BUCHAREST, Romania - Vandals have scrawled Nazi graffiti on the exterior walls of the Bucharest Jewish Theater, the theater reported Saturday.

Swastikas, Nazi slogans and the name of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann were scrawled on the theater building's outer walls overnight and discovered by a theater employee early Saturday, theater director Harry Eliad said.

Culture Minister Razvan Theodorescu visited the theater Saturday.

"This is a moral crime not just for the Jewish community, but for all the Romanian people," Theodorescu was quoted as saying by private news agency Mediafax.

The Israeli Embassy called for special protection for the theater at night, private radio station Europa FM reported.

A Jewish theater festival is set to start Monday in the northeastern city of Iasi. Theodorescu asked government officials to heighten security there.

Romania in March adopted laws that make fascist and xenophobic organizations and symbols illegal and punishable by prison sentences of up to five years. Implementation has been slow.

Authorities have also ordered the removal of statues and other monuments honoring Romania's pro-Nazi wartime leader Ion Antonescu. Some were erected as recently as last year.

Romania is now home to just 6,000 Jews, most of them elderly. Before World War II, 800,000 Jews lived here. About half of those died in the Holocaust, and many emigrated to Israel during the communist years.
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