A decades-old Jewish heritage mural on the Lower East Side was painted over on Monday morning without warning, sparking outrage from residents who considered the artwork a symbol of the community.

“People are appalled that this happened,” fumed Stephen Talasnik, a local artist who snapped photos of the white-wash job at 232 East Broadway.

In 1973, teenagers from the neighborhood and local professional artists worked with the group CITYArts to paint the mural on an office building adjacent to the Bialystoker Nursing home, which is a city landmark.

Investor Rob Kaliner’s Ascend Group recently purchased both properties and plans to build towering apartment buildings on each side of the old nursing facility. He told The Post on Monday that he chose to paint over the mural after noticing pieces of the building and large chunks of paint falling off the side.

“It was purely done for safety reasons,” Kaliner said. “The building is going to be demolished anyway, and I wanted to make sure for the safety of residents and the people walking around there that it was taken care of without pieces falling of.”

One of the teens who helped paint the mural, Sara Krivisky, told The Post that what angered residents most was the fact that Kaliner failed to inform anyone about his plans to paint over the 43-year-old mural, which features six different themes — including the Holocaust, immigration through Ellis Island, the 1972 Summer Olympics Munich massacre, sweatshops, labor unions and the local significance of of the “Forward” newspaper.

“The community was not aware this was happening this morning,” she said. “The way it was done is very disrespectful to the history and the heritage of the community. Those faces on the wall are our parents’ faces, they’re our faces. It’s just very sad that that’s the way it had to end.”

Stephen added, “It’s almost as if the mural was murdered. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it’s true. This mural was a time capsule. This mural depicted part of the history of the Lower East Side.”

When asked why he didn’t tell residents about the plans to paint it over, Kaliner insisted that “safety comes first, especially in construction.”

“We really apologize to anyone who was upset about it, but we wanted to make sure we kept the area safe, and that’s what we accomplished,” he said. “I would feel terrible if anyone was to get hurt because of the site conditions.”

Krivisky’s parents were both Holocaust survivors who settled on the Lower East Side following World War II. She and her son said they would like to try and create another mural, with new themes and elements, in order to keep the neighborhood’s Jewish heritage alive.

“I think this situation provides a great opportunity to now bring the community back together, to incorporate some of those new groups that have moved into the Lower East Side and bring them together,” said Josh Krivisky. “Bring together the new and the old.”