Swastikas and such slogans as “Ten, One Hundred, One Thousand Auschwitzes” were found splashed in blue paint on-more than 50 Jewish gravestones in the Leghorn Jewish Cemetery this week. A telephone call by a so-called “Armed Nazi Group” claimed responsibility for the desecrations. Protesters marched through the center of the city yesterday and speeches denouncing the vandalism were delivered by the Mayor of Leghorn and the city’s Chief Rabbi.
The president of the Jewish community, Luciano Cassuto, said this was the most serious episode of anti-Semitism since the war. The Italian Jewish Youth Federation expressed its connector the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents taking place in various parts of Oily since the Varese Soccer match incident of nearly a year ago when a group of neo-fascists shouted anti-Semitic phrases and displayed swastikas on banners during an Israeli-Italian game. During the war, 120 Leghorn Jews lost their lives in concentration camps.
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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.
