The grave of Karl Marx in Highgate cemetery in London has been vandalised for the second time in the space of a month. The words “doctrine of hate” and “architect of genocide” were found daubed in red paint across the Grade I-listed monument in the north London graveyard on Saturday.
The latest attack comes less than two weeks after the marble plaque on the tomb was defaced by an apparent attempt to scrape and chip Marx’s name off the marble slab with a hammer.
At the time the group who manage the cemetery – the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust – said they feared the memorial would never be the same again.
After the hammer attack earlier this month, the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust branded it a “deliberate and sustained attack”. Ian Dungavell, the trust’s chief executive, described the attack as “very upsetting”.
The plaque was first used on the grave of Marx’s wife, Jenny von Westphalen, in 1881 and was moved when the remains of Marx and his wife were exhumed and reinterred in a more prominent location in the cemetery in 1954.
The monument is owned by the Marx Grave Trust, which is represented by the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell.
Vandals back at Marx Memorial, Highgate Cemetery. Red paint this time, plus the marble tablet smashed up. Senseless. Stupid. Ignorant. Whatever you think about Marx's legacy, this is not the way to make the point. pic.twitter.com/hGKBMYGWNy
— Highgate Cemetery (@HighgateCemeter) February 16, 2019
Highgate Cemetery tweeted that the memorial had been vandalised in a “Senseless. Stupid. Ignorant” attack. The Metropolitan police said they had received a report of criminal damage at around 10.50am on Saturday.
Karl Marx's memorial has been vandalised! It looks like someone has had a go at it with a hammer. It's a Grade I-listed monument; this is no way to treat our heritage. @MarxLibrary @HeritageCrime We will repair as far as possible. pic.twitter.com/6nY2TJOjw7
— Highgate Cemetery (@HighgateCemeter) February 5, 2019
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