Berlin - A swastika and other symbols associated with German rightwing extremism have been daubed on the Holocaust Memorial in the centre of Berlin, police said Saturday. A member of the staff that watches over the sea of 2,711 concrete stelae that make up the memorial near the Brandenburg Gate had discovered the vandalism midday Friday, they said.
The police report also referred to a number combination found at the same time without being specific. The numeral 88 is used by neo- Nazis to refer to the 8th letter of the alphabet and is interpreted as HH - or Heil Hitler.
Police said they were investigating. Vandalism to Holocaust memorials is treated in Germany as a crime against democracy.
The memorial was designed by US architect Peter Eisenman and completed in May 2005. Some 10,000 people on average visit daily.
Many of the stelae have revealed hairline cracks over recent months, but Eisenman and the Berlin authorities maintaining the memorial insist they are not significant.
