Fires
Solinger Brand: No evidence of a racist motive
During the drama, a family was unable to escape from the attic. photo
© David Young/dpa
A family died in a fire in Solingen. The investigators assume that the arson was intentionally set. According to the authorities, there is no evidence of a racist motive.
In the Solingen apartment building that was allegedly intentionally set on fire with four deaths, according to The public prosecutor’s office is also used to people with a migration background.
“The house was undoubtedly also inhabited by migrants,” said a spokesman for the Wuppertal public prosecutor’s office when asked. The Islamic association Ditib said in a statement on Wednesday evening that the fire had been set “in a house inhabited mostly by people with a migrant background.”
The investigators still have no findings that indicate a racist motive for the crime. The status of the investigation remains unchanged, public prosecutor Heribert Kaune-Gebhardt said at the request of the German Press Agency. The public prosecutor in Wuppertal had already stated: “There are no indications that point to a xenophobic motive.”
The investigator also confirmed that there had been a fire in the house before. The prosecutor further explained that a fire from 2022 was part of the assessments. Any information received would be examined by the investigating authorities.
Murder investigation
The public prosecutor’s office assumes deliberate arson and is investigating murder or attempted murder. The investigative agency assumes that the family who died – young parents, a three-year-old child and an infant – were of Bulgarian nationality. An identification was still pending. The spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office added that, as things stand, one of the seriously injured families was also Bulgarian. It is not yet possible to say whether other nationalities may be represented among the residents.
According to the Turkish-Islamic Union Ditib (Cologne), all but one person in the house are “Muslims of Turkish origin from Bulgaria or Turkey.”
According to the Islamic association, the family killed was a “Muslim family with Bulgarian citizenship.” The local Ditib community has already started initial discussions with the bereaved.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the remains of an accelerant were found in the wooden stairwell. The search for the unknown perpetrator or perpetrators continues. It remains unclear whether there is already information from the population. The public prosecutor’s office initially did not comment on the question of the state of health of the injured or the exact number of those affected. According to previous information from the city of Solingen, three seriously injured people received intensive care. Investigators reported on Wednesday that five other people also suffered injuries, but less serious.
Funeral rally in front of the fire house
On Tuesday night, residents jumped out of the 100-year-old burning building onto the street in fear of death. The family of four had lived in the attic and died in the flames. In memory of the victims and as a sign of solidarity, there will be a mourning rally in front of the fire house in the Höhscheid district of Solingen in the late afternoon (5 p.m.). The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which supports initiatives against right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism, called for this at short notice.
The catastrophic fire awakened bad memories for many people: in May 1993, five women and girls of Turkish origin from the Genç family were murdered in Solingen in a nighttime arson attack with a right-wing extremist background. The attack marked the low point of a wave of racist attacks on people of foreign origin in Germany. According to the integration chairman’s assessment, the “social mood regarding racism and right-wing extremism has not improved significantly” since the atrocity in 1993.