A swastika was discovered spray-painted on a wall next to the nation’s oldest Holocaust memorial in Philadelphia, prompting a vandalism investigation.
The hateful symbol, measuring about 2 feet by 2 feet, was spotted early Sunday on the wall of the Verizon building on Arch Street, adjacent to the Horowitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza, police said.
According to authorities, surveillance video captured a masked man quickly scribbling the Nazi insignia in green spray paint around 1:30 a.m.
The suspect was described in a police news release as an “unknown male” who was last seen wearing a dark, possibly brown, jacket with a white stripe on the chest and arms.
Eszter Kutas, executive director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, which manages the memorial, told NBC Philadelphia that “having a hate symbol in a Holocaust memorial plaza is especially disturbing.”
A 2X2 foot green swastika was discovered 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 the hateful symbol along Arch Street. NBC The Holocaust memorial in Philadelphia is the oldest in the United States, having been commissioned in the 1950s. AP
The swastika was removed within hours of its discovery.
The vile act of vandalism comes amid a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the United States following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked a war in Gaza.
Data collected by the Anti-Defamation League shows that since the outbreak of the deadly conflict in the Middle East, domestic anti-Semitic attacks have increased by 360%.
“We strongly condemn the disgraceful act of defacing near the Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza with a spray-painted swastika,” said Andrew Goretsky, ADL Philadelphia Regional Director, he said in a statement on X. “This reprehensible act not only desecrates a symbol of remembrance for Holocaust victims, but also highlights the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism plaguing our community.”
Philadelphia police have launched an investigation into the vandalism and are searching for the masked suspect. Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza The swastika was removed from the wall within hours of its discovery early Sunday morning. NBC
The Philadelphia Memorial, the oldest public Holocaust memorial in the United States, 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 facilities and artifacts.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn