BERLIN – The trial of a German man accused of killing two people last fall after failing to break into a synagogue filled with Jews watching Yom Kippur opens in eastern Germany on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said the defendant, Stephan Balliet, 28, had made a “very complete” confession, confirming his “far-right and anti-Semitic motives” behind the attack. He is charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of two bystanders and several counts of attempted murder, among other charges. If convicted, you could face life in prison.
The attack, carried out in the city of Halle when dozens of worshipers were in the Humboldt Street synagogue on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, shocked Germany and alarmed the spread of right-wing extremism and anti-Semitic violence online. . He also highlighted the lack of understanding among some security officials of the persistent threat, 75 years after the end of the Nazi era.
Balliet, dressed in a protective vest and jeans, was flown by helicopter to court in Magdeburg hours before the trial began on Tuesday. The trial had to be moved from a court in Naumburg to a larger courtroom to accommodate all participants and the widespread interest of the media in the case.
“The severity and political significance of the charges give this trial particular importance,” Henning Haberland, a court spokesman in Naumburg, told reporters.
On October 9, the assailant broadcast an attempted attack live in the eastern city of Halle, widely seen as the most brazen anti-Semitic attack in German history after World War II, with a helmet-mounted camera. In a 35-minute video with hateful language denouncing feminists and immigrants, the attacker stated, “The root of all these problems is the Jew.” The events had haunting echoes of a similar live-stormed attack on two New Zealand mosques in 2019.
In the video, the attacker made it clear that he had targeted the Humboldt Street synagogue, hoping to kill as many Jews as possible. The images showed him planting explosives next to the synagogue’s heavy oak door, although they seemed not to detonate.
But the door refused to move. While unsuccessfully trying to enter the synagogue, the attacker shot a passing woman who had spoken to her, hitting her on the back and killing her.
After other unsuccessful attempts to enter the synagogue, including the shooting at the door, he made his way to a kebab shop and started shooting, killing a man there.
Several of the 53 people who were in the synagogue at the time of the attack are participating in the trial as co-plaintiffs. In a statement issued by their lawyer, they expressed hope that the trial will draw attention to the role the Internet plays in fueling far-right hatred.
“The author chose his goals based on a white and racist ideology that fuses anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, sexism and xenophobia with conspiracy theories,” they said. “Its radicalization took place in online communities that strengthened and promoted these beliefs.”
In February, a man armed with apparently far-right beliefs killed nine people at a shisha bar and café in the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer declared far-right extremism as “the greatest security threat facing Germany” and promised a reinforced security response.
