Munich prosecutors close fatal 1970 antisemitic arson case

Munich's Public Prosecutor's Office claims to have solved one of the most egregious antisemitic attacks in post-war German history. The case, which closed in 2025, had been reopened in April of that year based on new evidence. Police and prosecutors identified a suspect who died in 2020 and linked him to the fatal arson that took place on February 13, 1970.

That night, a fire broke out at the Jewish religious community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, claiming the lives of seven survivors of the Holocaust and wounding 15 others. The fire was set using a gasoline mixture that was evenly sprinkled and lit in various areas of a stairwell, ensuring that it would spread rapidly. Prosecutors say the building sustained heavy damage, especially on the upper levels, due to the way the flames climbed up the stairwell.

The reopening of the case was prompted by a witness who provided credible information about the suspect, revealing that he had been in close contact with a relative of the witness in the 1970s. The prosecutor's office identified the suspect as a 25-year-old man who died that same year. He was known to frequently visit the religious center on Reichenbachstrasse around the time of the fire and allegedly expressed a desire to set the elderly people's home ablaze.

The suspect was also a member of the far-right community in Munich, with a known antisemitic and Hitler-obsessed past. He had a history of using explosives and a juvenile conviction for blowing up telephone booths. While it remains uncertain whether the suspect acted alone or with accomplices, new investigations pointed clearly to his involvement, though a posthumous prosecution was not possible in Germany.