crime
Grave of Helmut and Loki Schmidt smeared with swastikas
The grave of Helmut and Hannelore Schmidt in the cemetery in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf. photo
© Markus Scholz/dpa
Unknown people daubed the graves of Helmut and Loki Schmidt with swastikas on Friday evening. The grave desecration happened on the eve of the late former chancellor’s birthday.
Unknown perpetrators stole the former Chancellor’s grave on Friday evening Helmut Schmidt and his wife Loki Schmidt smeared with swastikas in the cemetery in Hamburg-Ohlsdorf. It was the eve of Schmidt’s birthday – the prominent politician would have turned 105 on Saturday.
The orange smears were quickly removed in the evening, the police announced on Saturday. However, the background to the crime or the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators remains unclear. Now the state security agency is investigating.
In a statement, the Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation, the Helmut and Loki Schmidt Foundation and the Loki Schmidt Foundation strongly condemned the desecration of the grave: “This mindless vandalism is a massive attempt to damage the memory of the two of them. Both Loki and… Helmut Schmidt also always stood up for freedom, democracy and international understanding.” They firmly rejected inhumane tyranny and anti-Semitism.
Helmut Schmidt was an SPD politician and Federal Chancellor from 1974 to 1982. From 1983 until his death he was co-editor of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. He died in November 2015.