Anti-Semitic graffiti was spray-painted onto the Holocaust Center for Humanity in downtown Seattle. It's the first time in its 30-year history. But it's the 50th time a Jewish property was targeted in the U.S. since the October 27, 2018 shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
No one is sure when the graffiti was put there. It's in a crevice where there are no cameras. It wasn't discovered until Wednesday morning.
But they say it was recognized as symbols of hate by white supremacists. They are images meant to disturb, and those images hit their mark.
"We have never had an incident, not even a phone call," said Dee Simon. "So this came as quite a shock."
This comes just days before the first anniversary of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U. S. history.
Simon has run the Holocaust Center for Humanity for all but 10 of its 30 years. She says this is the first time anything like this has been spray-painted on their building.
"'Brunn' is an old ancient Germanic alphabet," she said. "And this particular symbol meant 'inherited.' I don't know exactly what that means. But there were also other symbols. The letters '88' which means which is the 8th letter of the alphabet so it means 'Heil Hitler.'"
In 2018, a gunman opened fire inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and killed 11 worshippers. Four police officers were wounded. The alleged killer is awaiting trial.
Just two weeks ago, 43-year-old Jamal Oscar Williams was arrested for shouting anti-Semitic statements at Westlake Park, Seattle, directed at two Orthodox men operating a booth to commemorate Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Simon spent half of Friday at a conference on the holocaust and said what they see as an act of white supremacy will not go unchallenged.
"I'm a child of a (Holocaust) survivor," she said, "so my reaction was 'No, we just can't let this happen again. We just can't. We have to fight.'"
She says Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best called her to offer support. The Seattle Police Bias Unit is investigating.
But with no video images, they will have their work cut out for them trying to find the culprit.
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