Vandals defaced the graves of hundreds of fallen soldiers at the French military cemetery at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, near Arras, where soldiers who fell during a World War One campaign have been laid to rest. The vandals spray-painted neo-Nazi and hate slogans on graves. (Some press reports include photographs.)

Nearly all of the graves of the 576 Muslim soldiers laid to rest at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette were attacked. Vandals calculated their attack to coincide with the beginning of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday during which it is customary to visit loved ones' graves.

This was not the first such attack on military grave sites.

The same section of the same military cemetery has been attacked in the same fashion twice since 2007, first in April 2007 (when 52 graves were defaced), then in April 2008 (when 148 graves were defaced). Authorities had rounded up the usual suspects and focused suspicion on a pair of marginal youths who reportedly flirted with neo-Nazi groups.

Attacks on military cemeteries in France have become so commonplace that few press reports even noted that the graves of about 20 Jewish soldiers also were vandalized.

The French president, interior minister, and veterans' affairs ministers all voiced their "indignation" and vowed to find the wrongdoers.

I'm a great friend of France, but I'm nearly as revolted by this tepid official response as by the vandals' attacks. I'm eager to learn:
  • how many guards have been posted at the cemetery;
  • how the guards' orders changed after the earlier attacks in 2007 and 2008;
  • whether a fence or wall surrounds the cemetery, as is customary in France;
  • whether anyone has ever been apprehended or charged with trespassing at the cemetery during night hours (without necessarily engaging in vandalism);
  • what equipment –motion detectors, spotlights– had been installed at the cemetery since 2007 to prevent future attacks;
  • what steps will now be taken to reduce the likelihood of a fresh attack, and why these steps weren't taken last year.
As the First World War fades from living memory into history, the custodians of military cemeteries bear a special responsibility to the soldiers laid to rest there. Governments fail to live up to this responsibility when they stand by as hate crimes are planned and executed on cemetery grounds, and directed against fallen soldiers.