Vandal Defaces Holocaust Memorial in Philadelphia

Someone spray painted a swastika near the Holocaust memorial at 16th and the Parkway.

Someone spray painted a swastika right next to Nathan Rapoport’s Holocaust memorial at 16th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway downtown, CBS 3 reports.

The station says Center City resident Max Tuttleman made the discovery.

Eyewitness News has learned the sculpture was donated to the city and it serves as a memorial where an annual ceremony is held to honor the victims of the Holocaust. The hate graffiti for Tuttleman hit home.

“The Holocaust has always been very integral part of my life. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors and seeing this brought this such a level of frustration. Tolerating something like this is not even an option,” Tuttleman went onto explain, “Anti-Semitism is not something that’s a joking matter at all. All we can do is bring awareness to these types of issues and hope that something will change.”

(Yes, Eyewitness News “has learned the sculpture was donated to the city.” It was erected in 1964.)

Police are investigating.