'Jews
out' spray-painted on memorial for Jewish families who perished during
World War II. President: Act in complete contradiction with values of
our people
Associated Press
|
Police in Kosovo are investigating who sprayed swastikas on dozens of tombstones in a Jewish cemetery recently restored by American and Kosovan students, a spokesman said Thursday.
Brahim
Sadrija said police had sealed off the cemetery in the capital, Kosovo,
and are looking for clues. The vandalism is believed to have happened
Tuesday.
Desecrated tombstones (Photo: AFP)
Sadrija said he could not disclose more details pending the ongoing investigation.
In
June, a group of students from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and
their peers from the American University in Kosovo restored the
neglected cemetery by clearing debris from around the graves and cutting
overgrown grass.
Rabbi
Edward S. Boraz of the college's Roth Center for Jewish Life held a
dedication ceremony at the memorial site, with students taking turns to
read out the names of Jewish families from the region who perished
during World War II.
On
Thursday the hate graffiti "Jud Raus" - a misspelling of the German
"Juden Raus," which means "Jews out" - could still be seen at the foot
of a memorial.
President Atifete Jahjaga and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci condemned the act.
"The
damaging of cemeteries presents an act in complete contradiction with
the traditions and values of the people of Kosovo, based on tolerance
and full respect for all the dead and all the monuments," Jahjaga said
in a statement.
Thaci described the desecration as "a cowardly act."
The condemnations follow that of US Ambassador to Kosovo, Christopher Dell, who urged authorities to find out who committed the vandalism.
"The
hateful act was an offense not only against the families of persons
buried there and of the Jewish community in Kosovo and beyond, but also
an offense against Kosovo's multiethnic state and society," Dell said in
a statement.
"The act is one of contempt for the most basic norms of tolerance, coexistence, and respect, and cannot be tolerated."
Some 300 Kosovo Jews died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany during World War II. After the war, Kosovo's small Jewish community dwindled. The few that remained left forIsrael and Serbia during and after the 1998-99 Kosovo war.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press an American Jewish group branded the desecration of the cemetery as "a heinous act."
"Holocaust
survivors are shocked to learn that a sacred resting place of our
martyrs has been profaned by vandals using graphic symbols of Nazi
hate," Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of
Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants said.
Kosovo,
a former Serbian province, seceded from Serbia in 2008 but Belgrade has
vowed never to accept the independence of the majority ethnic Albanian
territory.
Kosovo is overwhelmingly Muslim, but has a Roman Catholic minority.
Izvor: Eparhija rasko-prizrenska i kosovsko-metohijska
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