List of mass stabbings in Germany

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This is an incomplete list of mass stabbings in Germany. The casualty figures of mass stabbings below include violence-related deaths and injuries with knife, hatchet and spear respectively, casualty inflicted by legal intervention (i.e., deaths caused by law enforcement and other persons with legal authority to use deadly force acting in the line of duty), as well as suicide.

Contents

The list is incomplete, because as of 2023, there are no federal statistics on stabbings in Germany available (unlike in the United States, for example). However, data from the police crime statistics of individual German states show that in several states the number of stabbings increased from 2013 to 2018 by over 30%. [1] In 2020 alone, there were at least 100 deaths from nearly 20,000 knife attacks. A large proportion of the crimes are related to domestic violence. [2]

1920s

DateLocationDeadInjuredTotalDescription
6 June 1925 Hassenberg and Lindenberg, German Reich 11011 30 year old Wilhelm Brückner killed 10 family members with an axe and a kitchen knife and afterwards himself. He suffered a lightning injury in childhood and was thought to have had mental retardation and mental illness given auditory hallucinations. [3]
4 September 1913 Degerloch and Mühlhausen an der Enz, German Reich 14112539 year old Ernst August Wagner killed his wife and 4 children by cutting their throat and chest with a blackjack and dagger. He was a teacher with severe endogenous depression and suicidal ideation, later diagnosed with paranoia. Hours later he shot 20 people, killing nine. [4]

1960s

DateLocationDeadInjuredTotalDescription
11 June 1964Volkhoven in Cologne 112233 57 year old Walter Seifert attacked a Catholic elementary school with a home-made flamethrower and a spear, killing eight pupils and two teachers, afterwards himself. Was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1954. [5]
14 December 1968 Stuttgart 358A Yugoslav guest worker stabbed seven people, killing two, at his guest home. He was killed by police gunfire. [6]

1980s

DateLocationDeadInjuredTotalDescription
8 August 1989 Stuttgart 336A man stabbed five police officers with a bayonet, killing two, before being shot dead by officers. [7]

2010s

DateLocationDeadInjuredTotalDescription
17 October 2015 Cologne 044A 44-year-old man stabbed mayoral candidate Henriette Reker into the neck at a political information stand in the city, injuring three others. The motive was thought in protest of the CDU's pro immigration policies on refugees. [8]
10 May 2016 Grafing station, near Munich134 A 27-year-old mentally disturbed man stabbed four men, one of them fatally at Grafing station, some 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Munich. As he reportedly shouted " Allahu Akbar " while stabbing the random victims, first reactions of the German and international media as well as the general public suspected an Islamist attack. On his arrest shortly after the attack, he proved to be a mentally disturbed, unemployed carpenter with drug problems and no known ties to Islamist organizations. [9]
24 July 2016 Reutlingen 134 A 21-year-old refugee of the Syrian civil war attacked his girlfriend and co-worker at his Doner kebab workplace with a knife killing her, wounding two other people, before being struck accidentally by a car and arrested by police. An asylum seeker who had arrived in 2015, he had been previously arrested for causing bodily harm. [10]
18 July 2016between Treuchtlingen and Würzburg 1 (perpetrator)56 A 17-year-old former unaccompanied child refugee from Afghanistan wanted to avenge death of a friend in Afghanistan; He had been in contact with the Islamic State. [11]
26 February 2016 Hanover Central Station 011 A 15-year-old German teen born to a Moroccan mother and a German father, raised under the influence of salafist preachings as early as 7 years, had traveled to meet ISIS members in Istanbul in November 2015, and stabbed a police officer when he asked for her ID card. [12]
9 March 2017 Düsseldorf 01010 36-year-old asylum seeker from Kosovo, who arrived in Germany in 2009 and was considered mentally ill attacked 9 fellow passengers with an axe aboard a train. He jumped from a nearby bridge while attempting to escape capture, injuring himself severely. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. [13]
28 July 2017 Barmbek area of Hamburg 167 26-year-old Ahmad Alhaw, a Palestinian failed asylum seeker took a 20 cm-long kitchen knife from a supermarket shelf to attack several people, killing one. He was known to have had contacts with Salafists, and had psychological and drug problems. [14]

2020s

DateLocationDeadInjuredTotalDescription
25 June 2021 Würzburg 3 women811 24-year-old homeless Abdirahman Jibril of Somalia killed three civilians with a kitchen knife in a Woolworth store and wounded seven others. The police shot him into his leg. Arrived in 2015 as asylum seeker and had a history of violent altercations. Lived in a homeless shelter since 2019. He admitted to Islamist motives. Another refugee accused him to be an al-Shabaab member. He had a questionable history of mental illness. [15]
25 January 2023 Brokstedt, Schleswig-Holstein 21012 33-year-old Ibrahim A. of Palestinian origin stabbed nine people on a moving passenger train, killing two. He came to Germany in 2014 and by 2018 he had been convicted for dangerous bodily harm, two fines for theft and one drug offence. [16]
22 February 2024 Wuppertal 05 (Including the perpetrator)5 A 17-year-old student at the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld secondary school went into the school armed with a knife and a pair of scissors and stabbed multiple pupils and one teacher. [17]
31 May 2024 Mannheim 17 (including the perpetrator)7Main Article: 2024 Mannheim stabbing

An Afghan refugee stabbed and injured 6 people at an anti-Islam rally, including Michael Stürzenberger. [18]

See also

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The 2016 Munich knife attack took place on 10 May 2016 when a 27-year-old mentally disturbed man stabbed four men, one of them fatally at Grafing station in the Upper Bavarian town of Grafing, some 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Munich, southern Germany. As the knifer reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" while stabbing the random victims, first reactions of the German and international media as well as the general public suspected an Islamist attack. On his arrest shortly after the attack, the perpetrator proved to be a mentally disturbed, unemployed carpenter with drug problems and no known ties to Islamist organizations. In August 2017, the Landgericht München II ruled the man to not be criminally liable of the crime and committed him to a closed psychiatric ward.

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On 18 July 2016, Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, stabbed and injured five people on and outside a train near Würzburg, Germany. He was shot dead by police soon afterwards, after attacking a police tactical unit with an axe. Investigations revealed he was in contact with members of the Islamic State.

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On 7 March 2018, two stabbings occurred in Vienna, Austria during the evening. A man has been arrested for both attacks. On 11 March 2018, there was a separate stabbing attack at the Embassy of Iran in the city. The Austrian government hardened its asylum policy after the attacks.

On 25 March 2018, a 24-year-old woman, Vivien K was stabbed by a Syrian migrant in Burgwedel, Germany. She received life-threatening injuries and was put into an induced coma. She woke up three days later, with broken ribs and part of her pancreas as well as her spleen removed.

The 2018 Hamburg stabbing attack was an attack on 12 April 2018 in the city of Hamburg, Germany. A man from Niger stabbed his ex-wife and his one-year-old daughter on a station platform. Both victims died. The perpetrator had arrived in 2013 via Lampedusa, seeking asylum in Germany and was granted a residence permit. He lost a custody dispute days before the incident. If he had won, authorities might have permitted him to remain in Germany.

The Flensburg stabbing incident occurred on 30 May 2018, when a female police officer traveling off-duty on a high-speed train in Flensburg, Germany, was stabbed by an Eritrean man. He next attacked a male passenger who came to her aid. The perpetrator was then shot and killed by the police officer. The motive behind the stabbing was not clear. The man was a refugee, who had arrived in Germany in September 2015 and had a history of violent altrications. The incident was not considered terrorism.

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Events in the year 2023 in Germany.

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The Brokstedt stabbing was a mass stabbing on a train in Brokstedt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on 25 January 2023. A 33-year-old stateless man from the Palestinian territories stabbed nine people on a moving passenger train, killing two. He came to Germany in 2014 and was granted subsidiary protection in 2016, even though he was known to police for sexual and violent offenses with 24 preliminary and criminal proceedings. He had been in police custody until one week before the attack. The public prosecutor saw the motive for the crime as anger and frustration at his personal situation. In February 2023, "considerable shortcomings in the communication and administration of the authorities involved in immigration" were found.

On 31 May 2024 at 11.30 am, a man armed with a knife ambushed and wounded several people at a rally held in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This rally in particular was hosted by the far-right anti-Muslim group Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (BPE). Six people were injured, including notable activist Michael Stürzenberger and a police officer, who succumbed to his injuries two days after the incident. The alleged attacker was ultimately injuriously shot by another police officer. The motive for the attack has not been fully confirmed yet, although investigators suspect Islamism.

References

  1. ↑ Anna Schmid (12 December 2019). [Anstieg um 32 Prozent: Statistiken verraten, wo es am meisten Messerangriffe gibt "Anstieg um 32 Prozent: Statistiken verraten, wo es am meisten Messerangriffe gibt"]. Focus.{{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. ↑ "Fast 20.000 Messerangriffe in einem Jahr in Deutschland". Die Welt (in German). 21 November 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Times, Wireless To the New York (9 June 1925). "German Kills 9 and Hangs Himself". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  4. ↑ Katja Wagner Vom grausamen Mörder zum Dichter Archived 2009-09-15 at the Wayback Machine , 30. April 2005 in der Ludwigsburger KreiszeitungLandesarchiv Baden-Württemberg (May 2, 2005)
  5. ↑ "Bruno Kassel: Der Mann, der den ersten Schulamoklauf überlebte". DIE WELT (in German). 9 March 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "Amoklauf eines Geistesgestörten". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). 16 December 1968. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  7. ↑ Obst, Wolf-Dieter (8 August 2014). "25 Jahre Polizistenmord: Das sinnlose Blutbad auf der Brücke". Stuttgarter Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  8. ↑ "Cologne mayoral candidate hurt in knife attack". 17 October 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  9. ↑ Eisenberger, Korbinian (17 August 2017). "Messerattacke von Grafing: Angreifer muss in geschlossene Psychiatrie". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Man with machete kills woman in southern Germany". The Guardian . 24 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Hack, Jens (19 July 2016). "German train ax attack puts Merkel migrant policy back in spotlight". Reuters. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "German Court Jails Girl Who Stabbed Policeman in Name of ISIS". Newsweek. Reuters. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  13. ↑ Kannegießer, Wulf (5 October 2017). "Axt-Angreifer kommt dauerhaft in geschlossene Psychiatrie" [axe attacker to be permanently housed in lock-ward psychiatry]. Rheinische Post Online (in German). Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "1 dead, 6 injured after knife attack at supermarket". abcnews.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Somali man goes on trial in Germany over fatal stabbings". Reuters. 22 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  16. ↑ tagesschau.de (27 April 2023). "Staatsanwaltschaft erhebt Anklage nach tödlicher Messerattacke in Zug" (in German). Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  17. ↑ "Wuppertal suspect held after students wounded at German school". BBC News . 22 February 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
  18. ↑ "Several people injured in stabbing in Mannheim, Germany, police say". NBC News. 31 May 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
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