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Austria: photos of Holocaust survivors defaced in Vienna

The leader of Austria’s Jewish community called it “an anti-Semitic attack on all of Austria.”

By AP and World Israel News Staff 

Photos of Holocaust survivors exhibited on a central Vienna street have been defaced with swastikas, drawing condemnation from political and Jewish leaders.

Broadcaster ORF reported Wednesday that ESRA, a group that brought the work by German-Italian photographer Luigi Toscano to the Austrian capital, said several photos were daubed with swastikas and other graffiti on Tuesday. The exhibition opened on part of the Ringstrasse, a busy road that runs around downtown Vienna, on May 7 and the group said some portraits were previously damaged with knives.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz tweeted that he was “dismayed by the anti-Semitic defilement” of the photos and called for a thorough investigation. The leader of Austria’s Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, said that “it is an anti-Semitic attack on all of Austria” and that police are investigating.

ESRA told ORF that they were “shocked and outraged that a sensitive-artistic project in memory of the Holocaust” was defaced. It shows “disrespect for art and above all it shows disrespect for the people portrayed,” they added.

The leader of Austria’s Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, called it “an anti-Semitic attack on all of Austria.”