Memorial to Warsaw Ghetto uprising vandalized

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Unknown vandals painted “Jude Raus” at the entrance of a memorial to the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. 

The words, which mean “Jews Out,” were discovered Wednesday at the Anielewicz Mound in Warsaw.

The monument to Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the uprising, as well as to the rest of the uprising’s fighters, is located on Mila Street, which was a busy thoroughfare in Jewish Warsaw before the Holocaust.

During the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Anielewicz and the staff of the Jewish Combat Organization made their plans and directed operations from a bunker at 18 Mila Street. The Germans surrounded the bunker on May 7, 1943. Most of the 100 resistance fighters and leaders inside the bunker committed suicide, though a few escaped.

After World War II there was no excavation of the remains inside the bunker. Instead, the Anielewicz Mound was created. A memorial stone on top of the mound recounts the story of the resistance fighters led by Anielewicz.

The vandalism currently is under police investigation. A company that specializes in the removal of graffiti has been retained to clean the monument.