Suspect in Berlin Holocaust Memorial stabbing wanted to kill Jewish people, police say
22 February 2025, 16:40 | Updated: 22 February 2025, 16:44
The suspect in a stabbing attack at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial that seriously injured a Spanish tourist is a Syrian refugee who apparently wanted to kill Jews, investigators said.
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The Spanish tourist was sustained life-threatening injuries after being stabbed in the neck with a knife at Berlin's Holocaust memorial at around 6 pm on Friday.
The 19-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday evening, nearly three hours after the attack, when he approached officers with blood on his hands and clothes.
The 30-year-old victim underwent an emergency operation and was put into an artificial coma for a while, and his life is no longer in danger, investigators said.
The suspect arrived in Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor and successfully applied for asylum, investigators said. He lives in Leipzig.
The attack took place two days before a German national election in which migration has become a top issue, pushed to the forefront by five deadly attacks involving immigrants over the past nine months.
The investigation so far points to a link between the attack and the conflict in the Middle East, police and prosecutors said.
They added that evidence so far, particularly from what he told police in questioning, suggests that he had decided in the last few weeks to kill Jews.
That was apparently why he chose to mount the attack at the memorial dedicated to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
At the time of his arrest, he was carrying a backpack containing a prayer mat, a Koran, a sheet with verses from the Koran as well as Friday's date, and the knife apparently used in the attack.
Investigators were working to determine whether the suspect suffered from mental illness. They said he was not previously known to police or judicial authorities in Berlin.
He is under investigation on suspicion of attempted murder and bodily harm.
The memorial first opened in 2005 and is made up of more than 2,700 concrete slabs of varying heights paying tribute to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
This comes just days after more than 30 people were injured and two died after a Mini Cooper was driven into a crowd of activists in Munich.
The woman, 37, and her child passed away after being rushed to hospital following the incident.
