There were two deaths on Wednesday in the extreme right-wing terrorist attack in the German Halle an der Saale. The 27-year-old Stephan B. had attacked a synagogue, but he failed at the doors of the church. This has probably prevented a Massker: About 80 believers were on holiday Yom Kippur in the synagogue. Now the investigation will continue. The focus is on, among other things, the connections of the man as well as a „manifesto“, which is said to have spread the alleged right-wing extremist.
The German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wants to inform on Thursday about the state of the investigation. The identity of the two victims, a man and a woman, remains unclear. In addition, further tracks were secured in the morning 15 km distant Landsberg. Shortly after the attacks, the place had been sealed off. Several houses are said to have been searched. The perpetrator had been shot on Wednesday at his arrest by the police.
So far, it is unconfirmed whether a manifest manifested on the internet actually came from the 27-year-old. Among other things, it calls for the murder of „anti-whites“, especially Jews. In addition, the preparations and the Tatplan should be described therein. However, according to a report by the „Spiegel“, the document should be authentic – among other things, the described and actually used weapons should match. B. had apparently built his own weapons, which is why it came again and again to stoppages. This too should have prevented further victims.
Act streamed live
In addition, the offender has streamed his assassination live. In the 36-minute clip he gives in bad English extremely anti-Semitic, xenophobic and misogynist utterances. He also keeps saying that he is a „loser“ when he failed at the door of the synagogue. Also, the attack on the building and the death shots on two people can be seen.
The attack had started around noon. The 27-year-old from Saxony-Anhalt first tried to penetrate the synagogue. „We have seen through the camera of our synagogue that a heavily armed offender with a steel helmet and rifle has tried to shoot open our doors,“ the chairman of the Jewish Community Halle, Max Privorozki, is quoted by the German media.
Murders in front of synagogue and doner kebab
The attacker is also said to have tried to shoot open the gate of the neighboring Jewish cemetery. He also deposited small containers, presumably self-built explosive devices. In the immediate vicinity of the synagogue, the perpetrator then shot first a passerby, who should have addressed him before. A few hundred yards away he attacked a kebab snack with a grenade. The attempt failed, then he shot a man in the pub. Then he fled his car, in between he shot at police.
For a long time, the police went from several perpetrators. A large-scale search was initiated, and the controls at stations and airports in central Germany were strengthened. Media reports had drawn in the afternoon a confusing situation with several locations.
It was not until the evening that the escape of the man could be reasonably reconstructed. According to the media drove the perpetrator after the attack in Halle with a rental car to Wiedersdorf at Landsberg and captured a taxi there. Also in the village he is said to have shot a man. Only on a main road, he was loud „Bild“ newspaper after an accident made by the police and shot. Apparently the perpetrator had wanted to kill himself.
Man not officially known
According to media reports, the suspected gunman is not officially known. However, much indicates that he has moved in a far-right online subculture. When livestreaming the video, he is likely to have oriented himself on the perpetrator of the right-wing terrorist attack in a mosque in New Zealand’s Christchurch. This one had streamed his assassination live. The 36-minute video is said to have appeared on the Twitch platform and was reportedly removed there. Other platforms promised to delete the video.
Central Council of Jews criticized lack of protection
The president of the Central Council of Jews made serious allegations against the police. „The fact that the synagogue in Halle was not protected by the police on a holiday like Yom Kippur is scandalous,“ said Schuster. „This negligence has now avenged bitter.“ Only happy circumstances would have prevented a massacre, Schuster said in Würzburg. He also criticized that the police had arrived too late at the scene. „The brutality of the attack exceeds anything previously seen in recent years and is a deep shock to all Jews in Germany.“
The German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier still wanted to visit the Jewish church in the city in Saxony-Anhalt on Thursday afternoon. Also planned is a meeting with Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU), as the Federal President announced in the morning.
Already on Wednesday there was a solidarity and commemoration event in Halle. In the evening, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) participated in an event at the synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse in Berlin. Also in other German cities, people gathered near synagogues and remembered the dead. In Halle, people laid flowers and candles on the market square.
