German prosecutors identify likely suspect in deadly 1970 Munich Jewish center arson

On the evening of 13 February 1970, the building of the Jewish Community of Munich at 27 Reichenbachstraße in Munich, which was also a retirement home, was set alight using a petrol mixture.

The Munich Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has closed the case involving an until-now-unsolved antisemitic arson attack on a Jewish community center after 56 years.

This was confirmed to The Jerusalem Post by the Munich Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Munich Police Headquarters on Monday.

On the evening of 13 February 1970, the building of the Jewish Community of Munich at 27 Reichenbachstraße in Munich, which was also a retirement home, was set alight using a petrol mixture.

Seven Jewish residents, survivors of the Holocaust, died as a result of the arson attack. A further 15 people were injured, four of them seriously.

Following a new tip-off from the public, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office reopened the investigation in April 2025, after the Federal Public Prosecutor had previously closed the case in 2017.

A witness provided the prosecutor with credible information about the suspect. According to this information, the suspect had been in close contact with one of her relatives in the 1970s. The suspect then died in 2020.

Shortly after this relative’s death, the informant revealed what she knew about the matter.

In order to verify the suspicion, investigators from the Munich Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Division of the Munich Police Headquarters examined the archived files of the Munich I Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, and interviewed witnesses from the suspect’s circle.

According to the findings of the new investigations, the prosecutor said there are compelling grounds for believing that the (deceased) suspect was the perpetrator.

Investigators link deceased suspect to far-right circles

At the time, the suspect was a 25-year-old German man. On the evening of 13 February 1970, he is said to have remarked, in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene and with a view of the Jewish retirement home, that ‘the Jews have everything’ and that he wanted to ‘set them on fire’.

About 15 minutes later, the building was engulfed in flames. This information is based on the credible statement of the informant, who in turn was repeating the remarks made by her deceased relative. Other family members confirm these remarks.

The prosecutor subsequently found that the suspect was linked to far-right circles. Witnesses described him as an antisemite with a ‘Hitler obsession’. In his youth, he is said to have listened to Hitler’s speeches on records and practiced shooting in the former ‘Führer’s restricted area at Obersalzberg’.

A former schoolmate described the suspect’s hostility towards Jews as a defining characteristic.

A headteacher highlighted what they said was "a coldly calculating, attention-seeking manner" and reported a physical altercation during which the suspect is alleged to have used a dagger given to him by his father, which had belonged to the Hitler Youth.

Furthermore, the offender profile drawn up by the Bavarian Operational Case Analysis Unit on behalf of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office matches the deceased suspect. Overall, the prosecutor said the new investigations strongly suggest that the suspect was responsible.

Death of suspect leaves case without prosecution

However, it is not possible to reach a definitive legal conclusion, because prosecution is not legally possible in Germany against defendants who have already died.

Nevertheless, the investigation has not revealed any reliable evidence of the involvement of other individuals, and as such the Munich Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has closed the investigation.