Maribor Synagogue defaced with antisemitic graffiti
The Maribor Synagogue, a medieval building that serves not as an active place of worship but as a Jewish cultural centre, was daubed with antisemitic graffiti over the weekend in a widely condemned incident, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Pictures released by the cultural centre on Facebook on 13 January show graffiti with the slogans "Jews are the evil of the world," "Death to Jews, glory to Slovenia," and "Read the Talmud".
The cultural centre said it was saddened the building was once again targeted by vandals expressing "offensive and menacing views" against Jews.
"All the staff at the Maribor Synagogue are Slovenian. We cannot judge the graffiti on our building as Jews, but as Slovenians we strongly reject the content thereof," the post reads.
Police investigation under way
The centre's director Boris Hajdinjak said they notified the relevant authorities right away after noticing the graffiti on Sunday.
The police have opened an investigation with the Maribor Police Department saying they are looking into suspected instigation of hatred, violence or intolerance, and damaging of a cultural monument.
Instigation carries a punishment of up to two years in prison and damaging a cultural monument up to five years. Damage to property is estimated roughly at €1500.
The latest such incident has drawn wide condemnation with the Slovenian government saying in a post on X that "such outbursts of hatred have no place in our society and are in utter opposition to the principles and values of tolerance and coexistence between nations".
The Maribor municipality said "such actions have no place in our community", adding: "Maribor is a proud city that has stood up to hatred many times in the past. We are proud of our history and cultural heritage, and we are proud to be one of the few European cities that still has a medieval synagogue."
Similar incidents in the past
This is only the latest such incident. In July 2022 swastikas were daubed on the panels of an open-air exhibition on the Jewish history of Maribor put up by the Maribor Synagogue in Leon Štukelj Square.
Earlier, the Maribor Synagogue was defaced with hateful graffiti in 2009. "Sixteen years on, I'm afraid the situation is worse in many respects, certainly in terms of hate speech and incitement to intolerance. I only hope that things will be tackled as quickly as they were in 2009, at least at institutional level," Hajdinjak told the Slovenian Press Agency.
The Jewish Cultural Centre in Ljubljana was vandalised with a black swastika in November 2023. To express solidarity with the Jewish community in Slovenia, members of the diplomatic corps gathered in front of the Jewish synagogue at the time.
In May 2024 a stone relief with the Star of David in Jewish Square in the coastal town of Piran was damaged by carving. The only remaining sign of the once prominent Jewish community in Piran, Jewish Square is a popular tourist spot, visited mainly by US tourists of Jewish descent.
