After the Illusion

Yesterday, I went to Košice and basked in nostalgia for the empire that created it. I suppose I ought to have mentioned the sad traces of what came after that I saw in that very pretty town:

 Outside the now deserted Synagogue, there was this poignant memorial, explaining that in 1944 the Jewish population of the town was deported.

 These are the Synagogue doors, no longer open or used, because the population the doors were made for no longer exist.

And here is an alarming piece of graffiti of recent origin, on a wall near the main square:

One of the many reasons that I admire Franz Joseph of Austria is that his approach to anti-Semitism showed true leadership. As this site says "He was matchless in his friendship to Jews".  This site goes into more detail about exactly what he did to make that true. The persistence of anti-Semitism in Europe is shocking, depressing and completely baffling. To tell the truth, it fills me with sadness and rage.