On the 29th of December, unknown vandals stole the Baby Jesus of the nativity scene in Waren and beheaded one of the three wisemen figures. The display belongs to a Baptist Church and it has been vandalized many times in the last few years. This last incident included two consecutive nights of vandalism. The municipality is trying to help with the investigation. Apart from the main figures, a sheep and another figure were scattered on the meadow and other figures were knocked over.
"This is not a rascal prank. This is vandalism, theft and trespassing," commented Raphael Hoflehner, member of the Evangelical Free Church congregation in Waren.
After the first incident, the community filed a complaint and the figures were collected by the police. After the second attack, the police adviced the church to dismantle the Display before New Years Eve to avoid further damages.
"Of course we are shocked and horrified. A nativity scene really doesn't offer anything offensive," said Raphael Hoflehner. He also said that the community put a lot of work into these figures.
In 2021, the first year they put the display, there was also vandalism.
The police also adviced the community to place the group of figures further away from the road. But Mr Hoflehner explains that the whole idea of the display is that people can walk past it and read about the story of Christmas.
Source and Picture (Courtesy of Richard Hoflehner): Nordkurier