German tombstones knocked down

The German city of Bremen will help the local Jewish community pay for repairs to a historic cemetery in Hastedt, which was damaged by unknown vandals.

Twelve tombstones from the 1920s and ’30s were knocked down overnight on Aug. 2; some were severely damaged. Such cemeteries depend on public care, since many of the descendants fled Nazi Germany or were killed.

Jens Bohrnsen and Karoline Linnert, the co-mayors of Bremen, a port city of more than 500,000, visited the site Aug. 9 with Jewish community representatives. They said Germany is not indifferent to this kind of crime.

Meanwhile, in Aachen near the German border with France and Belgium, unknown perpetrators painted Nazi symbols on the wall of the Jewish cemetery. The vandalism was discovered in the early morning hours Aug. 2. — jta