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Protestants, Catholics Help Clean-up of Vandalized Jewish Cemeteries

February 15, 1967
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Protestant and Catholic high school youths have joined in a project organized by their churches here to restore more than 100 grave markers defaced by vandals in two Jewish cemeteries last month.

The vandals painted swastikas and a hammer and sickle in black and red on more than 40 tombstones at the Dispersed of Judah Cemetery. More than 70 graves were defiled at the Hebrew Rest Cemetery, where the vandals painted on the stones such inscriptions as “they shall die, ” and “Six Million, Was It Enough?”, a reference to the number of European Jews murdered by the Nazis during the war.

The restoration and clean-up of the defaced markers is sponsored jointly by the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and the New Orleans Federation of Churches (Protestant). The Rev. A. W. Townsend, president of the Federation, said the project was undertaken to “protect the sanctuary of citizens of the past who have contributed enormously to the welfare of this community.”

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