Polish Vandals Desecrate Jewish Cemetery
Vandals painted Nazi and racist symbols on the fence of a Jewish cemetery in southern Poland.
Swastikas, Celtic crosses and symbols of the National Polish Revival, an anti-Semitic organization, were painted on columns of the fence of the Jewish cemetery in Starachowice.
Cemetery caretaker Maciej Frankiewicz discovered the devastation, called police and began repairing the fence. Vandals left the tombstones untouched, though several years ago tombstones at the same cemetery were defaced.
Jews from Starachowice, Wierzbnik and surrounding towns are buried in the cemetery. During World War II, Nazis carried out mass executions there, and bodies of the victims were buried in unmarked graves which still have not been located
The cemetery in Starachowice is entered in the country’s register of protected monuments.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30