A mural in Milan, Italy, commemorating Holocaust survivors Liliana Segre and Sami Modiano, has been vandalized in an act of antisemitism.

The mural, created by artist aleXsandro Palombo, depicts the Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors in striped camp uniforms and bulletproof vests. Their faces and Stars of David were scratched out.

The artwork, unveiled on September 28, was intended to highlight the importance of Holocaust remembrance.

The defacement occurred shortly after a pro-Palestinian rally in Milan where some demonstrators targeted Segre, a 94-year-old Italian senator, calling her a “Zionist agent.” Palombo, angered by the rhetoric, responded with the mural.

The vandalism has been met with widespread condemnation in Italy. Mario Venezia, head of Italy’s Holocaust memorial museum, described it as a “demented act” that “damages walls but not history.” Milan’s mayor, Piero Fassino, also condemned the act, calling it a “cowardly assault on Holocaust memory.”

Palombo’s murals often address controversial issues. Last year, he created a mural depicting Holocaust victim Anne Frank alongside a young Palestinian girl. 

His mural portraying Vlada Patapov, the “girl in red” who survived the Hamas attack during the Nova festival on October 7, 2023, was also defaced almost immediately after its completion.

“The antisemitic fury unleashed by Hamas is overwhelming Jews in every part of the world, this horror that re-emerges from the past must make us all reflect because it undermines freedom, security and the future of us all,” Palombo stated.

“Terrorism is the very denial of humanity and has nothing to do with resistance, it uses people with aim [the] to divide and drag them into the abyss of its evil, into an infernal vortex that has no end. There can be no peace until terrorism is eradicated; [legitimizing] it means condemning to death the whole humanity,” Palombo added.

Rome’s Shoah Museum condemned the vandalism in a statement, saying “these acts not only harm art but undermine the value of Memory, which is fundamental for building a conscious and just society”.