Police investigating grave desecration at Jewish cemetery in Amsterdam

The police are investigating grave desecration at the Zeeburg Jewish Cemetery on Valentijnkade in Amsterdam. One or two children’s graves may have been vandalized, likely between June 15 and 22, the police said on Wednesday. Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema called the incident “appalling and disturbing.”

The police received a report of the possible desecration on Tuesday afternoon and performed a forensic investigation at the scene. The graves in question are over a century old.

Investigators are taking the matter very seriously and have asked witnesses to come forward. “A grave is a sacred place of peace and remembrance; disturbing it is a gross violation of human dignity,” the police said.

Mayor Halsema called the suspected desecration concerning. “It is appalling and disturbing that graves, especially children’s graves, have been disturbed and desecrated,” she told Parool. “This historic cemetery is a sacred place, the final resting place for many Jewish Amsterdammers until the first half of the last century.” She will work with the owner of the cemetery to take “appropriate measures.”

The Zeeburg Jewish Cemetery was in use from 1714 to 1914 and is now only open on Sundays, according to Parool. It closed in 1914 because the cemetery grounds were full and expansion proved impossible.