German investigators identify far-right suspect in 1970 Munich Jewish centre arson attack

MUNICH, Aug 20 — German investigators said today they had identified a far-right suspect who allegedly carried out a notorious 1970 arson attack on a Jewish centre in Munich that killed seven Holocaust survivors.

The suspect — a German national who was 25 at the time of the attack, but passed away in 2020 — was identified after officials reopened the case last year when a witness came forward with new evidence, police and prosecutors in Munich said.

“The new investigations conducted after the reopening of the case strongly indicate that the suspect was the perpetrator,” they said in a joint statement.

But they added that a conclusive “legal clarification” was not possible as charges cannot be brought against a deceased person under German law.

The suspect belonged to the “right-wing milieu”, and witnesses described him as an antisemite with a “Hitler fixation”, police and prosecutors said.

While they did not name him, Der Spiegel magazine partially identified him as Bernd V.

The attack on February 13, 1970 was one of the worst targeting the Jewish community in post-war Germany.

A fire was started using petrol on the wooden stairwell of the centre, which served as a retirement home and guest house for the community, and it quickly spread, cutting off the only access to the premises.

Seven Jewish residents died and 15 other people were wounded, four of them seriously. — AFP