The small Spanish village of Castrillo Moth de Judios (“Jews’ Hill Camp”), which was called Castrillo Matajudios (“Camp Kill Jews”) until eight years ago, was targeted by antisemites who started several fires on Wednesday.
Neo-Nazi graffiti referring to the village’s previous name was found and two garbage cans were set on fire, The Guardian reported. One of the pieces of graffiti said: “Camp Kill Jews, twinned with Aushwitch [sic].”
The village had previously faced vandalism after changing its name in a 2015 referendum and announcing it planned to open a Jewish memorial.
The previous name of the village was linked to Spain’s medieval antisemitism, which cultivated when the Jews were expelled from the country in 1492.
Eight months ago Castrillo Moth de Judios was defaced with similar graffiti, including the phrases “Juden Raus” (“Jews out”); “Long live the Catholic monarchs”; and “The mayor’s sold out to the killer Jew.” There were also references to Tomás de Torquemada, the grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition.
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain warned that the incident would have caused a major fire and urged an investigation.
“We once again want to express our deepest disgust and dismay in the wake of this new incident in Castrillo Mota de Judíos,” said the federation’s secretary general, Maxo Benalal, according to the news outlet.
“We call on the police to do their job as quickly and effectively as possible, and for the courts to apply the penal code as strictly as possible. Spain is not a racist country and we can’t allow incidents like this to go unpunished.”
Castrillo Mota de Judíos Mayor Lorenzo Rodríguez said that a larger fire had only been avoided due to local residents putting on the fires in the garbage cans.
“[The perpetrators] will not succeed in getting us to abandon our objective, which is restoring Castrillo’s Jewish memory,” he said. “Truth and courage always beat hatred and cowardice. We will never kneel.”