Geneva police announced today the arrest of a 35-year-old librarian who confessed he was the vandal who smeared the memorial to Jewish victims of Nazism in front of the Geneva synagogue last month. His name was not disclosed.
Described as an unbalanced anti-Semite, the librarian was arrested by police who were searching his home in an investigation of the theft of a motorcycle. The police found a large number of press clippings about the February 4 smearing. The librarian admitted the misdeed, saying he had been angered by a radio address by Michel Debre, a French Cabinet member of Jewish origin, which incited him to smear the memorial.
The 5,000 Swiss franc reward offered by the Geneva Jewish community for apprehension of the vandal was turned over to the head of the Geneva police for distribution.
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