France’s Shoah Memorial Vandalized on Holocaust Remembrance Day

As the world commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday and the six million Jews killed by the Nazis, France’s Holocaust Memorial was vandalized with pro-Uyghur graffiti, Agence Press (AP) reported. The AP reported that ceremonies were planned around the world to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp on January 27, 1945.

– Embassy of Israel in France #WeRemember ️ (@IsraelenFrance) January 27, 2021

Some of the graffiti said “Uighurs 2021 = Jews 1941”. The number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in France in 2020 dropped by 50% from 2019, yet physical assaults have remained almost unchanged despite the COVID-19 shutdowns, the security service of the French Jews.

The Uighurs are a Muslim minority group in China that has been repressed by the Chinese authorities and held in internment camps. They have also been used for slave labor. The Chinese government alleges that they are there voluntarily for “re-education purposes.” China has been widely condemned for the complexes in Xinjiang that it describes as “vocational training centers” to crack down on extremism and give people new skills, but which others have called concentration camps. Beijing denies the abuse allegations.