March 1994:Attack on the Lübeck synagogue

Lübeck is known for its picturesque old town, brick buildings, the Holsten Gate and the Hanseatic League. But on the night of March 25, 1994, an arson attack on the Jewish place of worship on St.-Annen-Strasse triggered global horror:"Lübeck will go down in history as the city where, for the first time in fifty years, there was a synagogue again burned," says Lübeck's then mayor, Michael Bouteiller, summing up the historical significance of the crime. March 25, 2019 marked the 25th anniversary of the attack.

Burning smell in the apartments above the synagogue

What happened? During the night of March 24/25, 1994, members of the Jewish families living in the apartments above the synagogue noticed heavy smoke and alerted the fire brigade. She can extinguish the fire within a few minutes and thus avert the danger to the five residents present. The antechamber of the synagogue is destroyed in the fire and valuable documents are also damaged.

Vigils because of "madness"

News of the attack spread quickly in Lübeck, Germany and around the world. The solidarity is great:Around 200 Lübeck citizens gather in the evening for a vigil in front of the synagogue, where the Jewish community celebrates Passover. The following day, 4,000 people demonstrated in the Hanseatic city against the arson attack under the motto "Lübeck is holding your breath". Vigils are also held in other German cities. Mayor Bouteiller and Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Heide Simonis speak of an "insane act" and a threat to "the credibility of our democracy".

Bubis accuses DVU and Republicans

Politicians from state and federal government express their horror at the crime, which comes at a time of right-wing extremist acts of violence in Hoyerswerda (1991), Rostock-Lichtenhagen (1992), Mölln (1992) and Solingen (1993) and growing popularity for right-wing extremist groups. Ignatz Bubis, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, considers the German People's Union (DVU) and the Republicans to be the "intellectual arsonists" behind the attack. As a result, Republican leader Franz Schönhuber described Bubis as one of "the worst inciters of the people in Germany". In fact, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution found a systematic campaign by the Republicans against Jews during this period.

Incendiary device leads to the trail of the perpetrators

The police are working flat out to find the perpetrators. The federal prosecutor's office is taking over the investigation. An unignited incendiary device found at the scene of the crime leads the investigators to the trail of four young men from the right-wing Lübeck milieu. The arrest warrant reads five times attempted murder and serious arson. Stephan W., Boris H.-M., Nico T. and Dirk B., aged between 19 and 24, come from difficult social backgrounds. Their motive for the Molotov cocktail attack:general hostility towards foreigners and Jews. To what extent they are in contact with radical right-wing organizations remains unclear.

Court imposes prison sentences of several years

The trial of the four young men ended in April 1995 with a sentence of between two and a half and four and a half years in prison for aiding and abetting arson and arson. In the court's view, there is no solid basis for a further conviction for attempted murder, as the defendants deny having knowledge of the apartments upstairs. The presiding judge Herrmann Ehrich states that some of the accused did not even know what a synagogue was.

Series of attacks in Lübeck

The anti-Semitic attack of 1994 is the beginning of a series of attacks in the Hanseatic city that at least suggest a right-wing extremist background. Pastor Günter Harig from Lübeck expresses his fear that the 1994 crime broke a taboo. In the night of May 8, 1995 - the commemoration of the end of the war 50 years ago - there is another arson attack on the synagogue, in which an adjacent shed burns out completely. The crime remains unsolved. In the same year, a letter bomb - possibly sent by Austrian right-wing extremists - seriously injured the hand of the managing director of the SPD parliamentary group in Lübeck's town hall. The mail was addressed to the deputy mayor Dietrich Szameit, who described the verdict against the arsonists in 1994 as too lenient.

1996:Ten dead in a fire in a home for asylum seekers

On January 18, 1996, a fire in a home for asylum seekers caused horror in Lübeck - and worldwide media coverage - in which ten people died. The suspicion quickly arises that right-wing extremists had carried out an attack on the house. But the background of the fire is still unclear. An accused resident of the asylum seekers' home is acquitted.

Threats against Pastor Harig and Günter Grass

From 1997 graffiti appeared around Lübeck churches and the houses of church members, before the Catholic St. Vicelin Church was almost destroyed by arson in May. Threats on house walls against Pastor Harig, who grants church asylum to migrants, and Günter Grass in connection with swastikas follow. The writer had strongly criticized the tightening of asylum law. Not only in Lübeck, but also in Hamburg and Husum there are violent actions against churches.

Actions for more tolerance

From the mid-1990s, the city of Lübeck tried to prevent right-wing extremist ideas with intensive youth and social work and events for more tolerance. But there are still marches and attacks by right-wing extremists.

The synagogue is guarded around the clock

The more than 600 members of the Jewish community are still feeling the effects of the two arson attacks today:The synagogue is guarded around the clock - like most other Jewish institutions in Germany. On the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, 2019, which commemorates the Lübeck arson attack, Schleswig-Holstein's state parliament president, Klaus Schlie, urges us to resolutely oppose current anti-Semitic tendencies. "It's not enough not to be an anti-Semite or a racist," he says.

The chairman of the Lübeck Jewish community, Alexander Olschanski, explains that the great indignation and the solidarity of the people of Lübeck with the Jewish community after the attack showed him at the time that it was not a mistake to move to Germany. "Despite some difficulties, Germany has become a second home for most of us and a real home for our children and grandchildren." The currently ongoing renovation of the synagogue is the best confirmation for the free practice of religion.