Swastika Drawn on Holocaust Memorial
Vandals scrawled a Nazi swastika on Germany's new Holocaust memorial within hours of it opening to the public.
The small symbol on one of the monument's 2,711 grey slabs was spotted by security guards and removed, but the vandal was not found.
Uwe Neumaerker, a spokesman for the memorial, said everything possible had been done to protect the monument. "You can't be everywhere at once," he said.
The public were allowed into the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin for the first time on Thursday.
Its New York architect, Peter Eisenman, said he wanted the monument to be a genuinely public space, and would not mind it being used by skateboarders or children playing games, or even graffiti being drawn on the slabs.
Asked on Monday if the project would be demeaned if someone scratched Nazi symbols on it, he replied: "Maybe it would add to it."
The small symbol on one of the monument's 2,711 grey slabs was spotted by security guards and removed, but the vandal was not found.
Uwe Neumaerker, a spokesman for the memorial, said everything possible had been done to protect the monument. "You can't be everywhere at once," he said.
The public were allowed into the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin for the first time on Thursday.
Its New York architect, Peter Eisenman, said he wanted the monument to be a genuinely public space, and would not mind it being used by skateboarders or children playing games, or even graffiti being drawn on the slabs.
Asked on Monday if the project would be demeaned if someone scratched Nazi symbols on it, he replied: "Maybe it would add to it."
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