Jewish cemetery vandalized in Romania

A Jewish cemetery in Bucharest was vandalized on Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Vandals have desecrated a Jewish cemetery in the Romanian capital and smashed some 10 headstones in what was described as “a premeditated act.”

The Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism in Romania said Tuesday that tombstones were broken into pieces at the Jewish cemetery in southern Bucharest overnight Monday, when Israel observed Yom Hashoah, remembering the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

The Center called for an investigation and for the perpetrators to face justice.

Bucharest police said in a statement that three youths, ages 13 to 16 ,were being investigated on suspicion of defiling the graves.

Romania deported 150,000 Jews and 25,000 Roma to concentration camps during the Holocaust between 1942 and 1944, when the country was run by pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu.

After Communism ended, many denied or downplayed Romania’s role in the Holocaust.

An estimated 6,000 Jews live in Romania today.

This incident is the latest in a string of Jewish cemetery desecrations around the globe, most recently in the US.

By: AP and World Israel News Staff

anti-SemitismHolocaustRomaniaVandalism