Jewish Owned Building in Uman Vandalized with Swastika

Ukrainian police arrested a resident of Uman on Wednesday for vandalizing a Jewish owned building with a swastika and hate speech graffiti, reports Artuz Sheva.

The arrest reportedly occurred after a lawyer from the Breslov Jewish community reported the antisemitic graffiti to police. Authorities have not yet released information about the suspected perpetrator or their potential motivations.

The offender faces potential charges of using totalitarian symbols, disseminating communist or Nazi symbols, and could face up to five years imprisonment if convicted.

“Our legal department works continuously on cases of antisemitism throughout Ukraine,” Rabbi Natan Ben-Nun, head of the Breslov Union, told Arutz Sheva. “When an incident violates civil law, we provide details to police who treat antisemitism seriously.”

Uman is an important city for many Breslov Hasidic Jews, with thousands making the annual pilgrimage to the grave of the sect’s founder, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. While the city, and Ukraine in general, has some of the lowest rates of antisemitism globally, there have been some notable incidents in the past. In 2016, a graffiti picture of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and a severed pig’s head’s head was found at the gravesite of the revered rabbi.