World Jewish News

Jewish cemetery vandalised in Bohumin.

The recently reconstructed cemetery of Czech Jews in Bohumin became a target of vandals at the weekend, local town hall spokeswoman Lucie Balcarova told CTK Monday.
The unidentified perpetrators destroyed and knocked down 25 gravestones.
The Jewish community, that ceremoniously reopened the cemetery after a six-month repair work two weeks ago, put the damage at around 30,000 crowns, Balcarova said.
If caught, the vandals can be charged with damage to a thing and breach of the peace, she added.
The town hall has promised help in the removal of the damage. "We are considering installing a closed-circuit television camera to monitor not only the cemetery, but also the adjacent area," Mayor Petr Vicha said.
"Moreover, after the cemetery is reopened, we are ready to send more police patrols there," Vicha added.
The local Jews are appalled at the act of vandalism. "I am awfully sad and it has tremendously hurt me," Jirina Garajova, chairwoman of the Bohumin Jewish community, said.
"Bohumin has no memorial to its Holocaust victims and this was one of the few opportunities to remind the Bohuman residents of their disappeared neighbours," Garajova said.
The Jewish cemetery in Bohumin was in use until the mid-19th century.
"Before 1939, there were some 400 Jews in Bohumin, of whom a mere eleven survived the Holocaust," Garajova said.
Thirty-two gravestones have been preserved at the cemetery. The Jewish community has made them repaired. The work cost almost 200,000 crowns, she added.

Источник: praguemonitor.com