The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office reopened investigations into an arson attack on a Jewish retirement home in Munich, which caused the deaths of seven residents in February 1970.
Senior Public Prosecutor Andreas Franch told the German media outlet, “On January 31, 2025, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation into the arson attack on the Israelite Religious Community’s nursing home.”
The investigations reopened after a witness came forward to the antisemitism commissioner for the Bavarian judiciary.
Those killed during the arson attack on February 13, 1970, include Regina Rivka Becher, 59; David Jakubowicz, 59; Rosa Drucker, 59; Georg Eljakim Pfau, 63; Leopold Arie Leib Gimpel, 69; Siegfried Offenbacher, 71; and Meir Max Blum, 71.
Two of the victims, Jakubowicz and Pfau, were Holocaust survivors. While Jakukbowicz was originally from Czechoslovakia, Pfau held both German and Israeli citizenship, according to the Jewish Telegraph Agency. Offenbacher also had Israeli citizenship.
An additional 13 people were wounded, and a synagogue was damaged.
The fire was started by gasoline poured into the stairwell of the Israelite Religious Community’s nursing home, and the fire quickly spread.
In 2012, a witness reportedly came forward but it was later determined that the information, that the attack was carried out by an anti-Zionist anarchist group, was not credible.
The arson attack came only three days after Palestinian terrorists attacked Munich airport and attempted to hijack an El Al flight. German-Israeli passenger Arie Katzenstein was killed during the attack when he threw himself onto a grenade launched by the terrorists, saving the lives of his fellow travelers.
