Someone smashed the windows of a kosher restaurant in the District over the weekend in what the owner is calling an antisemitic attack, noting the vandalism occurred on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
The Metropolitan Police Department said officers observed two busted windows Saturday morning after they were called to Char Bar on the 2100 block of L Street NW.
Police said no one entered the restaurant after the windows were smashed. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified.
Police originally said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime, but by Sunday, authorities said there was no evidence to back that suspicion.
“That’s a disappointing thing to hear because it’s pretty clear that it’s a hate crime,” restaurant owner Michael Chelst told NBC News affiliate WRC-TV. “There’s seven other places with glass on this street and they didn’t hit any of those.”
Mr. Chelst told the TV station the incident occurred on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 wave of attacks in which Nazis targeted Jewish people in Germany, Austria and the former Sudetenland, which is part of the modern-day Czech Republic.
The hate-fueled attacks on thousands of synagogues, Jewish homes and businesses left the streets littered with glass, which is where Kristallnacht, or “the night of broken glass,” gets its name.
At least 91 Jewish people are thought to be killed that night, and roughly 30,000 Jewish men were arrested in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington said Sunday that its own security division is in contact with the police department about its investigation.
“This vandalism of a Jewish business is deeply disturbing on its own,” the federation said. “Its timing on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, ’the night of broken glass,’ raises many more questions and concerns that must be answered.”
Char Bar was closed for the Sabbath, which is observed from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, when the attack occurred.
The restaurant boarded up its windows and reopened Sunday.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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