At least 59 tombstones were overturned and smashed into pieces by unknown vandals at a Jewish cemetery in Slovakia. Caretakers of the graveyard said they had never seen such a vicious attack, even under Nazi occupation.
The incident occurred at the Jewish cemetery in the northern Slovak town of Namestovo. The destruction was noticed on Monday and it was not immediately clear when the destructive spree itself occurred.
Footage from the scene shows the whole cemetery was effectively destroyed. At least 59 graves– nearly all of them, in fact – had had their headstones overturned or smashed into pieces.
Aside from the massive destruction, the vandals apparently have left no particular message, abstaining from painting any offensive symbols, an act commonly associated with such attacks.
The cemetery has been looked after by non-Jewish locals and activists of the civic association Remember. The Jewish population of the town was exterminated by the Nazis during the World War II, yet the graveyard itself survived those dark years.
"Such a terrible act of vandalism is something that hasn't happened, even during the Second World War," the leader of the Remember group, Karol Kurtilik, said, pledging to work with state authorities and the Jewish community to restore the site as soon as possible.
Also on rt.com More than 100 Jewish graves desecrated near Strasbourg (PHOTOS)Local police have launched a criminal investigation into the attack, yet, so far, no suspects have been identified.
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