The indictment by the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office does not begin with a discussion of the course of events. For Andreas Franck, the chief prosecutor against anti-Semitism in Bavaria, something else is important for understanding the facts then described: “The accused has a well-established anti-Jewish and right-wing extremist mentality.” Said man, now 22 years old and from the Forchheim district, is said to have attempted an arson attack on the synagogue in Ermreuth a few minutes after midnight on the night of New Year’s Eve 2023.
Ermreuth, it must be said, is a historically branded, battered place. In the 1970s, a paramilitary force wreaked havoc from the village. It was later banned as anti-constitutional and was closely linked by name to a resident who had moved there: the “Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann”, named after Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, who still lives in Ermreuth and has poor health. The village stigma.
But by the end of 2022, the village had long stood for something else: a place with fewer than a thousand inhabitants, with a lively cultural life, which not least emanates from a synagogue that is lovingly cared for by the people from the area. The first synagogue was built there in 1738, and in 1822 a new, magnificent building was built on the same site. Although the Nazis desecrated the building and severely damaged it, it nevertheless survived the Second World War. Nine years after the end of the war, it became the property of the Raiffeisen cooperative and was converted into a warehouse. But since 1994 there has been a synagogue in Ermreuth again, for cultural as well as religious purposes. The beginning of a new, positive history of Ermreuth.
And then that. “In the course of December 31, 2022 at the latest,” senior public prosecutor Franck said on Thursday in the district court of Bamberg, the accused had made the decision “to set a widely visible sign of his negative attitude towards Jewish people and their houses of prayer and set fire to a synagogue.”
The synagogue in Ermreuth in Upper Franconia is a place of encounter and culture.
(Photo: Alexander Nadler)
At least as far as the basic course of the crime is concerned, the 22-year-old lets his defense attorney admit the charge. So he admits to being the man seen swaying in the video at the synagogue. In custody, he became aware of his “shameful misconduct”. And yes, he had come into contact with “right-wing ideas” a long time ago. Apparently excessive alcohol consumption on New Year’s Eve “disinhibited” him. He took part in a drive hunt around noon – and drank from then on. He could only ask for forgiveness: from his parents, from the village, from the mayor too.
The trained industrial mechanic wears a hooded sweatshirt, sits upright and speaks slowly. “The mayor has a lot of stress as a result, which could have been avoided,” he says. He is in the fire brigade, loves his homeland, the cherry cultivation there. His defense attorney reads the sentence: “I feel very bad.”
On his clothes was the writing “Inflexible”.
Senior public prosecutor Franck takes all this unmoved. In the indictment, he assumes that the 22-year-old deliberately chose the time of his arson attack. After all, as a local, it was clear to him that “many villagers and revelers would go to the village square around midnight”. The young man tried to make his identification more difficult, for example with a hood pulled over his cap. On his clothes, however, the lettering “Unbeugsam” in fractured form could still be read. And also: “My hate, my pain, your suffering.”
According to Franck, four minutes after the turn of the year, the 22-year-old first tried to open the front door of the synagogue. When that failed, he climbed onto a bench, unsuccessfully hit a window twice with his left fist, then grabbed his right fist and smashed the pane. Then he ignited “a pyrotechnic object the size of a shoe box”, probably ground fireworks, in order to throw it into the interior of the synagogue. So he wanted to set fire to something combustible – postcards or brochures – and at least accepted that the whole synagogue would burn down. Which fortunately – despite several attempts – failed. Where did he get the fireworks from? The defendant says he can’t remember that. Nothing in fact was planned.
A radical right-wing attitude? Yes, the 22-year-old admits. He “watched a lot of world politics”, claims to have observed abuses, he also listened to right-wing extremist music. Right-wing rock preferably, songs about home, they would have encouraged him that he had “the right opinion”. But he now wants to overcome his extreme attitude and is already working on it. But he doesn’t need an exit program – at least he hopes so. He was not an active member of a scene, although he was involved in a relevant chat group. According to everything that the investigators have uncovered, he has nothing to do with the elderly Hoffmann. He only googled the “Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann” once.
Right-wing attitude? The defendant’s father said he never knew anything about it. But his wife once said: If the son continues to drink like this, “then something will happen”. The mother reports that she was “completely shocked” when her son was arrested, and that everything has been different since then. She blames herself, but finds it difficult to come to a conclusion. right-wing radicalism? They “never raised the children” like that, says the mother, her voice breaking. She assumes that her son is “a CSU voter”.
A buddy does not want to have observed a right-wing attitude in the village clique either. And a guaranteed Hitler salute while drunk? “In the village” something like this happens “often”, the witness claims. But he doesn’t approve of that. Another witness reported that there were definitely anti-Semitic statements in the clique: “Fucking Jews” and “Blast the Jews away” for example, unfortunately. As far as she could tell, the accused did not say that on New Year’s Eve. Yes, yes, “Hitler slogans” have been said in the village clique while drinking alcohol, adds another witness.
The 22-year-old himself reports that he has never been to the Ermreuth synagogue. But he already knew her, yes, he was from the neighboring town. He also suspected that the synagogue was under video surveillance. The alcohol must have made him forget that. A verdict in the case is expected this Friday.