July 1, 2012

(JTA) – Austrian police are investigating vandalism in a Jewish section of Vienna’s Central Cemetery that left 43 gravestones toppled or damaged.

“We are deeply dismayed at this level of vandalism,” Jewish community President Oscar Deutsch said Friday in a statement on the community’s website, after inspecting the cemetery. Deutsch said the Jewish community hoped for quick action on the case and punishment for whoever carried it out.

The Central Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery in Vienna, with some 120,000 graves it its two sections.

The desecration came just days after Vienna city authorities announced completion of a milestone in the restoration of the 349 gravestones in Vienna’s oldest Jewish cemetery, a burial ground on Seegasse street that operated from about 1540 to 1783 and is now maintained by the city as a park and memorial site. The Vienna city government’s culture department reported in May that the 50th headstone had been fully restored and erected in its original position.

Don’t miss out! Get the JTA Daily Briefing delivered FREE to your inbox!

Click to login and write a letter to the editor.

This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.