Essen, Germany, Sept 17. (dpa/GNA) – A fire was set at a side entrance to a synagogue, in the western German city of Wuppertal on Thursday afternoon, police said.
“The accelerant burned at the door,” a police spokesman said. It was extinguished by members of the synagogue, he added. No one was injured and damage to the Bergische Synagogue, which is also known as the New Synagogue, as it was opened in 2002.
A short time later, a suspicious man was detained near the scene, the spokesman said. Police did not provide further details on possible motives.
Criminal police are investigating, and the state security division has been brought in. Forensics officers were at the scene.
Wuppertal is some 30 kilometres east of Dusseldorf.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany called the incident an “arson attack” and said, the timing was not inconsequential. “Once again, during the time of the Jewish High Holy Days, there has been an attack on a synagogue,” Central Council President Josef Schuster said in a statement.
The holiest day in the Jewish calendar is Yom Kippur, which starts on Sunday evening and ends Monday night. “All synagogues will be full,” he noted.
Schuster noted that the perpetrator carried out the attack in broad daylight. “There is not a trace of awareness of wrongdoing or shame. This approach testifies to the progressive normalization of hatred of Jews, for which our society has so far found no answer,” Schuster said.
Schuster noted that other attacks, such as the December 2025 Hanukkah shooting in Sydney, or incidents on Yom Kippur in Manchester last year and Germany’s Halle in 2019, were not chosen by chance. “The pattern of anti-Semitic violence remains selecting holidays, in order to spread fear and push Jewish life ever further out of the public sphere,” Schuster added. Security authorities have a duty to ensure the safety of services, he said. “We do not want to and will not let ourselves be prevented from living our religion.”
The Orthodox Rabbinical Conference Germany also condemned the attack. “Anyone who attacks Jewish life attacks our democracy. Jews must be able to live safely in Germany and practise their faith visibly without fear and without feeling threatened.”
The synagogue was previously attacked in 2014. Three Palestinians were convicted after confessing to having thrown incendiary devices at the synagogue. They said they wanted to draw attention to the Gaza conflict. Two of them, aged 24 and 29, were given suspended sentences of varying length in early 2015 for attempted aggravated arson.
An 18-year-old was sentenced under juvenile law to a suspended sentence without a specific penalty.
GNA