Police in Padua said today that they believed a neo-Fascist organization was responsible for the fire that engulfed the Padua synagogue early Saturday morning only hours after Rosh Hashana services ended. Police said the inscription “Long Live Freda” was found on the synagogue wall, referring to a neo-Nazi presently under indictment for anti-Semitic propaganda and terrorist acts including the Dec. 12, 1969 bombing of the Agricultural Bank in Milan in which 18 persons were killed. No arrests have been made.
The fire was reported by the porter of an adjacent hotel who saw flames coming from the synagogue at 3 a.m., five hours after the conclusion of Rosh Hashana services with prayers for the II Israeli Olympic athletes murdered in Munich. The fire brigade brought the fire under control, apparently before serious damage was sustained.
The Padua synagogue was the third in Italy to be set afire in recent months. The other two were in Gorizia and Trieste. There were no arrests in either case and the investigations have petered out. The Padua synagogue is located in the old Jewish Ghetto on the site of an ancient synagogue that was burned to the ground by Fascists in 1935.
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.
