Attack on the life-size nativity scene in the city of the Opel car. On Sunday night, all the nativity figures were decapitated: Joseph, Mary, the Three Wise Men and even the donkey.
The people of Rüsselsheim are shocked: the nativity scene is located at the Protestant market church in the heart of the city, right next to the town hall, during the Advent season. The figures of the Holy Family with Jesus are life-size. Surrounded by two Christmas trees. Donated by the Rüsselsheim Trade Association 1888 e.V.!
But on the morning of December 17, the nativity scene looks like a battlefield. All the figures have had their heads cut off. Joseph has been kicked over, Mary beaten away. Jesus is first missing, later found under the rubble.
The trade association tries to play down the incident: “Unknown perpetrators have obviously allowed themselves a macabre joke and cut off the heads of the figures.”
This does not necessarily make the situation any better for the trade association. The situation is beginning to flare up in Rüsselsheim. A local resident told the newspaper BILD: “A joke is when you can laugh about it. What’s funny about beheading Mary and Joseph?”
People on the Internet are also stunned by the violence directed at the nativity scene. People are angry at the perpetrator(s). One person posted on Instagram under the trade association’s publication: “It’s a barbaric act! Criminal offences must not be trivialised.”
Some figures had their heads chopped off in 2021 and 2022. There were no such incidents in the many decades before that.
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