A Kyiv statue of Yiddish-language writer Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, a novelist and playwright known worldwide under the pen name Sholem Aleichem, has been vandalized with swastikas.
Photos from the scene shared on social media on Nov. 25 show at least two red swastikas painted on the monument, which is located in central Kyiv on Rohnydinska Street, not far from the Brodsky Choral Synagogue, the second largest Jewish house of worship in the city.
Moshe Reuven Azman, one of several claimants to the title of Ukraine’s chief rabbi, called the incident “yet another provocation against our synagogue” on his Facebook page.
The Kyiv police have opened a criminal case into the vandalism and also seized footage from nearby surveillance cameras in a bid to identify and arrest the suspects.
Under Ukrainian legislation, the vandals could receive up to five years in prison, according to law enforcement.
After conducting a crime scene inquiry, police admitted public utilities workers to the scene to remove the swastikas.
After news of the vandalism broke, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Vadym Prystaiko, decried the act of anti-Semitism.
“The anti-Semitic act on the Sholem Aleichem monument in Kyiv is disgusting, appalling and in need of prompt investigation,” the minister wrote on Twitter. “The perpetrator(s) must be brought to justice.”
Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) is one of the founding fathers of modern Yiddish prose and poetry. His numerous works, including ironic short stories and fairy tales for children, were also written in Russian and Hebrew in addition to Yiddish.
The writer lived in Kyiv between 1903 and 1905 in a building today located at 27 Panasa Saksahanskoho Street, some 600 meters away from the monument.
While in Kyiv, Sholem Aleichem was actively involved in the city’s cultural and public life. However he eventually left the city following mass pogroms against the city’s Jews in 1905.
He died in New York City in 1916.
