BERLIN, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - A German man has been arrested for allegedly spraying anti-Semitic graffiti at the Holocaust Memorial in central Berlin, authorities said Wednesday.

The 28-year-old man from the eastern state of Saxony was caught late Tuesday by a watchman daubing anti-Jewish slogans on four of the 2,700 grey concrete blocks that make up the open-air memorial, police said in a statement.

The man, who had been heavily drinking, was taken into custody but he did not have a record of right-wing extremist activity.

A police unit dealing with politically charged crimes has taken over the investigation.

The memorial comprises the museum and a giant field of concrete blocks designed by New York-based architect Peter Eisenman, situated between the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag parliament building.

It finally opened in 2005 after more than a decade of debate about an appropriate way to honour the memory of the six million Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust.

It is a major tourist draw, attracting 3.5 million people in its first year alone.