The East Berlin daily, Berliner Zeitung, denied Monday a report issued several days ago by the West Berlin Jewish Community that a synagogue in East Berlin had been badly damaged by vandals. The newspaper said that “all that happened was that a few children threw stones through the windows of the synagogue’s offices.” The West Berlin Jewish Community had reported that several youths were arrested and charged with breaking into the synagogue, destroying its furniture, tearing up prayer books and Torah scrolls. It was also reported that Jewish graves in the Weissenee cemetery had been desecrated and tombstones overturned. The Berlin Zeitung had no comment on the last charge.
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.
