Vandals attack Buchenwald and Berlin Holocaust memorials in same week

Two different German memorials to the Holocaust have been attacked by vandals in one week.

At the former Nazi camp at Buchenwald, some trees that had been planted in order to honour the memory of the victims were cut down.

The trees were planted earlier in the year by the relatives of some of the victims as part of a project called “1,000 Beeches for Buchenwald”.

Though a spokesperson from the Holocaust survivors’ association, The International Auschwitz Committee, said that the incident was a “hateful and calculated demonstration of power by neo-Nazis”, the local police say that they do not have any clear information about who is responsible and the suspects remain unidentified.

At the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, meanwhile, unidentified perpetrators have drawn two swastikas and written the Nazi-era phrase “Heil Hitler” (“Hail Hitler”) into one of the concrete slabs meant to represent the Jews murdered by the Nazis. The police say that, while they are currently looking for those responsible, they have not yet made any arrests.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism in Germany, which have increased considerably.