This Time, It’s a ‘No-Swastikas’ Sign Found on the New York City Subway

Image by Reddit

By Lilly Maier February 8, 2017

This weekend, many New Yorkers were shocked to find swastikas painted on subway windows and advertisements. They reacted swiftly and removed the hateful sharpie messages with hand sanitizer.

Two days later, the New York subway system yet again saw a swastika – but this time, it was crossed out, and surrounded by a red “No” sign in a clever imitation of official MTA signage prohibiting no-nos like smoking and eating.

Image by Reddit

The picture was posted in a New York Reddit thread by a user called “AlexJamesFitz,” who comes from Queens.

“Good modification to the R train this morning,” he wrote.

Other Reddit users applauded. One wrote that she had started carrying hand sanitizer everywhere – just in case she comes across another hateful sign that needs erasing.

“Glad we have people out there doing their part to stop these Nazis,” another commented.

Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @lillymmaier

Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. She is a graduate journalism student at New York University, where she studies as a Fulbright scholar. She also holds a B.A. in Jewish history from the University of Munich. Contact Lilly at [email protected], read her portfolio, or follow her on Twitter.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO