Terezin - Vandals desecrated over 300 graves in a Jewish cemetery in Theresienstadt, a former garrison town in the Litoměřice region in northern part of the country.

The small town of Terezín entered Czech history books mainly as a nazi concetration camp. 

During the World War II the Nazis used the camp as a ghetto. It was not an extermination camp but over 30,000 Jews from all around Europe died in the ghetto. 

A memorial was opened shortly after the end of World War II to commemorate the victims of the Nazi persecution.

The vandals stole 327 bronze plates.

The defaced graves lie by the Small Fortress which used to be the concentration camp.

"It was not only the Jewish tombstones but a bit of everything," chief of the maintainence department Stanislav Krejný said to Aktuálně.cz.

Damage done

The Terezín Memorial suffered damage worth 981,000 CZK.

Allegedly, the headstones were stolen last Wednesday night. Police has started to search for the vandals.

"It is a huge damage and the vandals face from two up to eight years in prison," said Litoměřice police spokesperson Alena Romová.

"It had to be more than one person. One man could not destroy all the graves," said Terezín Memorial employee Krejný. "We are talking about bronz here, so the thieves can cash in lots of money for that," added Krejný.

According to police, it is not the first case. Two years ago someone tried to do the same thing.

"We had two attempted thefts in past," confirmed spkesperson Romová. Two young men from the region of Litoměřice were later arrested in connection with the desecration of graves.