Poland: Three boys detained for vandalizing Jewish cemetery in Bielsko-Biala; crowdfunder and volunteers raise money for repairs

(JHE) — Police have tracked down and detained three local children — two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old — for devastating dozens of gravestones at the Jewish cemetery in Bielsko-Biala, southern Poland, over the weekend. The boys were arrested Sunday, a day after the attack, and will go before a family court. The police report said the motive appeared to be “hooliganism;” some 67 gravestones were toppled or smashed.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign is under way to repair the damage, and local personalities are also donating  artworks and other offerings to auction off to raise funds.

“Goodness, love and friendship are flowing to us since Saturday,” the Bielsko-Biala Jewish community wrote in a Facebook post. “Big to all of you […] Together we will turn evil into good.”

The arrest of the boys marked the second time in less than a month that children were detained for vandalizing a Jewish cemetery. On June 16, police detained five 12-year-olds for destroying or damaging dozens of tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Wroclaw in order to build a fort to play in.

Wroclaw Jewish community leaders said in a Facebook post that they had met last week with the parents of the detained youths. They agreed to hold educational activites for the kids and their parents to which schools, especially the school the boys attend, will be invited.  They also agreed on joint cleanup activities in the cemetery, with the collaboration of the boys’ parents.  “The intention of the Jewish Religious Commune in Wrocław is to show the history of this cemetery, to respect the dead, and to stop the hatred directed also towards the children who caused the destruction,” it said.

The crowdfunding campaign on the Polish site zrzutka.pl aims to raise 100,000 zlotys (€22,000) for the Bielsko-Biala cemetery — as of Tuesday evening it had raised nearly one-third of the goal, with contributions from more than 200 donors.

In addition, the Jewish commuity said that the artist Tigran Vardikyan has donated a painting for auction, and that a rustic mountain resort called Chata Na Końcu Świata will auction off a stay for two people to help raise fund.

Access the crowdfunding campaign

Read details of the police investigation and detention of the three boys