Ukraine’s Police Solution to Graffiti

By COLlive reporter

The historic Brodsky Synagogue in Odessa, the largest synagogue in the south of the Russian Empire when it was built in 1863, was the target of anti-Semitic graffiti this week.

The synagogue was one of the 3 Jewish buildings in the large Ukrainian city to be targeted by vandals on Monday, December 25, 2017.

The synagogue was returned to Jewish hands in February 2016 some 100 years after it was confiscated from the community. During the second world war, Romanian leader Ion Antonescu occupied the Ukrainian territory and used the synagogue to hold the Odessa State archive.

Rabbi Abraham Wolff, Chief Rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, has been leading the effort to restore the building which is on the verge of collapse. Upon completion, it will house the Chabad congregation, and the Odessa Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.

Rabbi Wolff said the community has filed a criminal complaint with the local police.

“The secret police in Odessa advised us to upgrade our security, as they are finding more and more acts of antisemitism throughout the city,” Wolff told COLlive.com. “We need to hire a new security firm to secure our buildings and install new state-of-the-art cameras.”

In response, members of the European Parliament and its delegation for relations with Ukraine, have publicly condemned “these vicious acts” and called on law enforcement authorities to “thoroughly investigate these grave incidents and apprehend the perpetrators.”

Signing the letter were Dariusz Rosati, Tibor Szanyi, Michael Gahler, Rebecca Harms, Petras Austrevicius, and Elmar Brok, Chair of the Committee for Foreign Affairs.

“We call on the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groisman to strongly condemn these anti-Semitic acts,” they wrote.

They ask Ukraine’s leaders to “instruct and personally supervise the security forces and provide them with all necessary resources to eradicate this phenomenon before it gains momentum.”

The Jewish community in Odessa launched a campaign to update our security https://mishpachaorphanageorg.clhosting.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/3892437/jewish/Security-Fund.htm