As reported on 10 July, a wayside cross at the "Kartoffelbaum" site in Stolberg-Zweifall has been deliberately damaged, with parts of the wooden corpus having been cut off. As the vandalism targeted a religious monument in the area that serves as a place of prayer and remembrance for pilgrims, the incident has caused deep distress for the local community.
The incident was reported on 10 July and occurred at the penitential cross ("Bußkreuz") at the "Kartoffelbaum" in Stolberg-Zweifall where a wayside cross was vandalised. Unknown perpetrators cut off parts of the wooden corpus attached to the cross, causing significant damage to the religious monument where only fragments remain of the wood body representing Jesus Christ. The case was said to have occurred in the weeks preceding the report.
The cross was erected by the Stolberg Heimbach Brotherhood and serves as a place of rest and prayer for pilgrims and commemorates soldiers who died in the Hürtgen Forest during the Second World War. The local brotherhood described the act with dismay, stressing that the cross "does no harm to anyone" and "It is incomprehensible that people do such things." The brotherhood filed a criminal complaint with the police. At the time of reporting, no suspects or arrests had been made.