A memorial garden in France dedicated to two Jewish murder victims was found vandalized with a swastika on Sunday.

Municipal police in the quaint city of Nogent-sur-Marne have since removed the swastika from the garden dedicated to honor the memories of two elderly women who were killed for simply being Jewish. Mayor Jacques Martin strongly condemned the vandalism, stating that “hatred has no place” in his town, according to JNS.

Sarah Halimi was a 65-year-old retired doctor and schoolteacher who was known for her quiet life and commitment to her Jewish faith. On April 4, 2017, a 27-year-old neighbor of Malian descent broke into Halimi’s apartment in the early hours of the morning and violently assaulted her while shouting “Allahu Akbar.” He eventually threw her from her third-floor balcony, killing her.

Suspect Kobili Traore was arrested and charged with the murder of Halimi. During the investigation, he claimed that he had been experiencing a psychotic episode induced by excessive cannabis consumption, which his defense argued rendered him criminally insane. After a series of psychiatric evaluations, a French appeals court ruled in 2021 that Traore was not criminally responsible for his actions due to his mental state at the time of the killing.

Mireille Knoll was an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who had lived in Paris for most of her life. As a child, she narrowly escaped the Vel d’Hiv roundup during the Holocaust, in which thousands of Jews were deported from France to Nazi death camps. In her later years she lived in a modest Paris apartment, relying on neighbors and caretakers for assistance.

On March 23, 2018, Knoll was stabbed 11 times in her apartment by Yacine Mihoub, a 28-year-old neighbor, and Alex Carrimbacus, an acquaintance. After the murder, they set fire to her apartment to cover up their crime. Investigators determined that Knoll had been targeted in part due to her Jewish identity. The attackers had known Knoll for years, and Mihoub had even been invited into her home on occasion. In 2021, Mihoub was sentenced to life imprisonment while Carrimbacus received a 15-year jail sentence.