BENSHEIM, Germany, November 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

"Jerusalem is everywhere where there is beauty. And now Jerusalem is also in Bensheim near Frankfurt" - this is the message that the Frankfurt Rabbi Andrew Steiman conveyed in his greeting at the inauguration of the Rock of Peace on 21 October 2012 in Bensheim-Hochstädten. But Jerusalem did not stay in Bensheim for long. Only nine days after the inauguration, the Jerusalem Rock of Peace was desecrated. Thomas Zieringer, the initiator of the monument, said that this site also stood for the idea that remembrance should not be reserved for the past, but should signify that we are moving forward into a new concord in peace. The intention had been to build a monument for peace that links the idea of outer peace with that of inner peace.

What can we as a society do against hatred? - Zieringer asks. People stand by and watch while this society abandons its values bit by bit. "Oh well, that's vandalism for you these days." or: "Well, it may not be a Jewish monument but there are some elements in it that people still might interpret this way." If you can't even create something beautiful for others on your own land with your own money, because people take offence at the word "Jerusalem" written on a rock, does it not then seem logical to only look after number one? - the initiator of the peace memorial asks. Could it really be the case that people in a civilised European country can no longer remember how much "Jerusalem" is part of their own occidental culture?

The monument in Bensheim-Hochstädten has already been nicknamed a "monument against ego-madness". Thomas Zieringer himself also believes that the desecration of the Rock of Peace is linked to this. The writing, which was destroyed, spelled the sentence "Yerushalayim (i.e. City of Peace) - so that we will be able to overcome the fences together". "Perhaps our monument was correctly interpreted as resistance against the worst false god of our times" - the initiator said. You can find the project "Peace Monument for People" under http://peacememorial.com

Thomas Zieringer (responsible)
post@friedensmal.de (please contact me this way)
phone: +49-6251-860-91-77
Photos available for free.