Austrian Chabad school vandalized

vienna (jta) | A man claiming to be Adolf Hitler is suspected of vandalizing a Vienna Jewish school.

Police are holding the man, who allegedly broke into the Lauder Chabad School on Sunday, Nov. 26, smashing windows and glass throughout the three-story building. Austrian radio reports indicated that the suspect is a 30-year-old Croat national.

Amid glass shards lying all over the building, the president of Vienna’s Jewish community, Ariel Muzicant, told journalists that it was the worst attack against a Jewish site in Austria in more than two decades. The Lauder Chabad School has 360 students.

london (jta) | Jewish groups expressed concern that a British bill could provide immunity for art looted by the Nazis to be displayed in Britain. The Constitutional Affairs, Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill is being proposed ostensibly to combat a perceived trend of institutions and individuals refusing to loan art to British museums.

But Jonathan Benjamin, the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the bill could turn Britain into “a circus freak show” of art looted by the Nazis.

Culture Minister David Lammy, who is expected to meet with Benjamin, told the London-based Web site TotallyJewish.com that Benjamin’s “fears that we would become a safe haven where owners of looted art could display … without fear of seizure and prosecution” were unfounded.

Lammy also asserted that claimants could still sue for restitution, though they would not be able obtain possession of the works while they are on show in Britain.

prague (jta) | An Israeli firm building a parking lot over a Jewish cemetery in the Czech Republic agreed to raise the structure to protect the graves.

Plaza Centers, which is to build a shopping center and parking lot on the Pilsen site, made the agreement last week. Last month, archaeologists discovered several graves on the land, which a local researcher said housed a 15th-century Jewish cemetery. The museum estimates that as many as 50 graves may be located there.

Plaza Centers has had several consultations with the Czech Chief Rabbi Karel Sidon and the London-based Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe, which resulted in a verbal agreement to place the parking lot on cement stilts.

glasgow (jta) | Glasgow has a new kosher restaurant after four years without one. L’Chaim’s, which opened last week, is part of the Giffnock Synagogue complex. It does business on weekends and Jewish holidays under the supervision of the Glasgow and West Scotland Kashrut Commission.