Jewish Cemetery in Northern Hungary Vandalized
Image by Getty Images
Gravestones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in northern Hungary.
Up to 20 gravestones, including two crypts, were vandalized over the weekend in the Jewish cemetery of Gyongyos, in northern Hungary, the MTI-Hungarian News Agency Corp. reported on Sunday, citing Peter Weisz, the leader of the local Jewish community. Tombstones were toppled and smashed, and human remains were removed from the crypts, according to reports.
The fence around the cemetery also was vandalized, Weisz told Hungarian media.
One of the city’s deputy mayors on Sunday visited the site and offered the city’s help to repair the damage, as did the Catholic Church, according to MTI. The cemetery was similarly damaged in 2013.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary called the attack a “barbaric act.”
The Jewish community of Gyongyos is comprised of about 80 people, out of a total city population of about 30,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
