A swastika was found spray-painted on a wall next to Philadelphia’s oldest Holocaust memorial, sparking a vandalism investigation.
The hate symbol, measuring about 2 feet by 2 feet, was spotted early Sunday on the wall of the Verizon building on Arch Street next to the Horowitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza, police said.
Surveillance video captured a masked man quickly scrawling Nazi insignia with green spray paint around 1:30 a.m., authorities said.
The suspect is described in a police press release as an “unknown male” who was last seen wearing a dark jacket, possibly brown, with white stripes across the chest and down the arms.
Eszter Kutas, executive director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial Foundation, which manages the memorial, told NBC Philadelphia that “having a symbol of hate in the Holocaust memorial plaza is very upsetting.”
A 2X2-foot green swastika was found spray-painted on a wall next to Philadelphia’s Horowitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza on Sunday. Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza A man in a dark jacket with a white stripe was captured on surveillance video scrawling hate symbols along Arch Street. The NBC Holocaust Memorial in Philadelphia is the oldest in the US, having been commissioned in the 1950s. AP
The swastika was removed within hours of its discovery.
The heinous act of vandalism comes amid a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents across the US following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Data collected by the Anti-Defamation League shows that since the start of the deadly conflict in the Middle East, domestic antisemitic attacks have jumped 360%.
“We strongly condemn the shameful act of vandalism near the Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza with spray-painted swastikas,” Andrew Goretsky, ADL Philadelphia regional director, said in a statement at X. “This reprehensible act not only desecrates the memorial symbol for the victims of the Holocaust but also highlights the disturbing rise in antisemitism that is plaguing our society.”
Police in Philadelphia have launched an investigation into the vandalism and are looking for a masked suspect. The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza Swastika was removed from the wall within hours of its discovery early Sunday. NBC
The Philadelphia Memorial, the oldest public Holocaust monument in the US, was commissioned in the 1950s by Holocaust survivors and members of the Jewish community.
The monument was erected in 1964 and redesigned in 2018 with new installations and artifacts.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
