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Jewish Cemetery in Austria Desecrated

November 5, 1933
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The devastation of the Jewish cemetery at Hohenau and the explosion of a bomb in a Vienna synagogue are thought here to be the first steps in an extensive Nazi campaign of terror against Austrian Jewish institutions. Austrian police acting on this theory are raiding various Nazi centers.

Fifty-eight tombstones were destroyed at Hohenau, many cairns were removed, the cemetery hall was damaged, flowers were destroyed and many trees uprooted.

The desecration of the Jewish cemetery aroused much indignation among Christians, who condemned the vandalism. The Catholic priest of Hohenau has written the Jewish community a letter of regret and sympathy and also expressed his regret in a sermon he delivered in his church.

The explosion in the Vienna synagogue did no damage because it exploded, not in the building, but in the front garden.

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