Spanish police are reported to have arrested two men and a woman thought responsible for antisemitic vandalism in a village that was once called “Kill Jews”.
According to JTA, the suspects are alleged to have defaced the Sephardic memory centre at Castrillo de Mota Judios, “Camp Jews Hill”, and the town hall with graffiti such as Juden Raus, “Jews Out” over the past year.
They are also believed to have started fires after the village twinned with an Israeli town last year and to have scrawled graffiti on the walls of a synagogue near Madrid.
In December, the Mayor Lorenzo Rodriguez, called the perpetrators “cowardly, intolerant and ignorant people”.”
Nazi paraphernalia was discovered by police during a search of the suspects’ homes, JTA reported. The detainees were related to "xenophobic movements with a marked antisemitic discourse", police said.
For almost 400 years, the village was known as Castrillo Matajudios, “Camp Kill Jews”, a sinister reminder of Spain’s antisemitic past.
But in 2014, the 52 residents voted to revert to its older name - dating from the 11th century when Jews fleeing persecution found refuge there - which became official in 2015.
Some believe the infamous name “Matajudios” resulted more from a slip of the pen than a conscious decision to evoke the lethal aims of the Inquisition.
La @guardiacivil detiene a tres personas por su implicación en siete delitos de odio de naturaleza antisemita en las provincias de #Burgos y #Madrid
— Ministerio del Interior (@interiorgob) October 7, 2022
➡️ El grupo actuó en el pueblo de Castrillo Mota de Judíos, en el cementerio judío de Hoyo de Manzanares y en el de La Almudena pic.twitter.com/8MdnJnFfw6
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