2 weeks Ago By Thomas Weber
It was either a Halloween prank gone wrong or an outbreak of hateful vandalism. In either case, it was the kind of incident that can give a community a black eye. ADVERTISEMENT On Halloween night 1967, anti-Semitic slogans and signs were painted on the exterior of the B’nai B’rith Synagogue in Rochester.
“Adolph Hitler,” “Jew,” “Swine” and swastikas were plain to see the next morning. “This was not just the action of Halloween pranksters, because obviously there is indicated a deep-seated feeling of anti-Semitism by some persons,” said Leonard Sankstone, representing the city’s Jewish community. “That crooked cross (the swastika) represents everything abhorrent to a Jew.
We feel it’s an insult to our faith.” City officials agreed, and quickly condemned the vandalism. “There is no place in our city for this sort of malicious desecration of property,” Mayor Alex Smekta said in a news conference held in his city hall office.
Smekta apologized to the Jewish community for what he called a “dastardly act.” “I got many phone calls Wednesday and today (Nov. 2) at my home and place of business from irate citizens when they learned of what had been done to the synagogue,” Smekta said.
Smekta met with Rochester police and pledged that an intense investigation would be launched to bring the “culprits to justice within the full limits the law allows.” The Rochester Ministerial Association, Council of Churches, and officials at the city’s public and parochial schools agreed to assist the investigation. Smekta said that increasing vandalism in the city threatened not just a Jewish synagogue, but other churches, business establishments and public buildings as well.
For his part, Sankstone agreed with the mayor. “This was not just an insult to Jews, but an insult to Rochester and all the races, creeds and people of color living here.” ADVERTISEMENT That kind of statement is not what civic leaders like to hear about their hometown.
However, stated an editorial in the Post-Bulletin, there was no denying the damage the incident had done to the city’s reputation. Halloween pranks are one thing, the editorial said. “But the deliberate desecration of a house of worship is no mere childish prank; it is the product of scheming, hate-filled minds.
” The city’s first Jewish synagogue had been established in 1918 by 25 families. In 1944, the Jewish community purchased the former home of department store merchant E.A.
Knowlton at 306 Fourth St. S.W.
as a new place of worship. The home was somewhat of an architectural landmark, having been designed by William Gray Purcell, a prominent Prairie-style architect. A day after Smekta promised an all-out investigation of the Halloween vandalism, police announced they had arrested two juvenile suspects: a 16-year-old and 17-year-old.
The two students were arrested while at Mayo High School. The 16-year-old gave a statement that apparently implicated the pair in the vandalism at the synagogue. Inexplicably, a police spokesman said the boys intended “no animosity” toward the Jewish community, according to the Post-Bulletin.
“There was no ax to grind against the Jews,” he said. The synagogue was targeted, he said, “because it seemed like a built-in target on the basis of the conflict between the Nazis and the Jews.” Whether or not that was true, the community was left with a black eye.
ADVERTISEMENT Thomas Weber is a former Post Bulletin reporter who enjoys writing about local history..
