The culprit responsible for the anti-Semitic graffiti on an apartment block owned by a Holocaust survivor is being sought after by the Beverly Hills Police Department.
“When someone hates you, it hurts because you are a human,” stated Klara Firestone. “Hate me for something I did not for who I am because I can’t change that.”
Living in the block with her mother, who survived the Holocaust, is Firestone, a Jewish woman. Given that many of her neighbours are Jewish, Firestone was startled that nasty vandalism would occur in her neighbourhood when police informed her about it.
“I wear a Jewish star and make no bones about who I am and what I am,” Firestone stated. When my grandma entered Auschwitz, she passed away. She was taken directly to the gas chambers upon arrival.”
According to Firestone, her aunt was also killed at the camp. Thankfully, her 99-year-old mother made it out of the concentration camp and immigrated to the US in 1948, where she eventually made her home in Beverly Hills with her daughter. Firestone declined to display the anti-Semitic statement to her mother.
“People who don’t like Jews don’t care whether you’re old, you’re young, you’re a grandmother,” Firestone stated. “They don’t care.”
The damage is being investigated by Beverly Hills police as a hate crime, and they think the same individual may have spray-painted further statements throughout the city. Firestone wishes to discover the perpetrator of this heinous deed so they can understand the true meaning of those words rather than subject them to criminal punishment for their acts. She wants them to go to the Holocaust Museum so they can see what the Jews have gone through.
“I want you to go and see who it is you’re doing this against,” Firestone replied. “Stop and think about ‘Why do I hate these people?'”
