Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Philadelphia vandalized with swastika

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was vandalized with a swastika, a spokesperson for the memorial said on Sunday.

Surveillance video shows a man wearing a black mask and dark jacket with a stripe across the chest and down his arms spray-painting the hateful symbol on the wall of the memorial.

“This is a reminder for our public that antisemitism is real in our communities,” Eszter Kutas, the executive director of the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, said. “We need the public’s help in making sure these incidents are lessening in our communities.”

Built in 1964, the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza at 16th and Arch Streets along the Parkway is the only major public monument in Philly dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust.

The Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza in Philadelphia was vandalized with a swastika. CBS News Philadelphia blurred the hateful symbol.

The bronze sculpture at the memorial was presented to the city of Philadelphia by Holocaust survivors and community leaders, and became the first public monument in North America to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust.

The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating the vandalism. Anyone with information is urged to contact Central Detectives at (215) 686-3093 or submit a tip anonymously using the PPD’s tipline at (215) 686-TIPS (8477).

In the two months since the deadly attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, reports of antisemitic incidents have soared across the United States, according to data by the Anti-Defamation League.

The group called the rise “unprecedented,” and reported incidents of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate have also spiked in the U.S. over the same period, according to data from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In December in Philadelphia’s Somerton section, two swastikas were spray-painted on a wall near a senior apartment complex home to several Jewish people.

Since the Israel-Hamas war, the University of Pennsylvania has also been under national scrutiny for its handling of antisemtism incidents on campus.

The university’s former president, Liz Magill, resigned following her comments at a Congressional hearing on antisemitism, and the school is under multiple investigations, including one last week by another House committee.