Kurt Reuber

The Stalingrad Madonna, 1942, Charcoal on paper, 900 x 1200 mm, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, Berlin; Azoor Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

Compassion in the Cauldron

Commentary by Ben Quash

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[A] bishop [episkopos], as God’s steward, must be blameless;…hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled (Titus 1:7)

The battle of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) was one of the most traumatic crucibles of conflict in the Second World War. Close to 2 million people died. Although it is one of the identifiable points at which the tide of the war turned, the human cost to those caught up in it, on all sides, resists any meaningful calculation.

The maker of this work (now known as the Stalingrad Madonna) was Dr Kurt Reuber. He combined three vocations: those of a trained artist, a Lutheran pastor, and a physician. His pre-war, anti-Nazi views did not prevent his being drafted into the Wehrmacht as a military doctor, and he found himself in a bunker in Stalingrad at Christmas in 1942, enduring the city’s long and devastating winter siege.

‘Amend what [is] defective’, instructs the Letter to Titus, in a summons to reparative living (1:5). The fourth-century bishop John Chrysostom would later acknowledge just how radical the demands of this duty to repair might turn out to be on those whose calling was to teach Christianity (he describes them as ‘physicians of souls’):

But the physician does not strike, but heals and restores him that has stricken him. (Titus 2.7)

Reuber regularly treated the Russian population in Stalingrad as well as his own men, gaining a reputation among the former for his sympathy and compassion, restoring even those who—as, technically, ‘the enemy’—might at any point ‘strike him’.

Four terrible words—along with the date—acknowledge the violence and horror out of which his Madonna and Child emerged: ‘IM KESSEL’, and ‘FESTUNG [fortress] STALINGRAD’:

‘Kessel’ means ‘kettle’ in German as in the modern verb ‘to kettle: to encircle a group of people’. [I]ts older meaning is ‘cauldron’. (Davies 2023: 20)

Yet four other words push back. At top right we read ‘LICHT’ (light), and down the right-hand side, ‘LEBEN’, ‘LIEBE’ (life, love). At left: ‘WEIHNACHTEN’ (‘Christmas’).

Like the Letter to Titus, Reuber—in his pastoring, his medicine, and his art—was seeking wellsprings of repair that were deeper than the ‘unprofitable and futile’ destructiveness (3:9) that surrounded him. Faced with a human violence and sin rarely surpassed in history, he brought something to birth in this artwork that he believed the cauldron would not consume.

 

References

Davies, Hilary. 2023. ‘Sacramental Landscapes: Coventry Sixty Years On’, The British Art Journal, 24: 15–20

Schaff, Philip (ed.). 1995. Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, vol. 13 (Peabody: Hendrickson)

See full exhibition for Titus 1–3

Titus 1–3

Revised Standard Version

Titus 1

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, 2in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago 3and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Savior;

4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

5 This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you, 6if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. 7For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled; 9he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it. 10For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party; 11they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what they have no right to teach. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14instead of giving heed to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the truth. 15To the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted. 16They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds; they are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good deed.

2 But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. 2Bid the older men be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, 4and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be discredited. 6Likewise urge the younger men to control themselves. 7Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, 8and sound speech that cannot be censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us. 9Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to be refractory, 10nor to pilfer, but to show entire and true fidelity, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

11 For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, 12training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, 13awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

15 Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

3Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, 2to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men. 3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another; 4but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, 6which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8The saying is sure.

I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. 9But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. 10As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned.

12 When I send Artemas or Tychʹicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopʹolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apolʹlos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.

15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

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