Vandals destroyed 70 headstones this week at a cemetery in Kosice, in eastern Slovakia.
A memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was also damaged Monday, as were the graves of former rabbis.
The head of the city’s Jewish community, Ivan Kolin, said the incident was a clear case of anti-Semitism because the surrounding graves and memorials at the public cemetery were left untouched.
“It’s sad that something like this could happen in Kosice, which was known everywhere for the tolerant coexistence of people of all nationalities and religions,” he told a Czech news service.
Police are investigating the incident.
A few days earlier, vandals desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Novy Zamky, in southwestern Slovakia, damaging more than 160 headstones. One of the headstones was daubed with a swastika.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
