Unidentified persons uprooted 11 memorial plaques commemorating local victims of
Nazism in the German city of Greifswald on Friday, the 74th anniversary of
Kristallnacht, Die Welt newspaper reported.
The Jews of Greifswald were
among those targeted throughout Germany on Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken
Glass, on November 9, 1938. Synagogues and businesses were destroyed, and Jews
throughout the country were murdered and arrested en masse.
The memorial
plaques which were uprooted, by apparent Neo-Nazis, had been placed at the site
of the homes of Kristallnacht victims.
Die Welt quoted local police
official Knut Abramowski as referring to the vandalism as a “vile crime.”
Abramowski offered a 2,500 euro reward to anyone with information that would
help lead to the capture of those behind the crime.
“I condemn this
malicious attack in the strongest terms,” the newspaper quoted Abramowski as
saying.
Norbert Nieszery, the chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic
Party (SPD), said, “It is particularly shameful when something like this happens
precisely on the anniversary of Kristallnacht,” according to Die
Welt.
The monuments were part of the Stolpersteine (“stumbling blocks”),
created by artist Gunter Demnig, which commemorate victims of the Nazis in
several cities in Germany and surrounding countries.
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