Swastika daubed on grave of 18th-century rabbi in Poland

By The Associated Press
March 6, 2008

Anti-Semitic inscriptions and a swastika seen on
the grave of Rabbi Elimelech at the Jewish
cemetery in southeastern Poland Thursday. (AP)

WARSAW, Poland - Vandals have daubed a swastika and other graffiti at the grave of a prominent 18th-century Hasidic rabbi in southeastern Poland, an official said Thursday.

The white prayer house that encloses the grave of Rabbi Elimelech in the town of Lezajsk was desecrated on Tuesday night, said Monika Krawczyk, director of the Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland.

She said that a Nazi swastika was daubed on its wall in red paint, along with the image of a Star of David on the gallows and misspelled words in German.

Police were still seeking the perpetrators, Krawczyk said.

"We are shaken by this," Krawczyk said. "There have never been any such incidents in the town, which is used to the constant presence of Jews."

Every year, thousands of Hasidic Jews travel to Lezajsk from around the world to pray at the grave of Elimelech, who died on March 11, 1787.