Draft:1970 Munich arson attack
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1970 Munich arson attack | |
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Location | Reichenbachstraße 27 Munich, Bavaria, Germany |
Coordinates | 48° 7′ 50.49″ N, 11° 34′ 33.76″ E |
Date | 13 February 1970 c. 20:45 – c. 21:30 (CST) |
Target | Jewish residents |
Attack type | Arson, senicide |
Weapon | Fuel barrel |
Deaths | 7 |
Injured | 15 |
On 13 February 1970, a fire was intentionally set inside the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Seven people were killed and 15 were injured. The majority of the victims were elderly people located on the upper floors. It is considered one of the deadliest attacks on Jews in BRD history.[1][2][3]
Munich Police formed a special commission to investigate, presuming that the motive was antisemitism. Several groups came under suspicion including Palestinian political terrorist factions, neo-Nazi gangs, and radical left-wing militants. Ultimately, no evidence was found to implicate any of the suspected groups and the arson remains unsolved.
Background
[edit]History of the IKG
[edit]The Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München was founded in 1815 by the city's long-standing Jewish community. Between 1816 and 1887, the built Munich's first Jewish cemetery , Munich's first modern synagogue and the main synagogue which replaced it. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the IKG came under increasing scrutiny until 7 June 1938, when Hitler ordered the demolition of the centre and its synagogues. The organisation was reestablished on 15 July 1945 as the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern (IKG; English: Jewish Cultural Centre of Munich and Upper Bavaria) and became a contact point for displaced Jews from across post-war Europe. From 1947 to 2007, the IKG was headquartered at attachment building of the Munich Synagogue on Reichenbachstraße , in the Gärtnerplatzviertel of Isarvorstadt.
The building doubled as a community centre and residential space. Apartments were located all throughout the first floor to the attics, and most commonly rented out to the elderly or students from Israel. Contrary to most reporting, the IKG was not a retirement home and despite the age of the victims, they were all still employed.[4]
Political atmosphere
[edit]The arson occurred during a time in West Germany where Jews, whether Israeli or not, were targeted by both the right and left sides of the political spectrum.
During the September 1969 Israeli embassies, hand grenades exploded at the Israeli consulate in Bonn.[5]
On 9 November 1969, on the anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht, a bombing attempt was made by the far-left militant group Tupamaros West-Berlin at the Jewish Community of Berlin ; the explosive failed to detonate because it was supplied by an undercover BfV operative, Peter Urbach. The attack renewed fears of persecution amongst Jews living in Germany, many of whom sought to emigrate to Israel or the United States.
Additionally, a number of international Palestinian militant groups were committing terror attacks in Europe at the time. On various dates on February 1970, before and after the arson attack, there were three attacks by Palestinian terrorists on airports or airplanes targeting El Al, the flag carrier of Israel. The earliest of these, a bus hijacking on 10 February 1970, had the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijack a bus at Munich-Riem Airport, which resulted in one Israeli being killed.
Attack
[edit]Police estimate that the arsonist entered the IKG at approximately 20:45, carrying a 20-litre Aral-issue metal gas drum wrapped in brown paper. The offending party used the elevator to ascend to the top floor and spread the fuel over the wooden stairscase before lighting it at the building entrance. Due to the chimney effect, the fire spread upwards extremely quick. 50 people were inside at the time, more than usual due to Sabbath. [6]
The fire was reported at 20:58 and Munich Fire Department arrived two minutes after the first call. Firefighters were aided by neighbouring residents in the rescue of most of those inside. However, the third and fourth floor was inapproachable as the fire was most intense there, leaving anyone above this space trapped. The first fatality was Max Blum, who leapt from a window after being trapped in his attic apartment. Three others, husband and wife Georg Pfau and Rosa Drucker, as well Regina Becher, died on the fourth floor staircase while trying to escape. Nearby residents heard a woman, either Drucker or Becher, screaming "Help, we are being burned!" ("Hilfe, wir werden verbrannt!")[4] or "Help, we are being gassed, we are being burned!" ("Hilfe, wir werden vergasst, wir werden verbrannt!").[2][7] A significant part of the library was burned, also killing its archivist Siegfried Offenbacher, who likely failed to notice the fire due to being hard of hearing. Leopold Gimpel fled to a rest room after the way to the staircase was blocked, where he died of burn injuries. David Jakubovicz died in his room while in prayer. [8][9]
Victims
[edit]Five men and two women died during the fire. All were Holocaust survivors. Six burned to death or died of smoke inhalation while a seventh died from a fall when he jumped from the fourth floor to escape the flames.[10][11][12]
- 71-year-old Meir Max Blum (born 17 June 1898), American national. Born in Mosty Małe, Austrian Galicia (modern-day Poland). Furrier. He had moved to Munich for retirement.
- 60-year-old Rosa Drucker (born 6 October 1909), also known as Jadwiga Pfau, German and Israeli national. Born in Lemberg, Austrian Galicia (modern-day Ukraine). Survived Lemberg Ghetto in hiding. Homemaker. Wife of Georg Pfau.
- 63-year-old Eliakim Georg Pfau (born 28 May 1906), German and Israeli national. Born in Breslau, Prussia (modern-day Poland). Survived Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. Wallpaper hanger. Husband of Rosa Drucker.
- 59-year-old Rivka Regina Becher (born 10 April 1910), Brazilian national. Born in Czerniowce, Austrian Galicia (modern-day Ukraine). Hatmaker.
- 71-year-old Siegfried Israel Offenbacher (born 9 February 1899), German and Israeli national. Born in Fürth, Kingdom of Bavaria (modern-day Germany). Head librarian of the IKG. Survived Dachau concentration camp and was exiled to Mandatory Palestine in 1939.
- 69-year-old Arie Leib Leopold Gimpel (born 5 October 1900), American permanent resident. Office worker. Born in Lemberg, Austrian Galicia (modern-day Ukraine). He and his wife Jeannette had planned to move out of Germany due to West Berlin and Munich-Riem attacks. Gimpel lived on the second floor but he had gone to the attic floor to return a book to Max Blum.
- 59-year-old David Jakubovicz (born 2 October 1910). Born in Częstochowa, Congress Poland. Survived Buchenwald concentration camp and Dachau concentration camp. Cook and restaurateur. Jakubovicz had planned to move to Israel to live with his sister, with his flight first booked for 13 February, but abruptly rescheduled to 15 February to observe Sabbath.
Investigation
[edit]Though it was hoped by local Jewish figures that the fire was accidental, arson was quickly determined to be the cause for the fire.[13] A reward of 75,000 DM was issued, with each third having been provided by the German Federal Government, the Bavarian State Government, and the Administrative Office of the City of Munich. The Axel Springer SE independently issued 25,000 DM reward alongside the official one. A task force of 60 investigators was organised to research the case.[3]
Suspected groups
[edit]Palestinian militants
[edit]Members of the Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (AOLP), founded in 1968 by Issam Sartawi as a Nasserist subfaction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), arrested for a plane hijacking and were questioned about the IKG arson, but firmly denied knowledge on them.
Right-wing militants
[edit]The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was investigated but they denied involvement. An admission letter was posted in their name, but found to be fabricated.
Left-wing militants
[edit]Tupamaros München , the Munich-based wing of Tupamaros West-Berlin led by Fritz Teufel, is strongly suspected to have committed the arson, but no admissible evidence was found confirming their involvement. A member of Tupamaros München with prior convictions for arson, aged 18 at the time of the fire, was known to police, but he was never charged.
Aftermath
[edit]The Bundestag held a minute of silence for the victims on 17 February. The attack caused the Heinemann ministry to drastically increase security for Jewish and Israeli locations, an effort which the community had previously opposed as they wanted to maintain their affairs without German involvement.
Heinz Galisnki, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, named anti-Israel left-wing militants as the most likely culprits immediately after the attack. Galinski's accusation was influenced by the attempted bombing of the Jewish Community of Berlin organisation, of which he was the incumbent chairman. Media of the Springer press such as Bild blamed the entirey of left-wing leaning students as early as 15 February. Similarly, CSU chairman Franz Josef Strauß framed the arson as having been a result of the social liberal policies of SPD chancellor Willy Brandt. The German 68er student movement sought to distance itself from accusations of broad antisemtism and attacks on innocents, with the AStA of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) cancelling a protest against the visit of Israel's foreign minister Abba Eban. Despite this, radical left-wing news outlets printed conspiracy theories about the fire, with common speculation including comparisons with the Reichstag fire, explicitly framing it as a false flag operation,, claiming that the IKG housed a secret Zionist headquarters.[4]
In June 1970, four months after the fire, unknown intruders entered the IKG synagogue, desecrated the Torah scroll, and destroyed several other religious artifacts.[14][15]
Although the media representation was extensive during the initial week, it soon died down with the increase of terrorist incidents, both domestic and globally. Compared to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, the IKG arson is poorly commemorated outside of the city's Jewish community.[16]
In 2013, the Prosecutor's Office of Munich announced that they would reopen the case after a witness came forwards with new incriminating testimony. Said witness was later shown to have been inaccurate regarding several details. A forensic test on a fingerprint sample recovered from the fuel canister was also ordered, but the evidence chamber revealed that the tape containing the prints had been misplaced. Attempts to prosecuted the Tupamaros München suspect would also not be possible, as he had died since then.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Hänel, Lisa (12 February 2020). "Als der Judenhass nach München kam". Deutsche Welle (in German).
- ^ a b c Scheuer, Thomas (19 November 2013). "Ein kalter Fall, der weiter schwelt". FOCUS.
- ^ a b Sessler, Stefan (2020-02-09). ""Hilfe, wir werden verbrannt!"". OVB Heimatzeitungen (in German).
- ^ a b c Kistenmacher, Olaf (2020-02-11). ""Hilfe, wir werden verbrannt!" - das fast vergessene Attentat auf das jüdische Gemeindehaus in München 1970". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349.
- ^ Bohr, Felix; Frohn, Axel; Latsch, Gunther; Neumann, Conny; Wiegrefe, Klaus (2012-07-22). "(S+) Die angekündigte Katastrophe". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
- ^ Fischer, Niklas; Liebrandt, Hannes (2 December 2022). "Verbrannt und vergessen: Antijüdischer Terror in München 1970 - Tatort Geschichte - True Crime meets History". BR Podcast (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-27.
- ^ Stäbler, Patrik (2020-02-13). "Die vergessene Mordnacht von München: "Hilfe! Wir werden verbrannt!"". Schwäbische Zeitung (in German).
- ^ Seher, Dietmar (2023-11-19). "Warum die Anschläge auf Juden von 1970 fast vergessen sind". Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
- ^ Anchuelo, André (2012-07-09). "Sieben Mordopfer und noch immer keine Spur". Jüdische Allgemeine (in German).
- ^ JFDA (2022-02-11). "Zur Erinnerung an die Opfer des Brandanschlags auf das jüdische Gemeindehaus in München, 13.02.1970". JFDA e.V. (in German). Retrieved 2025-01-26.
- ^ "Fire Kills Seven Elderly Jews; Pres. Heinemann Denounces Arsonists". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
- ^ Salamat, Hannan. "Brandanschlag auf das Altenheim und die Synagoge der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde in München". CPPD (in German).
- ^ Binder, David (1970-02-15). "POLICE CITE ARSON IN MUNICH DEATHS". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
- ^ Brenner, Michael (March 2021). "Jüdisches Leben in München". Akademie Aktuell: 24–27.
- ^ Raim, Edith (14 February 2024). "Israelitische Kultusgemeinde". nsdoku münchen.
- ^ "No Place for Hate: Dr. Charlotte Knobloch about the arson attack of 1970". Stiftung EVZ. 2024-06-02.