France: Paris Holocaust memorial vandalized with 'blood-red hands'
May 15, 2024
Paris [France], May 15 : A Paris Holocaust memorial for the French people was vandalised with painted red hands, pointing towards the rise of anti-semitic sentiments in the European nation, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The memorial was defaced with painted red hands on Monday night, and the incident was reported by the Shoah Memorial on Tuesday.
The Holocaust Memorial Foundation claims that hooded people vandalised the Wall of the Righteous and other nearby locations. According to the Shoah Memorial, the police have received a complaint, and an investigation is currently underway.
Meanwhile, on Instagram, the activist group Nous Vivrons also posted a photo of a Marais neighbourhood building covered with the same red hands, which verified the vandalism incident, The Jerusalem Post reported.
"We are outraged by this cowardly and hateful act, regardless of the perpetrators and the meaning of these red hands," said the Shoah Memorial.
Director of the Shoah Memorial Jacques Fredj stated that the act demonstrated the increased need for historical and educational institutions.
"We are acting against intolerance and ignorance in a moment of confusion and exploitation of the history of the Shoah and genocides," The Jerusalem Post quoted Fredj as saying.
"We will continue to deploy and amplify our work in education and pedagogy against barbarism, against antisemitism and all forms of intolerance," he said.
Following the incident, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X on Wednesday wrote, "Degrading the Wall of the Righteous Among the Nations, the barrier of Enlightenment against Nazism, is to undermine the memory of these heroes as well as that of the victims of the Shoah."
"The Republic, as always, will remain inflexible in the face of odious anti-Semitism," he said.
The incident of vandalism comes at a time when there are anti-Israel protests going across the world amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli military.
Meanwhile, the World Jewish Congress said that the vandalism was "shameful."
"Our societies need to wake up and understand the meaning and intentions behind these actions," said WJC.
