Holocaust memorial in Paris vandalized with blood-red handprints

A Paris memorial honoring people who distinguished themselves by helping to rescue Jews in France during the country’s Nazi occupation in World War II was defaced today with painted blood-red hands, vandalism decried as “unspeakable” by the Paris mayor.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says the Wall of the Righteous was vandalized overnight between yesterday and today, and that she has filed a complaint with the Paris prosecutor.

“No cause can justify such degradations that dirty the memory of the victims of the Shoah and of the Righteous who saved Jews at risk to their lives,” Hidalgo says in a statement.

The wall bears the names of more than 3,900 people recognized as having risked their lives to help save Jews in France.

Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris’ central districts, posts photos on the social media platform X of the damage. The photos showed more than two dozen blood-red hands painted on the memorial’s stonework and others on a wall in the Paris neighborhood.

Le jour même de l’anniversaire de cet événement qui préfigure la rafle du Vel’d’Hiv où de nombreux enfants seront arrêtés avant d’être exterminés, les murs du Marais devant crèches et écoles, ont été souillés, jusqu’au Mur des Justes, qui ont sauvé des Juifs au péril de leur vie. https://t.co/ivNa2HE9Dd pic.twitter.com/SkxrdQKMC2

— Ariel Weil (@ArielWeilT) May 14, 2024