Camp Owner Endures Racial Vandalism
By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH
Last week at Machne Menachem summer camp, Meir Hershkop’s assistant, Michal, prepares for the arrival of 350 children. Hershkop found numerous swastikas spray-painted at the camp when he returned on June 27.
LACKAWAXEN, PA – Meir Hershkop reached out his hand and
agreed to talk about the swastikas he found after returning to his
summer camp for children on June 27.
The 48-year-old walked by the cabin where he’s staying with his
assistant, Michal. The emblem of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party had been
sprayed in white on the cabin’s red siding. Beside the swastika the
vandal(s) had sprayed an anarchy sign.
Hershkop pointed out a swastika on a doormat, one on the window of
a storm door and one on a nearby picnic table. The word “Nazi” had
been sprayed on the table’s bench.
“Heil Hitler” had been sprayed in the grass, and the culprits had
broken into a building, stolen Hebrew Bibles, ripped out pages and
strewn them by the entrance gate to the not-for-profit camp, Machne
Menachem, which sits in a secluded 87-acre valley along the Upper
Delaware River.
Meir and Michal were busily preparing for the 350 children who would
arrive on July 7 for eight weeks of summer camp. Hershkop took a
break, stepped out of the rain under the roof of a porch and began
talking about the history of the camp.
He and his partners purchased the property in 1997. This incident,
which Hershkop described as an “accident,” is the first of its kind to
occur here, though once before some thieves broke in and stole a
charity box that contained $13.00.
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