‘’I was alerted by several people who told me that they were shocked to see such a Nazi sign in the streets of Brussels, especially in the context of growing antisemitism,’’ said Yohan Benizri, head of CCOJB, the representative body of Jewish organizations.

BRUSSELS—Does art justfy everything even when the artist’ intentions can be considered as commendable ?

This question is a the center of a controversy over a  painting representing a black swatsika on a hite and red background with the following message : ‘’An God created A.Hitler’’.

The painting is displayed in an art gallery in downtown Brussels in sight of passers-by. It represents a black swastika on a white and red background with this message: “And God created A. Hitler”.

The work is signed by Fatmir Limani, an artist known for his provocative works aimed at extremes of all kinds in his mind.  “Art is spitting, throwing up and shitting what you have in your stomach,” he says of himself. He has also a political position as Socialist councillor in a Brussels commune.

But the “Nazi painting”, among the dozen works exhibited until September 30 at the gallery Bog-Art, is not viewed as an artwork by the Jewish community of Belgium. ‘’I was alerted by several people who told me that they were shocked to see such a Nazi sign in the streets of Brussels, especially in the context of growing antisemitism,’’ Yohan Benizri, head of CCOJB, the representative body of Jewish organizations, told the Belgian public radio channel RTBF.

‘’So the first reaction was shock, it made us crazy, and then we collected information about the artist. his works…We realized that the artist had a slightly shifted approach, to say it so, of art.He wishes his works to shock, whether we love or hate them.At the end I have the impression that it is artistic populism. Unfortunately, we create something shocking without offering any added value, I mean: the artist does not want to promote this ideology, but his choice is of bad taste. ”

The artist himself insists that if he wants to provoke and shock, it is first to denounce.’’

He added : “The theme of the exhibition is the rise of fascism and Nazism in the world.When I speak of fascism, it is political fascism and religious fascism,”  Limani said. His paintings include  portraits of deportees (with a mention “And God created Genocide”).

“I am aware that my works are shocking, people have been shocked but I always have fought against fascism and Nazism, ” the son of an Albanian refugee who experienced the camps in former Yugoslavia.

However, for the Belgian League Against Antisemitism (LBCA), we cannot only consider the artistic approach. “We received several reports about this work and I went to see it,” said LBCA Ptesident  Joel Rubinfeld. “Unfortunately, the gallery was closed that day. I stayed in front of the street, I met several shocked passers-by, including two German tourists. The problem is that even though the artist’s aim is to denounce, the person who passes in front of this gallery does not have the keys to decrypt the message conveyed by the artist.’’

‘’Beyond this specific case, there is a problem related to the sale and promotion of objects related to the Third Reich, whether in markets, flea markets, sales rooms,’’ added Rubinfeld who believes that  legislation in Belgium is weak on this specific problem, unlike in France or Germany.

The same comment was made by the Movement Against Racism, Antisemitism and Xenophobia (MRAX) who thinks that ‘’art does not justify everything.’’ ‘’Although the intentions can be commendable as the denunciation of fascism and anti-Semitism, it remains problematic to display a symbol linked to the Third Reich at the sight of passers-who do not have the tools necessary to understand and overcome the shock of images.”