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Anne Frank mural in Italy and Shoah memorial in Denmark vandalised
The mural in Milan portrays a tearful Anne Frank with an Israeli flag
November 13, 2023 12:31
The mural in Milan portrays a tearful Anne Frank with an Israeli flag
November 13, 2023 12:31A Shoah memorial in Denmark and a mural in Italy dedicated to Anne Frank in Italy have both been defaced.
The Holocaust memorial boulder and amphitheatre in Copenhagen pays homage to Danish citizens who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Nazi occupation of the country in the Second World War.
The boulder was defaced with graffiti whilst the steps of the amphitheatre were defaced with a large Palestinian flag and the words "Free Gaza" on Saturday.
We are saddened and disgusted by the antisemitic vandalism that defaced the memorial in Copenhagen honouring the heroic efforts to save Danish Jews from the Nazis.
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) November 11, 2023
This type of hate cannot be tolerated in today's society. pic.twitter.com/q0lUp1ZlOC
Posting on X/Twitter, the European Jewish Congress said: “We are saddened and disgusted by the antisemitic vandalism that defaced the memorial in Copenhagen honouring the heroic efforts to save Danish Jews from the Nazis.
“This type of hate cannot be tolerated in today's society.”
Meanwhile, the Anne Frank mural created by Italian artist aleXsandro Palombo was vandalised in Milan.
Palombo’s work, located in Milan’s Piazza Castello, portrays a tearful Anne Frank with an Israeli flag standing next to a Palestinian girl lighting a Hamas flag on fire.
The part of the mural featuring Frank was covered with large ‘Free Gaza’ graffiti.
Meanwhile, a second work by the artist located in the Porta Nuova part of the city was vandalised. It shows a boy with raised hands from a famous photo taken at the Warsaw ghetto.
The boy was surrounded by terrorists with weapons - an adult and boy of a similar age. Palombo explained the two works, called 'Innocence, hatred and hope', “were a warning about the wave of antisemitism that is overwhelming Jews all over the world".
He added: "The gesture of these antisemitic racists is to erase the memory in order to impose their terrorist thoughts, but these cowardly actions do not intimidate me and I will continue to defend freedom of expression of our democracy and with my art I will respond to the terror they want to drag us into.
"However this vandalisation only reinforces the meaning of the works and forces us to respond even stronger because it highlights all the anger and social danger of this hateful antisemitic machine that is underway.
"These acts of vandalism are demonstrations of terrorist thinking that undermines the freedom of all of us. If politics and institutions do not respond forcefully to the antisemitic violence then we will all lose: legitimising these gestures means legitimising terrorist thinking in our society too. And that's what Hamas propaganda wants.
"The antisemitic fury unleashed by Hamas is overwhelming Jews in every part of the world, this horror that re-emerges from the past must make us all reflect because it undermines freedom, security and the future of us all."
Commenting on Instagram on the vandalism Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said: “What a shame.”
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