World
Anti-Israel message scrawled on Polish memorial to Warsaw Ghetto Jews
The graffiti drew comparisons between the Holocaust and the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict
January 8, 2025 17:17
By, Jewish News Syndicate
1 min read
The graffiti drew comparisons between the Holocaust and the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict
January 8, 2025 17:17ByNissan Shtrauchler, Jewish News Syndicate
A memorial in Poland dedicated to the memory of the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto has been defaced with an anti-Israeli slogan.
In the latest case of vandalism targeting Holocaust memorials in Poland, a hateful message was recently scrawled on the city’s Umschlagplatz monument.
The structure commemorates the 300,000 Jews deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka extermination camp in 1943.
The message, applied in red spray paint, read: "Warsaw 1943 = Gaza 2025."
Shameful vandalism at Warsaw's memorial for 300,000 (!) Jews deported to Treblinka. Poland has a special responsibility to protect Jewish & Holocaust sites; hold vandals accountable. pic.twitter.com/4No1PI7ZXd
— Amb. Yacov Livne 🇮🇱 (@YacovLivne) January 7, 2025
It was written directly below the hebrew dedication to those murdered by the Nazi regime.
Both the World Jewish Congress and the International Holocaust Remembrace Association state that drawing parallels between contemporary Israeli policy and Nazism is a form of antisemitism.
Israel's ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, tweeted: "Shameful vandalism at Warsaw's memorial for 300,000 Jews deported to Treblinka.
“Poland has a special responsibility to protect Jewish & Holocaust sites; hold vandals accountable."
Ambassador Livne also urged Polish authorities to find and punish those responsible for these desecrations.
The comments under his tweet have been filled antisemitic replies, including denial of the existence of death camps in Poland.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, several Holocaust memorials in Poland and across Europe have been repeatedly vandalized.
Recently, the central monument commemorating the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was desecrated.
Other memorials in Paris and Berlin have also been targeted, as has the statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam.
All were daubed with graffiti, including blood-red handprints and antisemitic slogans.
Polish authorities are yet to make any arrests in relation to the damage to the Warsaw monument.
Warsaw Police said that officers were searching for the perpetrator.