Plaques honoring Rome’s deported Jews reported stolen

Rome’s mayor denounces the apparent theft of 20 small bronze plaques honoring the members of a Jewish family deported during the Holocaust.

The plaques, affixed to the cobblestones in front of the Di Consiglio family home in the Monti neighborhood, were apparently taken overnight. A gaping hole was all that remained Monday.

Italian news agency ANSA says the organization responsible for the plaques, “Arte in Memory,” reported the discovery. In July, the same group reported receiving a threatening letter featuring a photo of Adolf Hitler.

Plagues commemorating an extended family of 20 Holocaust victims have been stolen from a central Rome street, @repubblica reports.
They remember Orabona and Mosè Di Consiglio, their children and grandchildren, ranging in age from 74 to 18 monthshttps://t.co/We6NwaN1VY pic.twitter.com/fffhkuCqJ1

— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) December 10, 2018

In a tweet, Mayor Virginia Raggi condemned the plaques’ theft as unacceptable: “Memory requires respect.”

Rome’s historic center houses the Jewish ghetto, near Monti, and its cobblestoned streets are dotted with the plaques in front of homes of Jews who were killed or deported.

— AP