By RACHEL BEITSCH AND AP
A man in police custody admitted vandalizing a Jewish school in Vienna, an investigator
said Monday.
The man, whose name has not been released, is probably a Croatian from Zagreb
who came to Vienna as a tourist a week ago, said Andreas
Krajcsy of the Vienna police's section on state protection
and anti-terrorism. Windows at the school were smashed early
Sunday. He is suspected of smashing windows and damaging
other objects inside the school.
Austrian authorities were sending
a photo and fingerprints of the man to their Croatian counterparts
to confirm his identity because he did not have a passport
on him, Krajcsy said. Croatian authorities have already confirmed
the existence of a person bearing the name given by the suspect.
"It was anti-Semitic. He
told us he didn't like Jews," Krajcsy said.
Following the act of vandalism, Ephraim
Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office,
told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that it was not surprising "that events like this take place in a country that protects Croatian Nazi war
criminals."
He referred specifically to the case
of Milivoj Asner, "a Croation Nazi war criminal living in Klagenfort whose extradition has been
sought for over a year by the Croatian authorities who want
to put him on trial for his role as the police chief of the
city of Pozegga during 1941-42."
The Austrians, he said, "refuse
to send Asner back to Croatia despite the fact that he's
not an Austrian citizen and there is ostensibly no reason
that they haven't acceded to Croatian extradition request."
He concluded by pointing out that
Austria "has not successfully prosecuted Nazi war criminals in more than 30 years, and
in that atmosphere of impunity, perhaps it's not surprising
that such terrible events take place."
Ariel Muzicant, the head of Vienna's
Jewish Community, expressed shock and disbelief at the devastation. "One asks oneself however, what goes through the mind of a man who attacks a school
and destroys so much," Muzicant was quoted as saying.
He did not provide an estimate of
the damage caused.
"We're now in the process
of putting everything in order," he said.
jpost.com
|