History of Europe

Lübeck arson attack in 1996:Not a Nazi attack - or was it?

Ten people died 25 years ago in a fire in a Lübeck asylum seekers' home. It quickly became clear that it was arson. But the case is never cleared up, and four suspected neo-Nazis are not charged.

by Oliver Diedrich, NDR.de

In the 1990s there was a large house where there is now a vacant area on the corner of Hafenstrasse and Konstinstrasse in Lübeck. Asylum seekers live in it. Especially Africans who have fled the wars in their home countries. "They came to Germany to find shelter here," reads a man-high gray stone across the street. It is to commemorate the night in which ten of them will die.

Deep in the night the fire breaks out

On that night, January 18, 1996, there were 48 people in the three-story building. Almost everyone was asleep when, shortly after 3 a.m., someone shouted "Fire!" calls. The flames spread quickly. Heat, smoke, screams. Terrible scenes play out. The first resident dies in the entrance area of ​​the house. A 32-year-old from the house alerted the fire brigade by phone. Shortly thereafter, she and her five-year-old son suffocate. Others panic and climb onto the roof or jump out of the window.

The fire brigade's ladder truck tips over

The fire brigade reached the burning house at around 3.45 a.m. Children are still standing at the window on the second floor - but the rescuers' ladder vehicle tips over. The children are lost. More people die trying to escape from the building. suffocate others. In a dramatic rescue operation, the fire brigade is finally able to get the survivors off the roof. Many are seriously injured.

Arrested neo-Nazis are released again

In the morning after the fire, the police announced:It was probably arson. And four suspects have already been arrested. The young men from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were near the scene of the fire. Observers immediately speculate:It was a right-wing extremist attack. At the same time, the public did not even know at this point that those arrested actually belonged to the right-wing skinhead scene. Within hours, an international media convoy rolls into Lübeck:they are talking about the worst racist attack in the history of the Federal Republic. 36 hours after the fire broke out, hundreds of people are already demonstrating against violence and racism in Hamburg and Lübeck.

But at noon on January 19, the Lübeck police announced that the suspected neo-Nazis from Grevesmühlen had been released:"The decision is not only based on the admission of the people who have been temporarily arrested, but also on objective evidence."

Did a resident set fire to the house?

The police are already following a completely different lead at this point. Officials arrest Safwan E. and two of his brothers. The Lebanese lived in the asylum accommodation themselves. Safwan, 21, is said to have told a paramedic during the rescue work:"It was us." An arrest warrant has been issued against him on suspicion of ten murders and particularly serious arson. Safwan E. is said to have started the fire because of an argument with other residents.

Now a storm of indignation is raging through the country:that the fire was a neo-Nazi attack sounded so plausible. Do the authorities now want to turn the victim into the perpetrator? In September 1996, an extremely controversial trial begins.

The court cannot explain how, when and where

But there was another turning point:On June 30, 1997, the district court in Lübeck acquitted Safwan E. for lack of evidence. There is no clear motive. And the judges cannot even answer the questions of how, when and where exactly the fire broke out. However, E. is not always in a good position in the process. And apparently some of the housemates have been influenced to testify on his behalf.

Half a year after the end of the trial, the burnt ruins in Lübeck are demolished. And then suddenly unexpected news.

Late confession

On February 23, 1997, 20-year-old Maik W. made a statement in Neustrelitz prison. The young man is sitting there because of a theft. W. says something like:"It was us - in Lübeck." He means exactly the clique from Grevesmühlen that the police suspected immediately after the crime. Back then, they were quickly released because they had an alibi. Police officers had seen her - as it turned out the day after the fire - at a gas station miles away from the scene of the fire - at exactly the time that was initially believed to be the time of the crime. So I guess they couldn't have started the fire. The young men explained to the investigators that three of them had burn marks on their bodies by saying that one set a dog on fire, one held a lighter to a moped tank and one burned himself on a coal stove - so they were released at the time.

And now this young man in prison even claims that they received several thousand marks from an unknown person for the arson in Hafenstrasse. In public it is now often said:"Incredible!" And:"Sure, we knew right away - it was the Nazis."

And another confession

But as plausible as the story sounds to many, that the police could have been blind in the right eye - things are different again:Maik W. revokes his confession after a few days. The investigations against the Grevesmühlener are stopped again. Apparently W.'s statements are confused. A few months later, "Der Spiegel" conducts an interview with him. Maik W. accuses himself and his buddies again. When asked why he retracted his confession earlier, he replies that the police just didn't want to believe him.

Does Maik W. just want to tag the tough guy?

After that, W. repeated several times that he and his clique set the fire. In revenge because of drug disputes with people from the asylum center, as he says. But he also claims the opposite a few times. And finally, his former buddies even have him banned from making such accusations in court. The judiciary considers the neo-Nazi's statements to be completely implausible. It later became known that W. was abused and sexually assaulted by fellow prisoners while in custody. Does he want to mark the tough guy with the confession to protect himself against such attacks?

Declined to reopen

In 1999, Safwan E. was acquitted again in a second trial, which became necessary due to procedural errors in the first round. At the end of 2011 there was another initiative by left-wing groups to resume the investigation. In the Lübeck town hall, 200 citizens signed a corresponding appeal under the impression of the series of murders by the NSU that had become known. But at the beginning of 2012, the Minister of Justice at the time, Emil Schmalfuss, announced:"Even after the murders were uncovered by the Zwickau neo-Nazi trio, there have been no new findings that would justify preliminary investigations or even investigations."

As it stands, the perpetrator or perpetrators can no longer be held accountable. "The longer it has been since the fire, the less likely it is that it will be cleared up," said Heinrich Wille a few years ago on the occasion of the publication of the book "The Lübeck 'arson attack'". In it, Wille, who was chief public prosecutor in Lübeck in 1996, describes the case from his perspective. "In the many years there has been no new facts and no new evidence." Nothing has changed to this day.