Antisemitic graffiti spray-painted on Lisbon 9/11 memorial
By Kendall Keys
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SUSSEX, Wisconsin (WISN) — The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office is searching for the vandal responsible for defacing a Sept. 11 memorial in the village of Lisbon.
Crews worked Monday to remove the images of antisemitism.
“We are, you know, a hard-working, blue-collar village. And so when you see that, I think everybody kind of gets a little jolt in their heartstrings,” Village Administrator Daniel Green said. “It just hurts to, to read it and see something like that. The first thing you want to do is find the person who did it and have it removed immediately.”
Someone spray-painted swastikas on the memorial and references to the Bible on the village hall building.
“The memorial was the worst part,” Green said. “The building we can clean up, or we can rebuild. But a memorial like this, many people donated money and funds for this to happen. And it’s close to a lot of people.”
Each year on Sept. 11, people gather at the memorial. In 2021, WISN 12 News spoke to the Lisbon Fire Department lieutenant who wanted to build a tribute to those killed in the attack in the small Waukesha County village.
“Everybody pitched in. An idea that started out in my mind as a small display in the wall of the firehouse turned into this wonderful display here at the community park,” Meyer said in 2021.
The memorial’s meaning made cleaning it up even more important. Crews used a special chemical agent to power wash the spray paint off of a real steel beam from the twin towers, being careful to preserve the piece of history.
“The highway guys did a great job cleaning this up,” Green said. “Hopefully we don’t have to hear about something like this happening for a long time.”
The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Nobody has been arrested.
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