Fire Damages Geneva Synagogue
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
GENEVA — Fire heavily damaged Geneva’s largest synagogue early yesterday, and police said they are investigating whether it was arson or an electrical fault. The blaze struck on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates Moses’s receiving of the Torah from God.
There have been incidents of anti-Semitism in Geneva recently, including graffiti scrawled on another Jewish house of worship.
The blaze broke out at 5 a.m. in the Hekhal Haness Synagogue in Geneva’s Malagnou neighborhood. About 40 firefighters responded and had the fire under control an hour later, police spokesman Philippe Cosandey said. No one was hurt.
He said investigators’ first impression was that it was arson, but it wasn’t clear where the fire originated. A statement later in the day said police were also working on the possibility that it could have started from an electrical fault.
