BERLIN — The German military got its first rabbi in over a century Monday, with the inauguration to the post of Hungarian-born Zsolt Balla at a synagogue in Leipzig.

The German government in 2019 approved a proposal by the Central Council of Jews to restore religious counseling for Jews serving in the armed forces.

“This was unthinkable for decades and still can't be taken for granted,” the head of the Central Council, Josef Schuster, said. “That's why we have all reason to be happy and grateful today.”

During World War I, many Jews fought for Germany and dozens of rabbis are known to have performed pastoral work in the military. After Adolf Hitler’ came to power in 1933, the Nazis excluded Jews from all spheres of public life, later murdering millions in the Holocaust.

Schuster said Balla would ensure Jewish soldiers can serve in the military in line with their religious rules, and also teach non-Jewish soldiers about Judaism's traditions and holy days, thereby helping reduce prejudice.

DECATUR, Ga. -- The Sons of Confederate Veterans group has sued to return a 30-foot-high (9-meter) obelisk to a site in front of a Georgia courthouse.

The monument was taken down and moved to storage last year after a judge in Decatur agreed with the city's argument that it had become a threat to public safety during protests about racism and police brutality.

The suit was filed Wednesday, two days short of a year after the monument’s removal, news outlets reported.

The group suggests that city officials colluded to get around a state law protecting historic monuments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

It contends that the monument was not found to be a public nuisance.

DeKalb County Judge Clarence Seeliger’s ruling last year said it had become “an increasingly frequent target of graffiti and vandalism, a figurative lightning rod for friction among citizens, and a potential catastrophe that could happen at any time if individuals attempt to forcibly remove or destroy it.”

His final order, in September, said the obelisk should never be returned to the square.

“The world is full of controversy. And if we were to say anything that causes controversy is a public nuisance, that’s an endless road to go down,” attorney Walker Chandler, who filed the lawsuit, told WXIA-TV.