Holocaust Survivor Photos Defaced with Swastikas

Stand for Israel | May 23, 2019

A man looking at a poster with a woman's story on it with a graffitied swastika on it.

For those who survived the Holocaust — history’s darkest period of anti-Semitism — the rise in hatred and violence against Jews in today’s world must be particularly alarming. That is why, as The Times of Israel reports, this latest “anti-Semitic” defilement of an exhibit honoring Holocaust survivors in Vienna is so hurtful:

Photos of Holocaust survivors exhibited on a central Vienna street have been defaced with swastikas, drawing condemnation from political and Jewish leaders.

Broadcaster ORF reported Wednesday that ESRA, a group that brought the work by German-Italian photographer Luigi Toscano to the Austrian capital, said several photos were daubed with swastikas and other graffiti on Tuesday. The exhibition opened on part of the Ringstrasse, a busy road that runs around downtown Vienna, on May 7 and the group said some portraits were previously damaged with knives.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tweeted that he was “dismayed by the anti-Semitic defilement” of the photos and called for a thorough investigation.

The leader of Austria’s Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, said that “it is an anti-Semitic attack on all of Austria” and that police are investigating…