2 months later, anti-Semitic graffiti remains at Polish Jewish cemetery
Jewish tourists ‘horrified’ by hateful slogans; local news report says authorities waiting for warmer weather to paint over slurs
Over two months after anti-Semitic and pro-Islamic State graffiti was spray-painted at a Jewish cemetery in central Poland, the offensive inscriptions have yet to be removed, according to a Channel 2 news report Sunday.
The graffiti, which vandals painted at the Jewish cemetery in Sochaczew in December, includes the slogans “Holocaust never happened,” “Allah bless Hitler,” “Islamic State was here,” “Islam will dominate,” and “F**k Jews.”
At the time, the local Sochaczew Museum, which cares for the cemetery, appealed to residents of the city for help in removing the paint.
But by February’s end, the graffiti was still in place, and was stumbled upon by a group of touring Jews from the US and Israel.
“We were horrified to find the graffiti messages at the cemetery,” a man identified only as Shmuel recounted.
Jüdischer Friedhof in Sochaczew (#Polen ) geschändet
Bilder: https://t.co/kLRCKZiuNK #Antisemitismus pic.twitter.com/eVE7BQGrNq— faktotum69 (@faktotum69) December 16, 2015
“Only a few days ago we visited the Majdnek extermination camp near Lublin, where we all tried to relive the horror of the Holocaust,” he said. “Now after seeing the graffiti, it just reinforces for us the reality of anti-Semitism here.”
A report on local news site Sochaczew 24 Info seemed to confirm the news, citing the wintry weather as the reason for the delay. Dated January 30, it said town officials had met with Jewish representatives from Warsaw, and had agreed that volunteers would paint over the graffiti “as soon as the weather is good, or at positive temperatures in early spring.”
JTA contributed to this report.
