Berlin police are investigating the vandalism of poignant Holocaust memorials in the city.
By: AP and World Israel News Staff
Berlin police are investigating the disappearance of more than a dozen Holocaust memorials called “Stolpersteine” (stumbling stones), which are small brass plaques placed in the sidewalks outside of the former homes of Jews and other victims of the Nazis in the German capital.
Police said Monday that residents in the central Neukoelln district reported the small memorials missing from several streets.
A local politician said he suspects members of the far-right are behind the offensive act.
The project was initiated in 1996 by artist Gunter Demnig, and seeks to bring back the names of Jews and others to places where they once lived. Each square plaque carries the name of the victim and information like when they were deported and where they were killed.
“It’s upsetting and it hurts,” Demnig said on Tuesday, according to Germany’s Deutsche Welle.
There are more than 60,000 of the plaques installed across Europe.