Arson attack on synagogue in Wuppertal – Afghan arrested
A 37-year-old Afghan man ignited a flammable liquid in front of the Bergische Synagogue in Wuppertal. The man was arrested on the same day, and the state security service is investigating.
Suspect ignites flammable liquid in front of synagogue – arrest made near scene
A 37-year-old man of Afghan nationality ignited a flammable liquid on the steps of the Bergische Synagogue in the Barmen district of Wuppertal on Thursday at 2 p.m. According to welt.de, the fire was quickly extinguished; only minor damage was caused, and there were no injuries.
Wuppertal police arrested the man, who was known to police, on the same day near the scene of the attack. According to initial findings, he acted alone. The state security service has taken over the investigation.
Central Council chairman: "Progressive normalisation of antisemitism"
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, expressed deep distress. "What deeply disturbs me is the composure with which the perpetrator in Wuppertal carried out this attack in broad daylight," Schuster told the Catholic News Agency. There was no trace of a sense of wrongdoing or shame. "This conduct testifies to the progressive normalisation of antisemitism, to which our society has so far found no answer."
Schuster does not believe the timing of the attack – shortly before the highest Jewish holiday Yom Kippur – is coincidental: "The pattern remains that of antisemitic violence: choosing holidays to spread fear and to push Jewish life ever further out of the public sphere."
This year, Yom Kippur runs from Sunday evening, 20 September, until nightfall on 21 September. Schuster called on security authorities to ensure the protection of religious services: "All synagogues will be full. We will not be deterred from living our religion, and we do not intend to be."
Repeated pattern – also attack in Wuppertal in 2014
Schuster recalled that the attack follows earlier incidents: the attacks during Hanukkah 2025 in Sydney, Yom Kippur 2025 in Manchester, and the attack in Halle in 2019. In Wuppertal itself, an arson attack on the same synagogue had already been carried out in 2014.
Source: Google News LU DE