Berlin Holocaust memorial defaced: 'Jews are committing genocide'

A Berlin Holocaust memorial honoring non-Jews who protested against the persecution of their Jewish family members was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti on Wednesday, according to the Berlin Police and European Jewish Congress.

"Jews are committing genocide," was scrawled across the Rosenstrasse protest memorial according to EJC. 

A Palestinian flag and the slogan "free Palestine" was spraypainted on the ground in front of the sculptures.

The Berlin police said that it covered the graffiti and the investigation was transferred to state law enforcement that investigates politically-motivated crime.Gem

"This outrageous disrespect of Shoah victims doesn't advance the Palestinian cause," said the EJC. "It is simply unacceptable."

In February 1943, hundreds of non-Jewish Germans, mostly women, protested outside the Rosenstrasse building were Jewish spouses and children had been held by Nazi police. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Gestapo deported 25 of the incarcerated people to Auschwitz, and many others were sent to labor camps. 

Anti-Israel protest in borough

The same night as the vandalism, an anti-Israel protest was held in the same borough, according to the Berlin Police. Law enforcement attempted to disperse the unauthorized protest at the Berlin Central Station but reportedly responded with by chanting anti-police and anti-Israel slogans. Seventy-two criminal investigation were opened by police for the use of terrorist organization symbols and for violating the Berlin Freedom of Assembly Act which requires authorization for public demonstrations.