Munich prosecutors and police have announced they have identified the man responsible for a 1970 arson attack on a Jewish community center and old people's home that killed seven people. However, the suspect died in 2020, making prosecution impossible.

The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office stated that new investigations "clearly" point to the involvement of the deceased man. The case was reopened in April 2025 after new information emerged following his death.

On February 13, 1970, a fire broke out at the Jewish religious community for Munich and Upper Bavaria, including its retirement home, killing seven people. All victims had survived the Holocaust, with two having been inmates in Nazi concentration camps.

The fire was set using a "gasoline mixture" sprinkled and ignited in several places in a stairwell to ensure rapid spread. Fifteen others were wounded, four seriously, and the building sustained severe damage.

The investigation had been halted in 2017, but was reopened after a witness provided credible information. The witness said the suspect had been in close contact with her relative in the 1970s, and she revealed her knowledge after the relative's death.

The suspect, aged 25 at the time, was known to frequent the area around the center on Reichenbachstrasse. On the evening of the fire, he allegedly complained that "the Jews have everything" and expressed a desire to set them alight.

Investigators described him as a known member of Munich's far-right scene, an antisemite with a "Hitler obsession." He had listened to Hitler's speeches on records in his youth and practiced shooting near Hitler's Berghof residence.

Prosecutors noted that it remains unclear whether the suspect acted alone, but found no indications of accomplices. "All in all, the new investigations speak clearly for the suspect's involvement," they concluded, albeit with no possibility of a trial.

Source: www.dw.com