MADRID — Two years ago, a tiny Spanish village gained fame for deciding, finally, to break any possible link to the persecution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition.



It held a referendum in which the village’s 56 registered inhabitants agreed to shed its medieval name — Castrillo Matajudíos, which roughly translates as Little Hill Fort of Jew Killers. Instead, it is now called Castrillo Mota de Judíos, or something like Little Hill Fort of Jews.

Since then, however, the village has become a victim of repeated acts of vandalism, mostly anti-Semitic graffiti, that the mayor attributes to unknown far-right extremist groups that, he believes, have no direct connection to his village.

The mayor, Lorenzo Rodríguez Pérez, filed a police complaint on Tuesday after the latest aggression, in which the village’s brand-new road signposts were sprayed over the weekend with anti-Semitic and fascist graffiti, he said.