Ulyanovsk; Russia: Jewish community center defaced

January 31, 2008.

According to Andrey Glotzer, press secretary of the Russian Chief Rabbi, 12 young men defaced the outer wall of the Jewish community center with swastikas and antisemitic slogans. They were also shouting antisemitic slogans. The police detained four of the assaulters, the others could escape. The police are continuing to investigate the incident.

Source: Interfax, 01-31-2008

Edinburgh, Scotland: Campus event boycotted

January 31, 2008.

Edinburgh University’s Islamic Society (ISocEd) boycotted a Holocaust Memorial Day event on campus. In a letter to the Jewish Society, leaders of the ISocED cited “reservations as to how the memory of the Holocaust is sometimes used for political purposes” and they called for “a Genocide Memorial Day in the future to mark genocides throughout history, including both the Holocaust and the Palestinian crisis.”

Source: thejc.com, 01-31-2008

Schwerin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Germany: Far-right party boycotts Holocaust tribute

January 30, 2008.

Six members of the NPD, a far-right party, boycotted a moment of silence at the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Schwerin. The moment of silence was held in honor of Nazi victims. January 30 was the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s elevation to German chancellor.

Source: Focus Online, 30-01-2008

London, England

January 30, 2008.

A group of 96 visitors, many of them visibly identifiable as Jewish, were attacked by youths with bricks and stones. The guided group was looking at sites of Jewish interest on their way to a service at East London Central Synagogue. Two visitors were both struck on the head and had to go to hospital. According to antisemitism.org, the police are treating the attacks as “racially motivated, possibly antisemitic”.

Sources: Eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk, 01-30-2008

Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia: Synagogue vandalized

January 28, 2008.

According to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, three young men, aged 18 to 19, vandalized the synagogue of Nizhniy Novgorod. The perpetrators overwhelmed the security guard and beat him. Afterwards they began to throw religious books out the windows. The attack is being investigated.

Source: Interfax, 01-28-2008

Soemmerda (the Free State of Thuringia), Germany: Memorial plaque vandalized

January 27, 2008.

During the night of January 26/27, the eve of International Holocaust Memorial Day, a memorial plaque to the prisoners of Buchenwald who died in the death march, located on the outside wall of a building in the Buchenwald concentration camp, was defaced with graffiti. Unknown perpetrators smeared swastikas and the word “gas” on the memorial plaque.

Source: Thueringer Allgemeine , 02-06-2008

Luton, England: Holocaust denial

January 27, 2008.

According to the Community Security Trust (CST), a group of approximately twelve Muslim protesters were shouting antisemitic remarks through a megaphone and were also denying the reality of the Holocaust.

Source: CST, 01-27-2008» Read more.

Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine: Rabbi beaten

January 27, 2008.

antisemitism.org reports that Rabbi Dov-Ber Baitman, a teacher at the Jewish educational center Shiurey Torah, was severely beaten by unknown perpetrators on a main street in the evening.

Source: Antisemitism.org, 01-27-2008

Komarno, Slovakia: Synagogue desecrated

January 25, 2008.

The local synagogue in Komarno was desecrated with a swastika and the number “88”, a neo-Nazi symbol that is derived from the initials of “Heil Hitler”; H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Source: adl.org, 01-25-2008

Berlin, Germany: Jewish students attacked by “punks”

January 16, 2008.

On January 16, five students from the Jewish High School (Jüdische Oberschule) in Berlin-Mitte were attacked by a group of so-called “punks”. According to the police, the pupils were on their way back home when the punks insulted them with antisemitic expressions such as “Scheiß-Juden” (shitty Jews). Afterward they set their dog on the 15- to 17-year-old students, who fortunately were able to escape and call the police. The assaulters were immediately arrested. The two main perpetrators are 27 and 31 years old.

Sources: Berlin Police report, 01-17-2008 and Tagesspiegel, 01-17-2008

London, England: Physical violence

January 12, 2008.

According to the Community Security Trust (CST), a boy visibly identifiable as Jewish was punched in the face. The perpetrator, who belonged to a group of 15 persons, shouted “dirty fucking Jews”.

Source: CST, 01-12-2008

Neuguetenberg (Brandenburg), Germany: Jewish cemetery desecrated

January 10, 2008.

Between January 10 and 16, a Jewish cemetery was desecrated. The unknown perpetrators damaged several gravestones and smeared one of them with a swastika. The police are investigating the incident.

Source: Märkische Allgemeine, 01-16-2008

Berlin, Germany: Jewish facilities damaged

January 08, 2008.

Unknown perpetrators damaged a window of the Lapidarium – a part of the Jewish cemetery in Berlin / Prenzlauer Berg that houses gravestones dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries – by throwing stones.

Another Jewish facility (Haus am Rupenhorn), located in the western part of the city, also was damaged by unknown perpetrators.

Source: Berliner Morgenpost, 01-10-2008

Tbilisi, Georgia: Antisemitic newspaper

January 04, 2008.

According to the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), an antisemitic newspaper connected to the political movement “Axali Sitkva” is being distributed in metro stations in Tbilisi. The newspaper accuses Jews of plotting to “shed the blood” of Georgians. According to UCSJ, it is not clear how the police reacted.

Source: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), 01-04-2008

Vienna, Austria: Main cemetery ravaged

January 04, 2008.

Two unknown perpetrators desecrated 101 graves at Vienna’s main cemetery between January 3 and 4. According to a police report, 25 graves were desecrated in the Jewish sector of the graveyard. Alois Pommer, colonel of the Austrian police, said there was no evidence of a political motivation.

Source: Spiegel Online, 01-04-2008