For second time, Kristallnacht poster defaced with ‘Free Palestine’

A poster promoting the Wiener Library’s exhibition on Kristallnact has been defaced with anti-Israel graffiti for the second time in a matter of months.

One of the community’s leading Holocaust education charities condemned the daubing of “Free Palestine” and “One Love” on one its advertising board at Russell Square tube station as “undisguised antisemitism”.

This comes after the library’s poster promoting its ‘Shattered’ display, examining the Nazi Kristallnact pogrom in 1938, was daubed with “Free Palestine” in October,.

After being reported to the charity on Monday, its director Ben Barkow said: “This second assault within a few weeks on a poster advertising our exhibition about Kristallnacht is malicious and depressing.

“The November Pogrom of 1938 is not connected in any way to the position of Palestinians in present-day Israel.

“The false conflation is undisguised antisemitism.”

The Holocaust and genocide centre, located five minutes from the station, tweeted  it is “disappointed to see that our tube poster at Russell Square has been defaced once again. As a small charity w/ a very limited budget we hope this can fixed quickly” appealing to Transport for London (TFL) to take urgent action.

“As always our doors are open to those who want to wish to learn”, they added.

The exhibit, called ‘Shattered,’ offers an explanation of the famed pogrom of 9-10 November 1938, when Nazi thugs rampaged across Germany, Austria and Sudetenland, turning on Jewish families, attacking homes, synagogues and businesses, killing scores throughout the night.”

The following morning city streets were covered in the broken glass of Jewish stores and buildings. When cleared, the remnants of crushed glass gave the appearance of crystals, giving rise to the name Kristallnacht – the night of the crystals.