After at least four shots at the door of the rabbi’s house at the Essen synagogue, the police are looking for a male suspect. That’s what North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said German press agency. “The attack on the old synagogue in Essen shakes me deeply,” Reul said, adding that everything would be done to clear up the crime quickly.
According to a police spokesman, witnesses reported the bullet holes around 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning. It was initially unclear when the shots were fired. “We strongly believe it was sometime during the night when nobody was there,” the spokesman said. There are video recordings from a camera filming the square, showing a person who is said to have committed the crime. Interior Minister Reul announced that a male suspect was being sought.
“The existing video recordings are now being evaluated at high pressure. State security is involved,” Reul continued. The Jewish community in Essen can “rely on us doing everything we can to identify the perpetrator as quickly as possible.” According to police, the shots hit a glass front door. The frame was damaged and there were shots through the pane. Based on the evidence, it is now clear that it was a live firearm.
Do not let up in protecting Jewish life
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) wrote on Twitter, the shots at the synagogue shocked and horrified him. One stands by the side of the Jews in North Rhine-Westphalia and protects them against hate and violence. “Jewish life is part of our country, part of us – today and every other day,” he wrote. Also NRW Economics Minister Mona Neubaur (Greens) affirmed on Twitterthe incident unfortunately once again makes it painfully clear “that our efforts to protect Jewish life must not let up”.
According to a city spokeswoman, the rabbi’s house is not used by the Jewish community. It is – structurally not separated from it – directly next to the synagogue. The Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History with archive and library as well as rooms of the University of Duisburg-Essen are housed in the rabbi’s house. The institute researches the history and culture of Jews in German-speaking countries. The old synagogue, to which the rabbi’s house is attached, has been called the “House of Jewish Culture” since 2010 and, as the city’s intercultural meeting place, offers information about Jewish traditions, festivals and history. The place of worship for the Jewish community in the city of Essen is the new synagogue, which is located just outside the center.