Rabbi Yochanan Gordon of Chabad Tasmania removing swastika

Slow response to Nazi graffiti angers Jewish community

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The failure to clean up a Nazi swastika emblazoned near Launceston’s synagogue has disappointed the city’s Jewish community.

Rabbi Yochanan Gordon of Chabad Tasmania was in Wellington Street on June 20 when he spotted the symbol of the regime which murdered six million Jews during the Holocaust.

He notified the city council asking for it to be removed and alerted a nearby kindergarten to its presence.

But the graffiti remained untouched and the council says it can’t find any record of his complaint.

“I waited two weeks for them to do it and then did it myself,” he said.

“The feeling I got was that there is a lack of understanding how hateful the message is,” he said.

While the incident was not a frequent occurrence, it was nevertheless concerning.

“I don’t think it’s that common, but I do feel that there is a lack of awareness.

“When I called the kindergarten, they shrugged me off. It was like the didn’t understand the hateful message.”

Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission Dvir Abramovich is one of the nation’s leading anti-hate campaigners.

Dr Abramovich recently succeeded in a long campaign to ban the public display of the Nazi swastika in Victoria.

Read the article by David Killick in the Mercury.