Moscow – Wave of attacks on Jews in Russia

Moscow – Russia’s Jewish community on Thursday reported three attacks in the last two weeks, including a raid on a synagogue and desecration of a memorial to Holocaust victims.

In Ulyanovsk, a group of about a dozen young men painted swastikas Tuesday on the walls of a synagogue and cursed at members inside, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia said.

In Volgograd, anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on a memorial to Holocaust victims Sunday, the group said.

Last week, several young men burst into a synagogue in Nizhny Novgorod, throwing religious books out a window and beating up a security guard, it said. All three cities are in western Russia.

The federation said it was concerned about the rise in attacks targeting Jews, calling it part of “a recent surge in anti-Semitic manifestations” in Russia.

In 2007, 67 people were killed and more than 550 injured in ethnically motivated attacks, according the SOVA rights center, which monitors hate crimes.

In a report issued Tuesday, SOVA said hate crimes in Russia have grown increasingly brutal and deadly. Authorities are doing little to combat xenophobia, it said.

According to varying estimates, between 300,000 and 1.5 million Jews live in the nation of 142 million. After an exodus in the years before and after 1991 Soviet collapse, the Jewish community is experiencing a moderate revival, with new synagogues, schools and cultural centers being built across the country.

During the Soviet era, thousands of Jews were imprisoned or executed as part of nationwide purges, and many more were forced to conceal their Jewish identity. [AP]