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Germany- Antisemitic Graffiti Discovered at Holocaust Memorial in Hannover

Antisemitic graffiti was discovered early on March 18 at the Holocaust memorial on Opernplatz in Hannover, prompting a police response and strong political condemnation.

Graffiti targeting Jewish victims

The inscriptions:

  • contained antisemitic messages directed at Jewish people
  • were painted directly onto the memorial
  • were accompanied by a black line drawn across engraved names of Jews deported from Hannover during the Nazi era

Police from the local directorate quickly covered the graffiti with yellow spray chalk, pending full cleaning.

A complete restoration of the memorial was scheduled for March 19.

Strong condemnation by city leadership

Hannover’s mayor, Belit Onay, condemned the act, stating that:

  • antisemitism continues to manifest within society
  • such acts at a memorial site are particularly symbolic and alarming
  • the city stands in solidarity with its Jewish community

Part of a broader pattern

Authorities noted that this incident is not isolated. In recent years:

  • memorial sites in Hannover and surrounding areas have been repeatedly targeted
  • the memorial site in Ahlem has faced multiple acts of vandalism, including in January 2025

Incident Details

Type of Incident: Vandalism
Date of Incident: March 18, 2026
City: Hannover
Country: Germany

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About Sentinel

SENTINEL is a European project funded by the European Commission and led by the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC by EJC), the security arm of the European Jewish Congress. It brings together the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), national-level Jewish communities from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the European Union of Jewish Students, with the support of the Italian Carabinieri and the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

The project is designed to strengthen the protection of Jewish places of worship across the European Union through a coordinated set of activities over a three-year period.

SENTINEL will harness AI-enhanced open-source intelligence to monitor and assess current, emerging, and future threats. It will also equip Jewish communities with practical tools, including a mobile security application with a panic button and an interactive map built on real-time incident data.

Training and capacity-building are at the core of the project. These include scenario-based security exercises, crisis management seminars, and both in-person and online training sessions for community security trustees. SENTINEL will also organise EU-wide and local conferences to foster collaboration between Jewish communities, public authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

Complementing these efforts, national and local workshops will promote knowledge-sharing and preparedness, alongside pilot training programmes for law enforcement. A dedicated podcast series will help raise awareness by exploring threat assessments and potential responses.

With its wide-reaching and inclusive approach, SENTINEL will directly benefit to Jewish communities across 23 EU Member States, enhancing resilience, strengthening preparedness, and building long-term cooperation with law enforcement to meet today’s evolving security challenges.