The desecration last weekend of the Jewish monument and gravestones on the site of the former Bergen-Belsen concentration camp has been condemned by the Central Council of Jews in Germany as “moral treason.” In a statement released Sunday, the Council said it was a criminal act and a “shameless provocation” against Jewish victims of the Nazi terror. The statement added that the Council hoped police would find and punish the vandals who painted anti-Semitic slogans on the monument and gravestones because “words of regret alone are not enough.” The Minister of Interior of Lower Saxony, Richard Lehners, condemned the desecration in a telegram last Thursday to the Jewish community and expressed his government’s sorrow and regrets. He gave his assurance that everything would be done to find the criminals who painted such slogans such as “Jews Get Out” on the stones.
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