Poster for Kristallnacht exhibition defaced with ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti

A poster advertising an educational exhibition about the lead-up to Kristallnacht has been defaced with the words ‘Free Palestine.’

The Wiener Library, which is hosting the exhibit, said the graffiti was noticed on a poster at the Tube station at Russell Square on Tuesday.

The Holocaust and genocide centre, located five minutes from the station, tweeted that it was “saddened” by the vandalism, which had been reported to Transport for London (TFL).

In a statement, director Ben Barkow said: “It is sad to see this kind of bigoted response to a poster for an historically informed and critically aware exhibition about a major episode in Jewish history in the years before the Holocaust.”

He added: “If the person who did this visited the exhibition they would have their prejudices challenged. We could help with the spelling too!”

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are aware that a poster for the Wiener Library was recently defaced in Russell Square Underground station. We take any defacing on our network extremely seriously and our contractors will be inspecting all posters for this campaign this evening and replacing them as required.”

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.