Jewish cemetery vandalised in the Czech Republic
Unidentified perpetrators smashes a headstone and etched an obscene drawing onto others
A Jewish cemetery was vandalised in a village in the Czech Republic, where unidentified perpetrators smashed at least one headstone and etched obscene drawing on several others.
Police have no suspects in custody in connection with last week’s incident in Osoblaha in a northeastern district of the Central European country.
In addition to toppling and smashing at least one headstone, the perpetrators also drew male genitals on one headstone and a smiley face on another, the Coordination Forum For Countering Antisemitism reported on its website Wednesday.
antisemitic violence and vandalism is commonplace across Eastern Europe but relatively rare in the Czech Republic.
Polls conducted in that country consistently suggest that antisemitic sentiments are significantly less prevalent there than in neighboring countries.
In a 2015 survey of 19 countries conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, 13 percent of Czech respondents displayed what ADL considered antisemitic sentiments. That figure was the lowest in Eastern Europe, far behind the regional average of 34 percent.
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