Holocaust memorial cobblestones in Brussels were found defaced on Tuesday morning with graffiti mentioning Gaza, according to the Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations (CCOJB).

According to photographs published by CCOJB, the Stolpersteines, memorial stones found throughout Europe at former residencies of Holocaust victims, had white graffiti spelling out “Gaza” alongside signals equating the war against Hamas to the World War II genocide.

Memorial stones in Brussels had just that Saturday been cleaned by youth groups, noted CCOJB.

“We strongly condemn this exploitation of the memory of the Holocaust, as well as any attempt to trivialize or deny its history,” CCOJB said on Facebook.

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) said on X/Twitter that the vandalism was part of a trend in which anti-Zionism served as a veil for antisemitism.

Three Stumbling Stones, memorializing Jews murdered by the Nazis that appeared in Zeitz before being stolen on Oct. 7, 2024. (credit: Courtesy Sebastian Striegel)
Three Stumbling Stones, memorializing Jews murdered by the Nazis that appeared in Zeitz before being stolen on Oct. 7, 2024. (credit: Courtesy Sebastian Striegel)

“We firmly condemn the desecration of Stolpersteine in Brussels, a vile distortion of history and a desecration of memory,” said the EJC. “The memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) must be preserved with dignity, not manipulated for political ends.”

Holocaust memorials in Europe vandalized

The defacement comes just two days before Israelis commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day in honor of the victims of the Holocaust.

Holocaust memorials have been vandalized in other European countries in recent weeks, often with graffiti relating to the war in the Levant.

The EJC said on April 9 that a Belgrade Holocaust memorial had been vandalized for the third time in three weeks. The new graffiti stated that “Gaza will not become a hotel,” referencing President Donald Trump’s proposal that the US take stewardship of the territory and develop it.

An Oud-Beijerland Holocaust memorial was vandalized, doused in red paint used by some activists to denote supposed responsibility for violence in Gaza. The EJC said on April 7 that the vandalization of the Dutch monument was “not only on European history, but on the values of dignity and tolerance we all share.”