Among the gravestones overturned, smashed and otherwise desecrated in the Grindel Jewish Cemetery in Hamburg, was that of Gabriel Reisser, whose stone was inscribed with an anti-Jewish slogan.
Reisser, champion of Jewish emancipation in Germany, was one of the first Jews to be elected to the German parliament. He was a former vice-president of the parliament and a member of the deputation sent to offer the crown of Germany to Frederick William IV. In addition Reisser once held the position of judge in Hamburg, his birthplace. He died there in 1863.
The caretaker and gardener of the cemetery have frequently complained that they were being molested while at work in the cemetery, that insults were hurled at them and stones thrown, and that they had been threatened with beatings.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
