Berlin police released a police report on Sunday detailing damage inflicted by unknown individuals to a Jewish memorial in the district of Steglitz. The investigation is ongoing.
According to the police, officers observed paint defacing the monument at Hermann-Ehlers-Platz around 4:10 pm on Saturday. The reflective surface of the memorial was marred with what the police described as “political content,” although the specific lettering was rendered illegible. The State Security Police of the State Criminal Police Office have assumed responsibility for the investigation.
The Steglitz memorial commemorates the Jewish residents of Berlin-Steglitz who perished in concentration and extermination camps. It also honors the site of a former synagogue that stood there. Authorities suspect the defacement of the monument is an act of extremism.
This incident is part of a broader trend of increasing antisemitic acts in Germany. In July 2022, unknown individuals drew swastikas on one of the concrete slabs of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial. In August 2023, a Holocaust memorial dedicated to LGBTQ+ victims in Berlin was damaged in an arson attack. Similarly, the Shoah Memorial in France, which honors individuals who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust, was vandalized in May of this year.
Antisemitism has surged in Germany in the wake of the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas. A civil society group reported that antisemitic incidents have quadrupled since the onset of the war. Shortly after Hamas’s attacks on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent siege of Gaza, a synagogue in Berlin was targeted in a fire attack. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack, pledging to protect the country’s Jewish communities. He emphasized Germany’s historical connection to the Holocaust as a reason for heightened vigilance against antisemitism.
For further details, visit the full report by JURIST.