The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has cabled Pierre Maillard, the French Ambassador to Canada, expressing shock at the desecration last week of 22 Canadian Jewish graves in the military cemetery in Normandy. The 22 Jewish soldiers were among 1000 Canadian soldiers who were killed in the Allied landings in Normandy which heralded the liberation of France from Nazi occupation. The 22 tombstones were overturned and smashed and vandals scrawled anti-Semitic slogans on them.
Rabbi W. Gunther Plout, CJC president, and Alan Rose, CJC executive vice president, in their cable to Maillard, expressed the hope that an investigation will expose the culprits and bring them to justice. The cable was also sent to Daniel MacDonald, Canada’s Veterans Affairs Minister, urging that restoration and repair of the graves be undertaken.
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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.