The Munich Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has closed a 56-year-old investigation into an antisemitic arson attack that killed seven Jewish residents of a retirement home in Munich on 13 February 1970, identifying a now-deceased man as the likely perpetrator, the office and Munich Police Headquarters confirmed on Monday.
Munich prosecutors close 1970 antisemitic arson case, naming deceased suspect after 56 years
The Munich Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has closed a 56-year-old investigation into an antisemitic arson attack that killed seven Jewish residents of a retirement home in Munich on 13 February 1970, identifying a now-deceased man as the likely perpetrator, the office and Munich Police Headquarters confirmed on Monday.
The fire was set at the Jewish Community of Munich building at 27 Reichenbachstraße, which also served as a retirement home. An arsonist ignited the structure using a petrol mixture. Seven residents, all survivors of the Holocaust, died as a result; 15 others were injured, four of them seriously.
The Federal Public Prosecutor closed an earlier investigation into the attack in 2017. The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office reopened the case in April 2025 following a new tip-off from the public. A witness provided prosecutors with information about a suspect with whom one of her relatives had been in close contact during the 1970s. The suspect died in 2020, and the informant came forward shortly after that relative's death.
Investigators from the Munich Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Security Division of the Munich Police Headquarters reviewed archived files from both the Munich I Public Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, and interviewed witnesses from the suspect's circle.
According to prosecutors, the suspect was a 25-year-old German man at the time of the attack. On the evening of 13 February 1970, he is said to have remarked, while 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.' The building was engulfed in flames approximately 15 minutes later. Those statements are based on the informant's account, which other family members are said to corroborate.
Prosecutors said the suspect was linked to far-right circles. Witnesses described him as an antisemite with a 'Hitler obsession' who reportedly listened to Hitler's speeches on records in his youth and practiced shooting in what was described as the former 'Führer's restricted area at Obersalzberg.' A former schoolmate described hostility toward Jews as a defining characteristic of the suspect. A headteacher cited what they called 'a coldly calculating, attention-seeking manner' and reported a physical altercation in which the suspect allegedly used a dagger given to him by his father that had belonged to the Hitler Youth.
An offender profile drawn up by the Bavarian Operational Case Analysis Unit on behalf of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office was said to match the deceased suspect. Because the suspect died in 2020, German law does not permit prosecution, and investigators said they found no reliable evidence of other individuals' involvement. The Munich Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has accordingly closed the investigation.
- The source does not state the suspect's full name or identity.
- The source does not specify which organization or individuals provided the original tip-off that led to the April 2025 reopening.
- The source does not describe the methodology or conclusions of the Bavarian Operational Case Analysis Unit's offender profile beyond stating it matched the suspect.
- The source does not state whether the families of the seven victims who died have been notified or have responded to the closure of the case.
- The source does not explain what evidence, if any, had been examined in the investigations prior to the 2017 closure by the Federal Public Prosecutor.
- The source does not state whether the Jewish Community of Munich has issued any response to the case closure.
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post