Synagogue attacker goes on trial in Germany
MAGDEBURG, Germany — A 28-year-old German right-wing extremist went on trial Tuesday for a Yom Kippur attack on a synagogue that is considered one of the worst anti-Semitic assaults in the country’s post-war history, telling the court he saw Jews as a threat to the white race.
Stephan Balliet is alleged to have posted an anti-Semitic screed before carrying out the Oct. 9 attack in the eastern German city of Halle. He broadcast the shooting live on a popular gaming site.
Pleas are not entered in the German system but Balliet did not deny the crime as his trial opened, telling the court he first decided to turn to violence in 2015 when Germany opened its doors to more than 1 million migrants, primarily from Muslim countries.
Asked by the presiding judge how that experience prompted him to attack Jews four years later, he told the court that “Jews are the main cause of white genocide, and want to establish a new world order,” NTV news reported.
Balliet is alleged to have repeatedly tried, but failed, to force his way into the synagogue with 52 worshipers inside. Prosecutors allege he then shot and killed a 40-year-old woman in the street outside and a 20-year-old man at a nearby kebab shop as an “appropriate target” with immigrant roots.
He apologized to the court for killing the woman passing by, saying it had been an automatic reaction when he saw her.
“I didn’t want to kill whites,” he said, according to NTV.
The trial comes at a time when anti-Semitic crimes have reached their highest level since Germany started tracking such acts in 2001, amid an overall increase in rightwing extremist crime.
Balliet is charged with 13 crimes including murder and attempted murder, along with bodily harm, incitement and other charges. Fortythree victims and relatives have joined the trial as co-plaintiffs, as allowed under German law.