Munich prosecutors name dead neo-Nazi as suspect in 1970 arson attack on Jewish retirement home

Munich prosecutors on Thursday identified a deceased neo-Nazi as the suspected arsonist behind a 1970 firebombing of a Jewish retirement home that killed seven Holocaust survivors and injured 15 others.

The Generalstaatsanwaltschaft München named the suspect as Bernd V., a 25-year-old with known far-right and antisemitic views who died in 2020. Investigators said new evidence, including a witness account from a woman whose relative had known the suspect, provided “compelling grounds” for his involvement . The relative reportedly told her that Bernd V. had declared “the Jews had everything” and that he wanted to “set them on fire” near the community center on Reichenbachstrasse about 15 minutes before the blaze erupted at 20:40 on Feb. 13, 1970. Other family members corroborated the statement, according to prosecutors .

The attack targeted the Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde building, where the suspect allegedly poured gasoline into the wooden stairwell, igniting a fire that trapped residents on upper floors. Four victims died in the stairwell, and another perished after jumping from a window. The seven dead, aged 59 to 71, were all Holocaust survivors . Firefighters rescued others from the roof or via ladders, but 15 were injured.

Prosecutors reopened the case in April 2025 after the woman’s tip, though earlier leads had also pointed to Bernd V. A 2017 investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence, but *Der Spiegel* reported that a former cellmate had previously claimed Bernd V. confessed to the crime—an allegation he denied at the time . Witnesses described him as having a “Hitler fixation,” including listening to Nazi speeches on records and possessing a Hitler Youth dagger given by his father. As a youth, he was convicted of blowing up two phone booths .

Andreas Franck, Bavaria’s antisemitism commissioner and senior public prosecutor, called the attack “one of the most severe assaults on Jewish life since World War II” . Charlotte Knobloch, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the identification provided “an important and valuable answer” but lamented that the suspect’s death meant “there has been no justice for the victims” .

Authorities emphasized that the presumption of innocence still applied posthumously and that no evidence suggested accomplices. The case remains legally unresolved due to the suspect’s death .