Anne Frank School Outside Paris Hit with Anti-Semitic Graffiti
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Anti-Jewish and anti-Roma graffiti were drawn in black marker on the front gate and the mailbox of a suburban Paris Jewish school named for teenage Holocaust diarist Anne Frank.
The graffiti on the Anne Frank School in Montreuil, an eastern suburb of Paris, was discovered on Sunday afternoon, the French daily Le Parisian reported.
The graffiti included swastikas and Stars of David with the word Jude, as well as statements such as “Jews forbidden” and “Filthy Jewish and Romani people.”
More graffiti was later found on other outside walls of the building.
There were no security cameras in place to help identify the vandals.
Police have launched an investigation into the incident. Municipal workers on Monday painted over the graffiti. Local officials condemned the incident.
“The inscriptions on Montreuil’s Anne Frank School are despicable. These actions will not remain unpunished.” France’s education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said in a tweet.
Abjectes inscriptions antisémites et racistes sur les murs de l’école Anne Frank de Montreuil. Cet acte ne restera pas impuni.
— Najat Belkacem (@najatvb) December 25, 2016
The school’s former principal, Juliette Timsit, who lives in the neighborhood, photographed the graffiti and posted it on Facebook.
“This is the school that was targeted, particularly because of its name, Anne Frank,” she wrote, “I was very proud to be a principal in this school. I love it. I am deeply affected by this and can barely hold back the tears.”
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
