JTA has run a story on the ouster of Sven Schuette as director of the Cologne Jewish quarter excavations and Jewish Museum project. It reported that Marcus Trier, the head of Cologne’s Romano-German Museum, has taken Schutte’s place.
An attorney for Sven Schutte, 60, who was removed from his position as head of the Archeological Zone/Jewish Museum project, told JTA on Friday that he submitted an application to the Cologne Administrative Court for an injunction against the demotion and the reinstatement of Schutte.
The attorney, Hubert Minz, said the decision could take weeks.
Cologne Mayor Jurgen Roters removed Schutte from his post on April 10, days after Schutte told the Israeli daily Haaretz that anti-Semitic attitudes likely played a role in opposition to the city’s future Jewish museum, scheduled to open in 2017. He was assigned to evaluating the results of excavations at a commuter railway station.
The city gave Schutte four weeks to respond to a disciplinary proceeding, but declined to reveal the nature of the complaint against him. However, city officials reportedly were upset by Schutte’s insinuations of anti-Semitism among opponents of the project.