The Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise, Idaho, was vandalized with pictures of swastikas this week, prompting an investigation into the matter from the city’s police department.

The stickers, which included the words, “we are everywhere” as well as the Nazi insignia, were discovered Tuesday morning by a visitor to the memorial in downtown Boise.

The site — which is the only Anne Frank memorial in the United States — contains a life-sized bronze statue of Frank. The statue depicts Frank holding her diary and peering out the window of the secret annex in which she and her family spent 761 days hiding from Nazis before they were found and sent to concentration camps in 1944.

One of the stickers was stuck to the diary, and another was pasted to a statue representing the “spiral of injustice,” intended to show how hateful language can lead to discrimination, violence and attempts to eliminate disadvantaged groups. 

Another was pasted over a photo showing the face of Bill Wassmuth, a Catholic priest from northern Idaho who left the priesthood to focus on fighting white supremacists and the Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi group that at the time was based in northern Idaho. Wassmuth died in 2002.

Now, the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights maintains the Anne Frank memorial. 

“What makes this event actually so sad,” said Dan Prinzing, the executive director of the Wassmuth Center, “was the blatancy where they were placed, how they were placed and the message they were proclaiming.”

News of the vandalism sparked outcry across the city, with many residents dropping flowers and messages of encouragement at Frank’s feet.

Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee called the vandalism “absolutely reprehensible,” saying his agency has reached out to the Anti-Defamation League amid an investigation into who was responsible for the vandalism.

On Thursday, city leaders held a virtual meeting discussing the incident.

"I want to make this incredibly clear: The vandalism at the Anne Frank Memorial is reprehensible," Boise Mayor Lauren McLean said during the meeting. "It is an affront to all that  we are, the values we hold dear, to the memories of so many people in this community and this country who fought against that very topic, and of course, and of course to the people in this community who it targets."

Rabbi Dan Fink, who joined Thursday’s call, called the vandalism “truly chilling,” likening the incident to the harassment and targeting of Jews in the years before the Holocaust.

Even more painful is that the defacement occurred just before the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, which begins at sunset on Thursday. Fink encouraged fellow Boise residents outraged by the antisemitic display to actively support the Jewish community, saying the city is at a "tipping point.” 

“As you noted mayor, I believe too that this is not who we are, but the words will be empty if we don't get out there and show that this is not who we are," Fink said. "Because who we are is ultimately determined by our actions, by the actions of the majority, who I believe are good and caring and compassionate and want to say no to hate, and will say no to intimidation."

This is the second time it has been vandalized since it was dedicated in 2002. The first occurred over a series of days in 2017 when graffiti of anti-Semitic and racist slurs caused $20,000 in damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.