Anti-Semitic Messages Painted On Romanian Synagogue

Image by Jacob W. Gruber

By JTA June 14, 2017

(JTA) — Anti-Semitic messages were found painted on the wall of a synagogue in Romania.

“Holocaust Never Happened” and “All the Best” with a Star of David were painted in black and red on the outside of the Synagogue of Deportees Memorial Temple in Cluj-Napoca, in northwestern Romania.

Police were called about the graffiti on Monday by representatives of the city’s Jewish community, though the vandalism may have taken place over the weekend, according to local reports.

Though the synagogue is located on a main thoroughfare in the city, no witnesses have come forward with information about the vandalism.

Built in 1886, the synagogue was destroyed during Allied bombardments in June 1944. It was rebuilt and reinaugurated in 1947, when it was dedicated to the memory of the over 16,000 Jews deported from Cluj in May-June 1944 and exterminated in Auschwitz.

The area’s Jewish community of about 400 uses the synagogue.

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