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Swastika tile in the Solarium hallway at Diocesan HQ, photo by Jolyon Pruszinski (September 23, 2023) |
ENCOURAGING UPDATE: At the diocesan convention on March 9, 2024 Bishop French announced that the removal process has begun. We are delighted.
In 1943 the Diocese of New Jersey purchased its current headquarters compound, located at 808 West State Street in Trenton, from the liquidated estate of deceased German-American businessman, Frank J. Wetzel.[1] One of these buildings, known variously as the “Solarium” or “Pool House” (which houses the diocesan archives and is in constant use as the primary meeting space at the diocesan headquarters) has featured prominent swastikas in its floor tile design ever since it was purchased. These tiles appear in the second largest conference room, in the hallways leading to the bathrooms, and likely under the rugs and cubicles in the office space in the center of the building. The Executive Council and various other diocesan groups including the Standing Committee have met regularly in this space for decades. There are a few different designs of swastika symbol which appear alongside some Christian symbol designs, and a swastika-cross hybrid design. The swastika designs are more densely represented than the other designs. |
The "Solarium" at the Diocesan HQ, photo by Jolyon Pruszinski |
Wetzel was the original owner and commissioner of the buildings. While the oldest building in the complex dates to 1912, the Solarium was the last built and was not built until 1935, that is, well after the Nazi party had appropriated and publicly promoted the use of the swastika symbol. It is true that some early-20th century swastika tile manufacturing and use in the United States pre-dates the Nazi regime in Germany, and did not originally have a Nazi association,[2] but the date of the construction of the Solarium, as well as the proportional density of use of the swastika tiles, suggests likely intent in this instance to communicate Nazi sympathies through the design.[3]
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Swastika tile in the Solarium conference room, Diocesan HQ, photo by Jolyon Pruszinski (September 23, 2023) |
However, whether the original use of the symbol in the building was accompanied by a knowledge of the full scope of murderous Nazi racist ideology at the time, or even had any Nazi affiliated intent is, in truth, irrelevant. Whether the swastika has a pre-history before the Nazi regime is also irrelevant, as is whether the construction of the building predates the Nazi regime. The issue is that the building is currently in use within the current universe of symbolic meaning, not that of pre-WWII America, and the symbols in their current American use communicate White-supremacist meaning[4] and threaten all those targeted by white-supremacist ideology. Many visitors to the building, including children, have found the presence of the swastikas very upsetting.
The complacency regarding racism that has allowed the tiles to stand undisturbed for over 80 years in the headquarters of the diocese has been on display in other ways as well. Nazi-sympathetic priests have been allowed long tenures in the diocese.[5] For most of the history of the diocese the leadership have assumed that the Episcopal Church is for White people.[6] Bishop Doss was publicly accused of racism in the 1990s, but only ousted for other reasons.[7] And as the diocese has developed, in general it has cooperated with and often sanctioned racist policies and patterns in society.[8]
Moreover, this issue is neither unprecedented, nor difficult to remedy. In several instances other institutions, including churches, have managed to muster the energy to remove swastika tiles[9] from their buildings in acknowledgement of the current white-supremacist associations with the design.[10] In some Anglican-influenced countries, such as Australia, public displays of swastikas are actually illegal.[11] Further, the tiles at the diocesan headquarters are not a structural feature of the building and removal would neither be difficult, nor require a large outlay of funds.[12] Historic preservation concerns are incidental[13] in comparison to the primary concern of whether the tiles currently communicate white-supremacist ideology (they do) and function to threaten the targets of said ideology (they do).
In its drafted Convention Resolution on the subject (which the Commission chose not bring before the Convention), the Reparations Commission stated that to continue to display White-supremacist symbols which currently communicate racist ideology and which currently operate to threaten both Jews and African Americans constitutes a continuation of a decades-long violation of the Episcopal baptismal covenant.[14] In accord with the language of that draft resolution, the Reparations Commission continues to insist that the swastika tiles be removed before the end of 2024 and that at least one tile be preserved and displayed with interpretive historical material prepared by the Commission to document this unfortunate history.
Jolyon G. R. Pruszinski, Ph.D.
Reparations Commission Research Historian
Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey