Memorial outside of Halle synagogue, October 9th 2020
Memorial outside of Halle synagogue, October 9th 2020Reuters

German leaders voiced their shame over resurgent anti-Semitism on Friday, after graffiti tributes to mark one year since last year’s deadly anti-Semitic attack in the German city of Halle were sprayed over with swastikas.

A left-wing group called Antifa Halle had sprayed stencil images with the names of the two victims of the October 2019 attack in various locations across the city on Sunday night, according to a report in the Bild daily.

Some of the images with the inscription "Never forget -- Kevin and Jana" were smeared with red swastikas on Thursday night, the eve of the anniversary of the Halle attack, the report said.

An investigation has been launched and work has begun to remove the swastikas, police told AFP.

"I feel deep sadness. But even a year later I still feel shame and anger," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a commemoration to mark a year since the Halle attack.

No one should stand by and watch anti-Semitism "in the underground, in a café, in the schoolyard, on the street, on the internet," Steinmeier added.

"Everyone must stand up when the human dignity of others is violated," he said.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also voiced his regret over anti-Semitism in Germany.

"One cannot say that the problem has left us -- and the fact that we have to protect Jewish institutions in 2020 is actually a state of affairs that is not acceptable," Maas told the RTL broadcaster.

The October 9, 2019 attack on the Halle synagogue during Yom Kippur prayers was foiled when the gunman, Stephan Balliet, was unable to breach the synagogue’s door.

Unable to carry out the planned massacre in the synagogue, Ballet shot and killed two passersby, including a 40-year-old woman walking down the street and a man working at a nearby kebab shop.

Balliet is currently on trial for the attack and has told the court it was "not a mistake".

Anti-Semitic crimes have risen steadily in Germany in recent years. According to data released in May, Germany recorded the highest number of anti-Semitic crimes nationwide since 2001 last year, with the vast majority of the anti-Jewish crimes reported ascribed to far-right wing perpetrators.

Just this week, a Jewish student was attacked outside a synagogue in Hamburg in a case that police are treating as attempted murder with anti-Semitic intent.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the attack in Hamburg as a "disgrace".

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)