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Outrage in France after graffiti denying the Holocaust found at massacre site

WION Web Team
Paris, FranceUpdated: Aug 23, 2020, 06:23 AM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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"Liar" had been painted over the words "martyr" and "when the truth" on a wall at the Centere de la Mémoire, a memory centre honouring those slain in the World War II massacre that took place in the village where the centre is located.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday vowed that everything would be done to find out who defaced a memorial for one of the worst single massacres in France by the Nazis during World War II.

The graffiti denying the Holocaust found at a memorial centre in the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane this week has also led Prime Minister Jean Castex to call for justice.

Politicians from across the spectrum denounced the desecration of the main entrance sign for the memorial at Oradour-sur-Glane in central France, where 642 people were slaughtered on June 10, 1944 by a German SS division.

"Liar" had been painted over the words "martyr" and "when the truth" on a wall at the Centere de la Mémoire, a memory centre honouring those slain in the World War II massacre that took place in the village where the centre is located.

A blue cover was placed over the sign on Saturday, but images on social media accounts indicated the word in French for "liar" had been added next to it along with other slogans claiming to deny the massacre had taken place.

The inscriptions were discovered on Friday morning when the memorial centre opened, its president Fabrice Escure told AFP.

Police are searching for those responsible.

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane was the site of a massacre in World War II, when German troops destroyed the entire village on June 10, 1944, killing 642 people.

The Elysee released a statement about the incident, saying that French President Emmanuel Macron "condemns this unspeakable act in the strongest possible terms. He gives his full support to the mayor and the municipality. He assures them that everything will be done so that the perpetrators of this act are brought to justice."

Macron also commented Saturday on Twitter, saying, "Nothing can make us forget the memory of our 642 martyrs of Oradour-sur-Glane."

On the other hand, PM Castex posted on Twitter: "I learned with anger and consternation of the degradation of the memory center of Oradour-sur-Glane. To sully this place of refuge is also to sully the memory of our martyrs. Everything is being done to ensure that the perpetrators of these infamous acts are brought to justice."

The anti-Semitic incident is the latest addition to the growing list. In 2018, it was announced that anti-Semitic acts in France had risen by 69 per cent.

The incident comes amid growing concern in France over remembering World War II, after repeated vandalisation attacks on Jewish cemeteries.