A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Catholic archdiocese defends statue of King Louis IX, the namesake of St. Louis, who persecuted Jews

Ben SalesPublished June 29, 2020

(JTA) — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis issued an emphatic defense of that city’s statue of King Louis IX, the Missouri city’s namesake, without mentioning his persecution of Jews during the Middle Ages.The statement, issued Sunday,...

Should St. Louis take down the statue of its anti-Semitic namesake? Activists say yes.

Ben SalesPublished June 26, 2020

(JTA) — On top of a hill in front of an art museum in the biggest park in St. Louis stands a statue of an anti-Semite. The monument to the city’s namesake, the medieval French king Louis IX, depicts the king astride a horse, wearing a crown and a...

Michael Oberlander

What do we do with Art Hill statue of King Louis IX?

By Michael OberlanderPublished June 25, 2020

The protest movement in the wake of police killings of African Americans that has targeted monuments to the Confederacy has also targeted statues of Christopher Columbus (including one in Tower Grove Park), Thomas Jefferson, a Texas Ranger (not one of...

Apotheosis of St. Louis, the statue of King Louis IX of France, is located at the top of Art Hill in Forest Park. File photo: Mike Sherwin 

Petition seeks removal of St. Louis statue, city name change

By Eric Berger, Associate EditorPublished June 24, 2020

A local Israeli-American restauranteur and a pair of Muslim activists started a petition last week to change the name of the city and remove the statue of St. Louis in Forest Park because of the 13th century French king’s persecution of Jews and Muslims.The...

Robert A. Cohn is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the St. Louis Jewish Light.

Of Confederate flags and statues of anti-Semites

BY ROBERT A. COHN, Editor-in-Chief EmeritusPublished July 9, 2015

The legislature of South Carolina is in the process of voting this week on a request by Gov. Nikki Haley that the Confederate battle flag on the state Capitol grounds be taken down in the aftermath of the horrific massacre of nine worshippers at the historic...

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