A signage struck with antisemitic graffiti is currently sitting in the basement of the world's oldest holocaust museum, which is located in a Russel Square townhouse in London.
This is just one of the rising antisemitic attacks that were on the rise within the UK's capital following the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel; one example of the graffiti spree that marks a disheartening start to the 90th-anniversary of the Wiener Holocaust Library.
The Graffiti Incident Ahead of the Museum's 90th Anniversary
The metal sign was originally attached to the front railings of the institution until it was vandalized on Nov. 2 with the word "GAZA" using red spray paint, according to a statement by the library.
The head curator of the museum, Dr. Barbara Warnock, told The Guardian that the signage was "quite bulky" and posed some problems in terms of "where it is going to be stored."
Warnock herself assumes the series of graffiti attacks defacing schools, bus stops, and synagogues were "coordinated," however, the police are yet to find a lead as to who is behind the said vandalizations, said the head curator.
This dispiriting incident happened before the library's 90th birthday celebration, which is commemorated through an exhibition in the capital showcasing the institution's most significant artifacts within its collection.
In its Amsterdam counterpart, a new "Stolpersteine" or "stumbling stones" installation, originally made by Gunter Demnig, is being exhibited for the same purpose.
The piece is made up of concrete cubes with attached metal plates that are engraved with the names Kurt Zielenziger and Bernhard Krieg, people who succumbed to the harsh conditions in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp.
They were also previous workers of the library's forerunning predecessor in Amsterdam, the Jewish Central Information Office (JCIO), founded by Dr. Alfred Wiener in 1934.
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The History Behind Dr. Alfred Wiener's Establishment of the Library
Wiener, a German Jew who had fled his home country alongside his family after being warned by Hermann Göring, had been extremely vigilant of the then-imminent antisemitic movement in Germany since 1919 and was vocal against its rise even when the Nazis appeared exhausted in the mid-1920s.
Today, a third Stolperstein installation is being instated in the name of Wiener's wife, Dr. Margarete Wiener-Saulmann, who also held employment at the JCIO.
At the time, Wiener-Saulmann and her daughters were unable to get their visas to meet Wiener at their rendezvous in London, where the founder had fled to, with his institution's Amsterdam collection in tow, following the 1940 German invasion that Holland suffered.
Unfortunately, his wife passed away on Jan. 21, 1945, as she was on her way to Switzerland from the Bergen Belsen concentration camp via train, following a prisoner swap.
Her daughters, including Mirjam Wiener-who consequently birthed the Conservative peer and famed columnist Daniel Finkelstein-were able to survive.
For Warnock, Wiener's collection is as timely as ever, especially after the rising antisemitic sentiment and Islamophobic attacks following the October Gaza incident.
Because of this, the museum head curator hopes the upcoming exhibition will "make people aware" of their history and the collection's "significance to Britain."
"With our history as a refugee organization, we are also concerned about, you know, rhetoric, and sometimes policy around refugees as well. There's a lot to be concerned about," said Warnock.
