Admin l Friday, November 25, 2022
ESSEN, Germany – Police are investigating two criminal incidents linked to shots fired at a building adjoining the Old Synagogue in the German city of Essen a week ago, the interior minister of the state of North Rhine Westphalia said on Friday.
Speaking to the state parliament’s interior affairs committee, Herbert Reul said the incidents were linked in time. Police had made one arrest and were conducting investigations in Dusseldorf as well as Essen, he said.
Reul declined to provide further details beyond saying there was a link to “Jewish buildings at three different points in the Ruhr region” in which both cities lie.
The minister said police in both cities had set up special investigation units drawing in more than 100 officers and that federal prosecutors were being kept informed. The investigation thus far is being conducted by prosecutors in the state capital of Dusseldorf.
On the morning of November 18, bullet holes were found in the door of the former rabbi’s residence next to the Old Synagogue. No one was injured.
The building that was hit houses an institute for German-Jewish history. It is directly adjacent to the Old Synagogue, which is now used as a cultural centre and is no longer as a place of worship.
Police said at the time they believed the shots had been fired during the night and that there was video footage from a camera filming the square showing a person who allegedly committed the crime. The footage was reported to be of poor quality.
