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Holocaust memorial in Berlin
Photo: AP
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New Year’s Eve celebrations held last Saturday at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate pour into nearby Holocaust memorial. Wine bottles, empty packs of condoms left on some stones
Ronen Bergman
New Year’s Eve celebrations held last Saturday at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate poured into the nearby Holocaust memorial, Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
“The riled up masses drank, ate and sent massive amounts of fireworks into the air from in between the graves,” an Israel Air Force pilot who is currently visiting Germany said.
Following the celebrations, wine bottles, decorations and even empty packs of condoms were left on some of the stones.
Cleaning service employees were summoned to the scene, but it seems that clearing the memorial of the filth left behind may take a while.
4 slabs defaced with swastikas
Last November the same memorial was partly defaced with yellow Stars of David. A Berlin police spokesman said at the time that a star had been painted by unknown vandals onto each of six of the 2,711 concrete slabs of varying height that make up the memorial.
Under the Nazis, Jews had to wear yellow stars of David to distinguish themselves from so-called "Aryan" Germans.
A Berlin Police spokesman said that the stars, which were removed, may have been linked to a number of others found sprayed or painted onto buildings and monuments in central Berlin.
The memorial, which was officially unveiled in May in the heart of the German capital, is constantly under surveillance. It covers almost 20,000 square meters, allowing visitors to wander around its tight grid pattern.
Four of the slabs were defaced with swastikas shortly before a visit to Germany by President Moshe Katsav in June.
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