“It is truly a despicable act”, condemns the organization which manages German military cemeteries abroad

“We were truly dismayed to see this morning that Jewish headstones had been vandalized in the cemetery”, reports on franceinfo Carole Novy, responsible for France for the VDK, an organization which manages German military cemeteries abroad. Ten Jewish steles were discovered defaced on Wednesday, November 15, in the German military cemetery of Moulin-sous-Touvent, near Compiègne (Oise), the Oise prefecture said in a press release. It was the VDK maintenance workers who discovered the steles in question.

“It was our teams of gardeners who were able to see this this morning when they arrived at the cemetery: around ten steles had been overturned and broken. It is truly a despicable act, it is something that we cannot accept”, reacts Carole Novy. The VDK “campaigns for peace, for reconciliation”. On the steles, there were “no tag and no registration”therefore nothing that could allow, for the moment, investigators to identify the perpetrators or their motivation.

The steles “will be very quickly replaced or restored”

This cemetery contains 1,903 Christian and Jewish graves of German soldiers who fought during the First World War. Of these 1,903 burials, “there are around ten steles of German Jewish soldiers”reports Carole Novy.

“We think this was done very recently, since our teams of gardeners regularly visit the cemetery to maintain it”explains Carole Novy. “We immediately filed a complaint with the local gendarmerie and we really hope that the perpetrators will be quickly arrested and tried.” The steles “will be replaced or restored very quickly, we owe it to the soldiers and families of the deceased”. The national gendarmerie launched an investigation and the Compiègne public prosecutor’s office has received the facts.