Berlin – The ‘Trains to Life – Trains to Life to Death’ memorial in Berlin, a striking bronze sculpture by Frank Meisler, has been vandalized, marred by graffiti and defilement. The monument pays homage to the 10,000 Jewish children rescued via the Kindertransport during the Holocaust, while also mourning the millions of children who tragically perished.
The act of desecration occurred amidst a surge of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment following pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the area. Despite an enforced ban on such demonstrations over the holiday period, illegal rallies took place on New Year’s Eve, leading to hundreds of arrests. The vandals defaced the statues representing children, grotesquely covering their eyes and degrading the sculptures. One particularly offensive depiction included the etching of what resembles a mosque on one child’s chest.
Revital Yakhin Krakowski, the deputy director general of the World March for Life, unequivocally condemned the vandalism. Krakowski described the act as a deliberate attempt to weaken the Jewish spirit, drawing a parallel between this desecration, Holocaust denial, and the recent uptick in anti-Semitic attacks following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The Kindertransport refers to the rescue operations that transported Jewish children unaccompanied by their parents to safety in countries like the UK and the US during the tumultuous times of World War II. The artist behind the moving sculpture, Frank Meisler, himself was a child rescued by the Kindertransport operation. The desecration of this memorial, therefore, stirs up poignant memories and serves as a stark reminder of a haunting past.
