A 37-year-old Afghan man set fire to the Bergische Synagogue in Wuppertal on Thursday using flammable liquids — three days before the holiest Jewish holiday. The perpetrator was arrested after making antisemitic remarks at the scene. It is not the first attack on this house of worship.
An Attack on Jewish Life on the Eve of the High Holidays
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the suspect threw two bags filled with flammable liquid at the synagogue, poured the contents of a third bag near a side entrance, and set the liquid on fire. Synagogue staff were able to extinguish the flames within minutes. There were no injuries. The perpetrator initially fled the scene but was arrested shortly afterward. Two women are said to have witnessed the attack. The suspect had previously been convicted of threatening a neighbor.
The Bergische Synagogue was not being targeted for the first time: back in 2014, three Palestinians had thrown incendiary devices at the building — they were convicted after confessing to the act.
Rabbi, Jewish Organizations and Mayor Respond with Horror
The Mayor of Wuppertal condemned the attack as “thoroughly contemptible” and called on the public to show solidarity with the Jewish community.
The European Jewish Congress, which represents around 2.5 million Jews in Europe, emphasized: “The timing is particularly alarming, as Jewish communities are preparing for the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Attacks occurring around Jewish holidays are part of a pattern designed to spread fear and drive Jewish life out of the public sphere.”
Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, rabbi of the Chabad community in Berlin, wrote that the attack shook him deeply and called on every individual to “stand up against hatred and aggression and be an ambassador of light and tolerance.” The U.S. Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, commended the swift arrest of the suspect and urged: “Education must not only teach the past — it must teach us not to hate in the future.”
