Entries in hate crimes (2)

Tuesday
Dec092008

Nazis Spread The Hate Around

I'm a lot more sensitive to these kinds of acts now. It's always been disgusting to me, but it's taken on a new level. It makes me want to become a full-time activist.

It's irrelevant who this kind of hate is directed toward. In the end, it all comes back on humanity. If there's anything to learn from the Holocaust (Shoah), (and for the record I don't think there is) it's that we're all responsible for these kinds of things. Indifference and ignorance being the greatest crimes. I ask myself everyday if I'm part of the problem, or part of the solution.

Destruction of a Muslim cemetery in Paris. PARIS — A Nazi swastika symbol is seen among desecrated tombs in the Muslim section of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette military cemetery near Arras, northern France, Monday Dec. 8, 2008. Officials say that several hundred tombs of Muslim soldiers who fought in World War I, have been desecrated in northern France in an act the French president denounces as "repugnant racism". The desecration comes at the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. There is no translation for the letters which mark the tombstones.(AP Photo/Michel Spingler).

Vandals desecrated at least 500 tombs of Muslim soldiers in northern France on Monday _ an act President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced as "repugnant racism."

The desecration near the town of Arras appeared timed with the start of Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday in the Muslim calendar.

The administration for the Pas-de-Calais region said the damaged tombs were in the Muslim section of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette cemetery, a well-groomed burial ground for World War I soldiers. Some had swastikas scrawled on the tombstone, others had lettering whose meaning was unclear.

There are 576 graves in the Muslim section of the cemetery, where more than 30,000 soldiers are buried.

Sarkozy, in a statement, said the "abject and revolting act" equates with "repugnant racism against France's Muslim community" and insults the memory of all World War I combatants.

Wednesday
Nov192008

Jewish Cemetery Vandalised With Pig's Head & Blood




Gotha, Germany Jewish Cemetery
Pictures of a shocking Nazi hate attack on a Jewish cemetery in the town of Gotha have horrified Germany.

 

A bloody pig’s head was found stuck to the middle of a Star of David on the graveyard gate at 5.30am yesterday. A sheet next to it, smeared with blood, held a chilling message: "6 million lies".

 

Nazism and hatred toward Jews (and people that are "different") is alive and well here in Germany. For those that think otherwise, you are completely misinformed. As this Bild article says, there were over 17,000 of these kinds of crimes committed last year here, 18 involving cemeteries. To desecrate cemeteries and disrespect the dead like this, speaks volumes to me. In a way, I feel sorry for these uneducated, misinformed souls. I would relish the opportunity to teach them about the history of the Jewish people - that would be wonderful.  

 

These kinds of things motivate me to "turn up the volume" on my project. I want to read about people that are trying show the truth and create discourse to help people learn the truth. The other side doesn't seem to get fair play on this topic. We'll see if we can change that.



This is a link to the Bild article (in English). Thank you Caron.
Credit: By OLIVER LÖHR and JAN MEYER

It just never stops....

Former E. German Synagogue Defaced
November 19, 2008

BERLIN (JTA) -- A newly renovated synagogue in the former East Germany was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, police reported.

It was the third act of vandalism against a Jewish site reported in the former East Germany in the last  two days.

According to reports, perpetrators painted anti-Semitic statements and illegal symbols in yellow on the front door of a synagogue in Goerlitz covering more than a square yard. The vandalism was discovered Monday.

Reached in Vienna, Alex Jacobowitz, the chairman of Goerlitz’s small Jewish community, said he would comment after seeing the police report.

The synagogue in Goerlitz, originally dedicated in 1909, was the only synagogue in the state of Saxony to survive the Kristallnacht pogrom of 70 years ago. It was reopened to the public following extensive renovations on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Nov. 9.

Also Monday, two Jewish cemeteries in the former East German state of Thuringia were found defaced with red paint. In one case, the bloody head of a pig was hung on the cemetery’s iron gates. Police reportedly were able to retrieve evidence at the cemeteries in Gotha and Erfurt.