Greece Holocaust Memorials Vandalized On Eve Of Passover
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Two Holocaust memorials in Greece were vandalized.
A Holocaust memorial in Kavala in northern Greece was smashed on Wednesday night, the Athens-based daily newspaper Ekathimerini reported.
The monument unveiled about a year ago commemorates 1,484 Jews from Kavala who died in Nazi death camps during World War II. The marble veneer of the memorial was smashed with hammers by the vandals, who have not been identified.
“Every act of vandalism on a monument opens a new wound in regards to the history and culture of Kavala, a community that has always been open, always tolerant and respectful of other cultures and religions,” the municipal authority said in statement, according to Ekathimerini.
Days before the attack in Kavala, a Holocaust memorial in Arta in northwestern Greece was vandalized with paint and the word “Yolo.”
The attack came several days after the community held a ceremony to remember its pre-Holocaust Jewish community.
“They cannot tolerate even their memory,” the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece said in a statement.
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