Teens suspected of smashing Jewish headstones in Serbia

JTA — Serbian police suspect three teenagers are responsible for desecrating 39 Jewish graves in the northern city of Subotica.

The teens are believed to have smashed the headstones on July 10 in the city’s Jewish cemetery, which is situated near the border with Hungary, the news site Subotica.com reported last week.

The president of the Jewish Community in Subotica, Robert Sabados, told Serbian media that investigators conducted an investigation with the representatives of the district prosecution and the high court. He said the vandals left no signs or messages.

A similar attack happened at the cemetery in 2009, according to Sabados.

In 2004, Subotica had a Jewish community numbering 220, according to Encyclopaedia Judaica. In the Holocaust, Hungarian troops sent many of the city’s thousands of Jews to be murdered.

Jews have lived in Subotica since the 18th century.