JUNGHOLTZ, France: Autumn leaves rustle as Lionel Godmet walks past rows of graves at the Jewish cemetery in Jungholtz in eastern France, their bases fringed with moss but the Hebrew inscriptions clearly visible.AdvertisementThe cemetery's existence is a tribute to a community battered by centuries of history, and all but destroyed by the Holocaust.
Early this month, 107 graves were defaced with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti at the cemetery in Westhoffen. That attack came after 96 tombs were desecrated at a cemetery in Quatzenheim, also in Alsace, in February. Alsace has 67 Jewish cemeteries, a high number explained by the presence in the past of many rural Jewish communities spread across the region. Now, most of these communities have ceased to exist, making protecting the cemeteries all the more difficult.
"We are both Alsatians to our core. And how can such things come to pass? Leave the dead in peace!" said Laucher, a retired engineer, as he wandered among the tombs. "We pay more attention than we did before," said Robert Tornare. He and his wife began keeping watch over the cemetery in Wintzenheim, which their house overlooks, some 40 years ago.
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