Police are searching for a vandal who was caught on camera painting a green swastika on the wall of Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Square on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
Police are investigating what the monument called a hate crime on Facebook.
The memorial called it “an abhorrent act of anti-Semitism that occurred amid an alarming rise in anti-Semitic hatred in Philadelphia and across the nation.”
Police responded to the scene of vandalism Sunday around 2:21 p.m. FOX 29 Philadelphia reported.
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The green spray-painted swastika was painted by vandals early Sunday morning. (Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Square Facebook)
“The incident happened at about 1:30 a.m. in the middle of the night,” Esther Kutas, director of the Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, told WPVI-TV. “A person approached the scene with spray paint in his hand and immediately placed a 2×2 swastika on our property. We are the oldest Holocaust memorial in the United States, so obviously this incident is very upsetting to us.”
According to CBS News Philadelphia, the memorial plaza at 16th and Arch streets was built in 1964.
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Photo of vandal suspect from monument. (Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Square Facebook)
“This reprehensible act not only desecrates a symbol of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, but also highlights the disturbing rise in anti-Semitism plaguing our community.” Andrew Goretsky, Philadelphia Regional Director for Prevention League, said in a statement on social media platform X. “We must unite against such hatred, reaffirm our commitment to tolerance and work collectively to eradicate prejudice.”
The suspect, identified as a man, was captured on video vandalizing the Holocaust memorial. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation to FOX 29 Philadelphia)
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The suspect has not yet been identified, but police said he was wearing a black mask and a dark-colored jacket, possibly brown, with stripes running down his chest and arms.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to contact authorities.
