Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
- 50,848
- 4,827
- 1,790
French? Muslim? Anti-Semitism? Couldn't be!
http://dclk.themarker.com/html.ng/s...ition=99&hlayer1=1&HaaretzCatgory=1&hlang=ENG
Mural by Jewish child prisoners in WW2 desecrated in France
By Reuters
PARIS - Vandals have desecrated a mural painted by Jewish children during World War Two in a transit camp in southern France where they were held before deportation to Nazi Germany, police said Sunday.
The desecration, which a historian reported to police Friday, follows a recent rise in anti-Semitic crimes in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community of some 600,000.
The mural, a painting of a countryside scene, was found almost completed chipped away. Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin condemned the attack and asked the local prefect to hunt down those responsible.
"He [Villepin] expressed to all those affected and revolted by this desecration the government's profound solidarity and his wish to punish firmly acts that cannot be justified," Villepin's office said in a statement.
Vandals smashed through a wall to get at the mural, which was protected by bars. The abandoned site outside Perpignan, near the French border with Spain, served as a transit camp from 1941 to 1942 under France's collaborationist Vichy regime.
Some 2,000 Jews were held there. Most were then moved to Drancy, near Paris, and then to Nazi concentration camps.
Last month, the Interior Ministry said the number of attacks against Jewish people or property rose in France in the first three months of this year.
Many of the anti-Jewish attacks have been blamed on Muslim youths angry about the situation in the Middle East. France is home to Europe's largest Muslim minority of five million.
Related Links
* Editorial / Cloud over France
* France pledges crackdown on anti-Jewish crime
* Chirac condemns stabbing of yeshiva student in apparent anti-Semitic attack
http://dclk.themarker.com/html.ng/s...ition=99&hlayer1=1&HaaretzCatgory=1&hlang=ENG
Mural by Jewish child prisoners in WW2 desecrated in France
By Reuters
PARIS - Vandals have desecrated a mural painted by Jewish children during World War Two in a transit camp in southern France where they were held before deportation to Nazi Germany, police said Sunday.
The desecration, which a historian reported to police Friday, follows a recent rise in anti-Semitic crimes in France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community of some 600,000.
The mural, a painting of a countryside scene, was found almost completed chipped away. Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin condemned the attack and asked the local prefect to hunt down those responsible.
"He [Villepin] expressed to all those affected and revolted by this desecration the government's profound solidarity and his wish to punish firmly acts that cannot be justified," Villepin's office said in a statement.
Vandals smashed through a wall to get at the mural, which was protected by bars. The abandoned site outside Perpignan, near the French border with Spain, served as a transit camp from 1941 to 1942 under France's collaborationist Vichy regime.
Some 2,000 Jews were held there. Most were then moved to Drancy, near Paris, and then to Nazi concentration camps.
Last month, the Interior Ministry said the number of attacks against Jewish people or property rose in France in the first three months of this year.
Many of the anti-Jewish attacks have been blamed on Muslim youths angry about the situation in the Middle East. France is home to Europe's largest Muslim minority of five million.
Related Links
* Editorial / Cloud over France
* France pledges crackdown on anti-Jewish crime
* Chirac condemns stabbing of yeshiva student in apparent anti-Semitic attack
