'Jews murdered 44,000 women, children:' Holocaust memorials vandalized in Polish town
Graffiti in improperly written Polish has led social media users to believe that the vandalism of a Bilgoraj Holocaust memorial was not done by a native Polish speaker.
A Holocaust memorial was graffitied in the Polish town of Bilgoraj, according to the municipality, the second act of vandalism against the town’s Holocaust monuments in November.
“This year, Jews murdered 44,000 women and children” was improperly written in Polish on a memorial at the Konopnicka Street cemetery early Wednesday or late Tuesday. Polish social media users were quick to notify that spelling mistakes likely denoted that the vandals were not native Polish speakers.
Photographs published by the municipality showed an improperly drawn Star of David with an equals sign and a Nazi swastika. Memorial plaques were crossed out, and “Stop” was written in English alongside the Polish message.
Bilgoraj Mayor Wojciech Glen said in a Wednesday statement that the authorities were making every effort to identify and punish the perpetrators.
“I would like to point out that there should be no place for such behavior in our society. Bilgoraj has always been a city where cultural diversity and long-standing traditions have been nurtured,” said Glen. “We cannot allow the spread of hatred or disrespect.”
A despicable act
The European Jewish Congress condemned what it said was a despicable act.
“Defacing a site of Shoah remembrance with hateful graffiti, including a swastika, is an attack on Holocaust memory and a painful reminder of the need to combat antisemitism relentlessly,” the EJC said on X/Twitter on Thursday.
Israeli ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne called for Polish authorities to take decisive action in a Wednesday social media post, adding, “It’s not the first time such acts have happened in the city and the region.”
On November 3, the Bilgoraj municipality announced that a monument about the fate of the town’s Jews had been covered in pink paint.
Deputy Mayor Jaroslaw Bondyra said that such behavior would not be permitted in the town and that everything should be done to identify the perpetrator.
Bilgoraj once had a strong Jewish community presence, but in 2018, The Jerusalem Post reported that the last Jewish resident died almost 21 years ago. Many of the Jews were killed during the Holocaust after they were deported to the Auschwitz, Belzec, and Treblinka death camps. The municipality supported several programs to maintain Jewish memorials and restore historical sites.
Greer Fay Cashman contributed to this report.
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