Flowers, candles, pictures of the dead – and a call for peace and reconciliation: The memorial service in Murnau for the two killed Ukrainian soldiers cannot ignore the war in the victims’ homeland. The death of the Ukrainians has “unhinged our ideal world in Murnau am Staffelsee,” said Dean Siegbert Schindele of the Catholic community of Murnau. He organized the celebration on Thursday in a bilingual manner together with Archpriest Valentin Smoktunowicz of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Munich.
Last but not least, Smoktunowicz expressed his gratitude for the help that his compatriots – refugees and the wounded who were cared for in the accident clinic – received in connection with the Russian war of aggression in Murnau. Around 120 people, including many Ukrainians, attended the service.
There is still great concern in the area. “Terrible”, “unbelievable” – you hear that again and again. The two soldiers, aged 23 and 36, who were being treated in Murnau for war injuries, were stabbed on Saturday evening. A 57-year-old Russian is under strong suspicion. “The goal was to get well here and return home safely. It is unbelievable to us what happened,” said Mayor Rolf Beuting (ÖDP) at the beginning of the service. “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the lies and discord that have been deliberately spread around the world for several years are spoiling the peaceful coexistence of the people in Ukraine.” The seeds of Putin and his henchmen are also growing in Germany. The death of the Ukrainians, presumably killed by a Russian national, makes this bitterly clear.
Nevertheless, as far as he knows, he sees no original political motivation for the crime, said Beuting on the sidelines of the service. It is a terrible individual act. He assumes “that alcohol played a big role.” The topic of war is there. But that doesn’t mean that the motivation is explicitly political. The mood among the local ethnic groups after the crime was not aggressive or aimed at revenge. Beuting once again expressed his deep condolences to the relatives, “even if they cannot be with us today.” At the same time, he called for peace, which begins with each individual.
According to previous investigations, the two victims and the alleged perpetrator knew each other. They are said to have been traveling together and drinking alcohol. According to reports – as eyewitnesses observed – they got into an argument, during which the Russian allegedly stabbed the two. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating double murder. An authority spokesman said on Thursday that the clarification of the crime and the motivation for the crime would be the subject of further investigations, without giving further details.
The alleged perpetrator had already been noticed several times for violent crimes
The accused had been in Germany since the early 1990s and had appeared before the police several times; according to dpa information, the majority of the cases involved violent crimes.
Dean Schindele warned against condemning groups of people across the board based on the motto: “Everyone who comes here is criminal.” Anyone who says this also makes things too easy for a perpetrator, who can then hide behind prejudices and shift their own guilt. “You shall not kill,” it says in the Bible, said Schindele. You can’t excuse someone who kills because they come from another country and have a different culture.
Archpriest Valentin Smoktunowicz said on the sidelines of the service at the Orthodox Church in Moscow and Russia that the church should not be “Putin’s fifth and sixth column.” As a church it must stand up against killing.
In Murnau, the crime scene at a shopping center has been a kind of pilgrimage site for days. On Thursday people also laid flowers there and lit candles. “I think it’s terrible – no matter what nationality and no matter what constellation,” said one visitor. “We people mourn the loss of the two young people,” read a handwritten sign. Ukrainian flags, a heart with a dove of peace in the Ukrainian colors, and here too the call: “Stop Putin. Stop war.”