The Jewish community in Geneva awoke Friday morning to find several of its sites and monuments defiled by swastikas. A memorial plaque in Geneva's banking quarter that serves to honor the memory of World War II deportees was sprayed with a red swastika, the symbol of Nazi Germany, as were a Jewish library and bookshop, as well as the Hekhal Haness synagogue, the city's largest, in the nearby Malagnou neighborhood. "We are outraged by the anti-Semitic act, a week after Holocaust Remembrance Day," Ron Aufseesser, steering committee member of the Jewish community of Geneva, told the French-language Tribune de Geneve newspaper. Aufseesser added that the synagogue is protected by a video surveillance system, so he hopes that "the tapes can be used to identify the perpetrator so he can be held accountable in a court of law." David Amar, who works in the synagogue, was also outraged by the anti-Semitic act. "It's amazing that in Switzerland, in this day and age, people still commit such horrors," he told Tribune de Geneve.
Anti-Semites scrawl swastikas on Jewish monuments in Geneva
A memorial for Holocaust deportees, as well as a well-known synagogue and Jewish bookshop, are defaced Thursday night with the Nazi symbol • Hekhal Haness synagogue has video surveillance; staff hopes the footage will help police find those responsible.
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