--- title: Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Desecrated in France description: Hundreds of Jewish tombs in eastern France have been vandalized, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Sunday canonical: https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-16T09:35:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:26:44.985Z article:section: World og:title: Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Desecrated in France og:description: The incident fuels concern about growing anti-Semitism in Europe. og:url: https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1220f4f517138077/69877f6be20a87efc1a851f3/tombs-vandalized-france-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Desecrated tombstones are seen at Sarre-Union Jewish cemetery, eastern France, February 15, 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Desecrated in France twitter:description: The incident fuels concern about growing anti-Semitism in Europe. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1220f4f517138077/69877f6be20a87efc1a851f3/tombs-vandalized-france-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Have Been Desecrated in France by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 16, 2015 9:35 AM CUT  Desecrated tombstones are seen at Sarre-Union Jewish cemetery in eastern France on Feb. 15, 2015 Desecrated tombstones are seen at Sarre-Union Jewish cemetery in eastern France on Feb. 15, 2015Vincent Kessler—Reuters by [Kevin McSpadden](/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 16, 2015 9:35 AM CUT Hundreds of Jewish tombs at a French cemetery in eastern France have [been vandalized](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/15/hundreds-of-tombs-defaced-in-french-jewish-cemetery "undefined") in what the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called “a despicable act” on Sunday. The incident, which happened in the town of Sarre-Union, near the German border, is the latest to have targeted European Jews in recent months, according to the _Guardian_. “Everything will be done to identify, arrest and judge the perpetrator or perpetrators of this ignominious act,” Cazeneuve said in a statement. Images on social media show the tombs violated with images of swastikas and Nazi symbolism. > [](https://twitter.com/Gjpvernant/status/567045236254584832) > [](https://twitter.com/PzFeed/status/567063615455641601) French Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to denounce the “anti-Semitic and ignoble act,” declaring that everything will be done to find those responsible. > [](https://twitter.com/manuelvalls/status/567035802979692544) Just one day earlier, a synagogue in Copenhagen was the target of a deadly shooting and in January four Jews were killed in a Paris supermarket siege following the _Charlie Hebdo_ terrorist attacks. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/15/hundreds-of-tombs-defaced-in-french-jewish-cemetery "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/"},"headline":"Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Have Been Desecrated in France","datePublished":"2015-02-16T09:35:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:26:44.985Z","description":"The incident fuels concern about growing anti-Semitism in Europe","url":"https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/","keywords":["France","jews","Jewish","paris","Charlie Hebdo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1220f4f517138077/69877f6be20a87efc1a851f3/tombs-vandalized-france-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1220f4f517138077/69877f6be20a87efc1a851f3/tombs-vandalized-france-anti-semitism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Desecrated tombstones are seen at Sarre-Union Jewish cemetery, eastern France, February 15, 2015","caption":"Desecrated tombstones are seen at Sarre-Union Jewish cemetery, eastern France, February 15, 2015","creditText":"Vincent Kessler—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3710703/jewish-tombs-desecrated-france-stasbourg/","name":"Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Have Been Desecrated in France"}}]}] ```