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2004 USG Reports
Report on Global Anti-Semitism 2004
Moldova
In March
more than 70 tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in
Tiraspol, the principal city of the breakaway Transnistria region that
is not controlled by the Moldovan authorities. Swastikas and other Nazi
symbols were painted on monuments, and many tombstones were damaged
beyond repair. On May 4, unknown persons attempted to set the Tiraspol
synagogue on fire by throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the premises. The
attack failed when passers-by extinguished the fire. Transnistrian
authorities believed the attacks were perpetrated by the same persons
and claimed they were investigating the incidents.
In February 2003,
unknown persons destroyed eight tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in
Balti. However, according to a leading rabbi in Chisinau, it was not
clear whether anti-Semitism motivated the event.