German neo-Nazi suspected of deadly 1970 fire at Jewish retirement home

German investigators believe they have now identified an arsonist who set fire to a Jewish community centre in Munich in 1970, killing seven people.

For decades the man's identity remained a mystery. But Munich prosecutors now believe he was a 25-year-old lone neo-Nazi with known antisemitic opinions.

The seven killed were all Holocaust survivors aged 59 to 71. Another 15 people were injured.

The prosecutors' revelations come too late to secure justice for the victims. The suspect, identified by Der Spiegel magazine as Bernd V, died in 2020.

At about 20:40 on 13 February 1970, prosecutors say the killer poured petrol into the wooden stairwell at a retirement home housed inside the Jewish community building on Reichenbachstrasse, and then set it alight. The fire spread quickly to the top floor of the building.

While many managed to escape to the roof or were rescued by firefighters, four of the victims died in the stairwell and another died after jumping from a window.

Prosecutors now believe they have "compelling grounds pointing to the (deceased) suspect being the perpetrator", based on "credible information" from a woman, who came forward last year after the death of a close relative who had known the man well.

According to prosecutors, the suspected killer was heard to claim within the immediate vicinity of the community building that "the Jews had everything" and he wanted to "set them on fire". Fifteen minutes later, the building was engulfed in flames.