Polish Cops Nab Suspected Vandal at Jewish Cemetery
Overgrown: A neglected Jewish cemetery in the Polish town of Checiny. Image by COURTESY OF SZTETL.COM
Police officers in Poland arrested a man whom they said they had caught desecrating Jewish tombstones.
The suspect, who was not named, was arrested last week at the Jewish cemetery of Andrychow, 30 miles southwest of Krakow, the news site Wadowice24.pl reported Tuesday.
At the 18th-century burial site, he had knocked down 13 tombstones before police officers arrested him, according to the report. The man, who lives in Andrychow, has several prior convictions and is unemployed, the report also said.
Poland has about 1,400 Jewish cemeteries, which the Jewish community of 40,000 cannot afford to maintain, according to community officials. Although vandalism occasionally occurs, erosion, neglect and illegal construction account for more damage, several community officials told JTA.
In 2012, the Council of Europe adopted a non-binding resolution making national governments responsible for the care of Jewish cemeteries.
Last month, unidentified individuals smashed several headstones in Subotica, a Serbian city located 260 miles south of Andrychow.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
