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City workers and residents found the bench in pieces on Wednesday, with its audio device torn out before the remains were dumped in the frozen water.
By Shula Rosen
A memorial bench built to share the recorded testimony of Holocaust survivor Chaim Ferster was discovered smashed and submerged in a lake at Clowes Park in Salford, in the UK, setting off a police investigation into what local officials believe may be an antisemitic attack.
City workers and residents found the bench in pieces on Wednesday, its audio device torn out before the remains were dumped in the frozen water.
The installation had stood along the route Ferster used to walk each day with his dog, part of a project launched in 2019 to preserve his voice and allow visitors to hear his account of surviving eight concentration camps.
Ferster settled in Manchester after the war and later dedicated years to speaking in schools across Britain. He died in 2017 at age 94.
The destruction was first raised by a park visitor, who contacted a local councillor; the councillor then notified Greater Manchester Police and requested the incident be treated as a hate-related offense.
Police confirmed on Thursday that investigators have not yet identified suspects but are examining multiple leads. A spokesperson said the force “takes these kinds of incidents extremely seriously” and is pursuing every available line of inquiry.
Ferster’s family reacted publicly after images of the wreckage circulated online. His grandson, Marc Ferster, wrote that the bench was far more than a seating area—it was built so strangers could “hear my grandfather tell his story in his own words.” He said its destruction was painful because of what it symbolized rather than the object itself. In his view, the act reflected a broader reality: antisemitism remains a present threat, not a relic of past generations.
He cautioned that such behavior cannot be dismissed as isolated vandalism, urging the public to recognize that hatred grows when society minimizes it. His remarks stressed that the issue transcends politics and should concern anyone who values safeguarding the memory of Holocaust survivors.
Local authorities have not announced whether the bench will be reconstructed, but community members have already begun discussing how to protect similar installations from future attacks.
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