Munich Prosecutors Close 1970 Antisemitic Arson Case That Killed 7 Holocaust Survivors
German investigators believe they have solved one of the worst antisemitic attacks in post-war German history. The man who set fire to a Jewish community centre in Munich in 1970, killing seven people, has been identified. Police and prosecutors said on Thursday that the latest investigations point “clearly” towards the involvement of a man who died in 2020.
The case was reopened in April 2025 after more information came to light following his death. Prosecutors now believe he was a 25-year-old lone neo-Nazi with known antisemitic opinions.
However, investigators said that while they are satisfied with their findings, since there is no way to prosecute the deceased, they are closing the file once again.
Witness Testimony Reopened The Case
Prosecutors reopened the case after “a witness provided credible information on the suspect.” “She said that the suspect had been in close contact with one of her close relatives in the 1970s. Shortly after the death of this relative, she revealed her knowledge on the matter,” they said.
All seven killed in the incident were Holocaust survivors aged 59 to 71. Another 15 people were injured in the arson. Those killed in the attack were identified as Regina Rivka Becher, 59; David Jakubowicz, 59; Rosa Drucker, 59; Georg Eljakim Pfau, 63; Leopold Arie Leib Gimpel, 69; Siegfried Offenbacher, 71; and Meir Max Blum, 71.
About The Arson
According to prosecutors, the killer, on February 13, 1970, poured petrol into the wooden stairwell at a retirement home housed inside the Jewish community building on Reichenbachstrasse and set it ablaze. The fire spread to the top floor of the building, killing seven people.
Another 15 people were wounded in the fire, four of them seriously. The building was severely damaged, particularly the upper levels.
Just before the incident, the suspect was heard to claim within the immediate vicinity that “the Jews had everything” and that he wanted to “set them on fire.” Fifteen minutes later, the Jewish community centre in Reichenbachstrasse was engulfed in flames, according to prosecutors.
Decades-Long Investigation
The attack, on a building that served as a retirement home and guest house, was one of the worst crimes targeting the Jewish community in the history of post-war Germany. Investigators struggled to crack the case for decades, with speculation that a Middle Eastern terrorist or far-left militant may have been behind it, and the probe was finally shelved in 2017. It was reopened again last year after the witness came forward with new information.