far left, houses are burning. An unburied body lies among tombstones in a cemetery.Dispiritedvillagers sit in the snow; an unused fiddle lies on the ground beside them. Others seek to escape in an immobile, overcrowded boat with a Marc Chagall (1887-1985), French.White Crucifixion, 1938. Oil on canvas, 154.6 × 140 cm (607⁄8 × 551⁄16 in). Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Gift of Alfred S. Alschuler. © 2014 Artists Rights Society, New York, NY/ADAGP, Paris, France.