ROME (JTA) – Police are charging a 41-year-old man in the destruction of a downtown Rome Holocaust memorial installation.
Italian media said the man, who was not identified by name, has been charged with theft for allegedly removing three memorial “stumbling stones” last week that had been installed outside his apartment building and replacing them with ordinary cobblestones.
According to the media, the suspect admitted to having replaced the stones because he “didn’t want a cemetery” outside the door of his house.
“Stumbling stones,” an ongoing international commemorative installation by the German artist Gunter Demnig, are cobblestones with brass tops that identify Jews killed in the Holocaust. They are placed outside the houses where the victims lived.
The stones removed by the suspect commemorated three sisters: Graziella, Letizia and Elvira Spizzichino.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
