KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) – A Holocaust monument was vandalized in southern Ukraine.
Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti were smeared in paint on the Holocaust memorial near the village of Voskresensk, in the Nikolayevsky region, where some historians say more than 8,000 Jews were murdered in 1941.
The graffiti, which included “Death to Jews,” were painted in German and Russian. Representatives of local authorities washed off the graffiti.
The vandalism occurred sometime in early April but was first reported Friday. Local Jews said it was unclear if it was act of anti-Semitism or hooliganism.
“The atmosphere is rather calm in Nikolayev region and this is the first act of vandalism in recent months,” Mikhail Goldenberg, chair of the Regional Jewish Community, told JTA. “I believe this is hooliganism.”
Jewish leaders said local police are investigating.
Law enforcement agencies still have not found the vandals who damaged a monument in Nikolayev in February in honor of the late Lubavitcher rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994.
