Overview

• Nine wreaths laid at the Ahlem Memorial in Hannover for Holocaust Remembrance Day were vandalized overnight on January 29, 2025.
• The wreaths were either destroyed, thrown into a garden area, or stolen, with surveillance footage capturing the suspected perpetrator.
• This marks the second act of vandalism at the memorial in two years; a similar incident occurred after Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2023, involving antisemitic graffiti and destruction of wreaths.
• The Ahlem Memorial commemorates victims of Nazi deportations, as the site was historically used to transport Jewish people to ghettos and extermination camps in Eastern Europe.
• Local officials, including Regionspräsident Steffen Krach, condemned the act as a disgraceful insult to Holocaust victims and vowed to combat hate and extremism through all legal means.