A suspect has been identified in the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust Memorial Plaza defacement case, the Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation announced in a press release.
The Philadelphia Police Department has issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest.
Last month, PHRF said that three of the plaza’s six pillars had been defaced with the letters “RBM” and what looked like SS bolts, a known neo-Nazi/white supremacist symbol. Security footage saw a man, who appeared to be white and between the ages of 25 and 40, walk on Arch Street along the plaza, pick up a rock and then deface the pillars.
Also last month, PHRF released images from the security footage and asked for the public’s help in identifying him. PHRF allege that the suspect was the same man in the images and that public support, combined with efforts from law enforcement agencies, led to him being identified.
The pillars have now been repaired.
“We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the law enforcement agencies who worked diligently to ensure that the person responsible was identified, and our Holocaust Memorial Plaza remained a safe environment for learning and reflection,” PHRF Executive Director Eszter Kutas said in a press release. “We are also tremendously grateful to our supporters and our city’s residents who rallied to support the Holocaust Memorial Plaza, and by extension, the imperative of ‘Never Forget’. While we have been saddened to see that such bigoted acts of vandalism could occur in Philadelphia, we are proud of our city’s collective response to this incident.”
