Essen – On Friday morning (November 18), the Essen police reported “bullet holes” in the rabbi’s house next to the old synagogue in Essen.
The building used to be the rabbi’s house in the past when the synagogue was still in use. It kept the name “rabbi house”, but today it is the house of an institute for German-Jewish history.
Four shots from a sharp weapon were apparently fired at the rabbi’s house next to the old synagogue in Essen on Friday morning (November 18).
The police issued a corresponding Twitter message in the morning. Mayor Thomas Kufen is dismayed by the attack. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul also wants to get a personal picture of the situation in Essen. As a house of Jewish culture, the Old Synagogue is an institute of the city of Essen.
“If someone shoots with a sharp weapon, you have to speak of an attack,” said the interior minister. He says nothing specifically about the possible motives and the perpetrators, they have to be determined. “We don’t know who it was, so it’s not possible to say for sure.”
According to the Interior Minister, however, the alleged perpetrator was filmed: “It’s a man, that’s obvious.” Reul said further: “Of course I’m totally moved. Luckily nothing happened, but something could have happened.” Mayor Thomas Kufen accompanied the Minister of the Interior and said: “This is a place that stands for Jewish life.”
At 10:03 a.m., the Essen police published a tweet with the following wording: “We are currently having a police operation at the Old Synagogue in Essen. Witnesses reported bullet holes in the rabbi’s house. Nobody was injured. There is no danger to the population. The backgrounds are being determined.”
