Heidelberg. (jul/mün) Unknown perpetrators have defaced the memorial stone in Rohrbach, which commemorates the destroyed synagogue and the fate of the town’s murdered Jews. The granite stone, shaped like a Star of David, was defaced with red and white paint. “A passerby discovered the graffiti on Saturday morning and informed us,” a police spokesperson reported on Sunday afternoon when contacted. After arriving at the town hall square, police secured evidence and initiated an investigation into politically motivated property damage.
“A symbol like the Star of David must be handled sensitively,” said the police spokesperson. “Given the current situation in the Middle East and because we only found smearings on the memorial stone, we assume there is a political motive.” For this reason, the criminal investigation department was contacted, he explained. It is still too early to say more about the incident and the chances of solving it. “The investigation is still in its early stages.”
The Jewish community learned of the paint attack from police during its service in the Weststadt district on Saturday. “It’s certainly disturbing. But it doesn’t really come as a surprise to us,” said Rabbi Janusz Pawelczyk-Kissin, referring to the foiled attack plans of two young men. In the spring of 2023, they had targeted either the synagogue in Heidelberg or a synagogue in Frankfurt for a knife attack. “Jewish security is always at risk,” the rabbi said.
Pawelczyk-Kissin said he and the Jewish community had reacted calmly to the incident. “It’s too early to say much about it right now,” the rabbi said. Since the graffiti was just paint and not writing, little is known about the perpetrators’ motivation. “But it was obviously intentional,” the rabbi said – partly because of the symbolism of the object, and partly because someone must have had the paint with them. “The graffiti is directed against Jews.”
The graffiti has since disappeared. Police and fire departments cleaned the Star of David on Saturday, according to the neighborhood association, which reported the incident via its social media channels. A married couple living across the street and another resident from Rathausstraße cleaned the paving slab.
The memorial stone has stood since 1985 on the site of a former synagogue. It was opened in 1845. The Nazis destroyed it during the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938.
Update: Sunday, June 15, 2025, 7:42 p.m.
Heidelberg. (mün) In the Heidelberg district of Rohrbach, the memorial to the destroyed synagogue and the expelled and murdered Jews of the town was vandalized with paint. The paint attack on the memorial stone, located in the center of Rohrbach, was discovered on Saturday morning.
The police confirmed the incident, but referred to it only as “property damage,” which the criminal investigation department will now handle. The question of whether state security will be involved in the investigation was not answered.
Since 1985, the memorial stone has commemorated the former synagogue, which was inaugurated in 1845 and destroyed by Heidelberg Nazis in 1938.
After Nazi supporters and members of the SA destroyed the synagogue in the old town, they moved to the suburb, which had been incorporated into the city in 1927. In the early morning hours of November 10, 1938, they smashed the door of the Rohrbach synagogue, smashed the benches and other wooden structures inside with their axes, piled them up together with books and files, and set fire to the building. The building was later demolished.
