SHOCKING: Sara Schenirer’s Grave In Krakow Vandalized

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The Polish Jewish community was shocked by the vandalizing of the grave of Sara Schenirer, the founder of the Beis Yaakov movement. The posts around the grave were torn out the ground and the Matzevah (headstone) was smashed to pieces.

Sara Schenirer founded and led Beis Yaakov until her death in 1935. Currently work is in progress near her grave to perpetuate the Plashov concentration camp near Krakow, as well as the Jewish cemetery which was destroyed by the Nazis.

Sara Schenirer’s original tombstone was destroyed when the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp was built. Her tombstone was restored in 2005. Upon the restoration, the director of the Central Bais Yaakov gave a eulogy for Schenirer, and ended by saying, “Frau Schenirer, we are not merely placing a memorial on your grave site. We are placing it upon our hearts: for us, and for all the generations who will come after us.”

Sara Schenirer’s grave in Krakow

Gentiles working nearby discovered the vandalized grave Monday and reported the incident to police. Police contacted local Jewish community leader Elena Yaakobowitz who was shocked at the destruction and vandalism involved.

Meir Bulka, director of the Dor Ledor organization dedicated to maintaining Jewish heritage sites in Eastern Europe, said that this “Is another proof that heritage sites in Poland require state protection and supervision. Unfortunately Plashov is prone to attacks since local people tend to seclude themselves there.”

Bulka added that “We are working currently to restore the place and demand that police protect the site and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

This is not the first antisemitic attack at Plashov. In 2010 vandals sprayed antisemitic graffiti on a memorial to Holocaust victims at the concentration camp, including statements like “Jews out” and “Hitler was good” in English, as well as swastikas and anti-Israel graffiti.