| Halle synagogue shooting | |
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 Halle Jewish cemetery gate and synagogue on the left | |
  Halle synagogue shooting (Saxony-Anhalt) Show map of Saxony-Anhalt Halle synagogue shooting (Germany) Show map of Germany | |
| Location | 51°29′36″N11°58′49″E / 51.4932°N 11.9803°E /51.4932; 11.9803 Halle andLandsberg,Saxony-Anhalt,Germany |
| Date | 9 October 2019 (2019-10-09)[a] 12:00CEST |
| Target | Jewish worshippers, others |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 2 |
| Injured | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
| Perpetrator | Stephan Balliet |
| Motive | Antisemitism,far-right extremism |
| Convictions | Murder (2 counts) Attempted murder (63 counts & others) |
| Sentence | Life imprisonment with preventive detention, severe gravity of guilt declared |
TheHalle synagogue shooting occurred on 9 October 2019 inHalle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and continued in nearbyLandsberg. After unsuccessfully trying to enter thesynagogue in Halle during theJewish holiday ofYom Kippur, the attacker, 27-year-oldneo-Nazi Stephan Balliet, fatally shot two people nearby and later injured two others. Federal investigators called the attackfar-right andantisemitic terrorism.
The federalPublic Prosecutor General took over the investigation and declared it to be a "violation of Germany's internal security." Balliet wascharged with two counts ofmurder and seven counts of attempted murder. On 10 November 2019, Balliet confessed to the charges before aninvestigative judge, and in December 2020, he was sentenced tolife imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention. Following a thwarted prison escape attempt, which included a hostage taking, Balliet was sentenced to an additional seven years in prison in 2024.
All Jewish facilities in Germany are entitled to state security precautions.[1][2] The police protection of Jewish facilities is a consequence of theMunich massacre in 1972. It is the responsibility of theBundesländer, and carried out by thestate police forces. Nevertheless, the state police of Saxony-Anhalt was not present and carried out no extra security precautions at the Halle synagogue for Yom Kippur in 2019. Daniel Neumann, director of the state union of Jewish communities inHesse, said that smaller Jewish congregations do not have the financial resources for advanced security gear, including security doors andCCTV.[3]
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The attack started around noon,[4] on the Jewish holy day ofYom Kippur, at the synagogue in the Paulusviertel neighbourhood ofHalle. The attacker, Stephan Balliet, arrived there after a 45-minute drive fromBenndorf.[5] He live-streamed himself trying, but failing, to enter the synagogue,[6] with video and audio from hisaction camera on his helmet. The entire footage lasted about 35 minutes and was streamed to the gaming websiteTwitch. The video shows Balliet displaying his weapons and speaking extreme antisemitic content in "poor English."[7] In the livestream, Ballietdenied the Holocaust and claimedfeminism led to fewer births, leading to massimmigration; he blamed "the Jew" for those issues.[8][9]
The gunman shot at the door's lock repeatedly and set off an explosive but the door was not breached, in part because the synagogue's security system had been recently upgraded.[10] The upgrade included a security camera which allowed the 51 congregants inside to view Balliet's attempts to enter the synagogue.[11][12] Balliet tried to enter the synagogue yard, firing shots and trying to ignite homemade explosives. At 12.03 p.m., a112-distress call reached Halle fire-emergency HQ; one minute later, police were informed.[13] At 2.40 p.m.,federal police quick responders BFE+ arrived in the city of Halle.[14][15] During the attack, Balliet's homemade explosives repeatedly malfunctioned, and he referred to himself as "a loser", being unable to breach any of the synagogue's doors, shooting his own tire by accident, and being unable to fire his gun.[16][17]
A female passer-by, Jana Lange, was shot several times and killed near the entrance to the Jewish cemetery next to the synagogue, after reprimanding Balliet for making noise.[18][17][19] A man who stopped his vehicle to check on this woman was able to get away unharmed when Balliet's weapon failed to fire.[19] After killing the woman, Balliet drove to a nearby Turkish kebab shop.[20][19] There, he opened fire through the front window.[21] A customer, Kevin Schwarze, in the shop was injured and later killed when Balliet re-entered the shop.[22] Authorities said they were dealing with a "rampage situation", activated thePublic Alert System Katwarn, and advised the local community to stay at home and closed the city'strain station.[4][23][24]
Balliet was injured in a gunfight with police.[25] He fled in a rentedVolkswagen, leading police on an 80-kilometre (50 mi) chase from Halle. First, he drove to Wiedersdorf nearLandsberg, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north-east of Halle.[26][27][28] At about 4.00 p.m., a helicopter of thefederal police landed in Wiedersdorf. Several police force personnel carriers and two ambulances were already present.[29]
A 40-year-old woman from Halle, Jana Lange, who was passing by on the street near the synagogue when she was shot dead was the first victim in the shooting.[18] In the kebab shop, Balliet shot dead Kevin Schwarze,[30] a 20-year-old man fromMerseburg.[31][32][33] In his flight, Balliet shot at a couple in Landsberg, wounding a 40-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man.[34][35] The two were admitted to Halle's university hospital with gunshot wounds and successfully underwent surgery.[36]
In the first hours after the attack, security services worked on the assumption of multiple perpetrators.[37] Later in the afternoon, Saxony-Anhalt's state minister of the interiorHolger Stahlknecht declared that there was only one attacker, who had been arrested, and that it was being investigated whether the man had been part of a social environment or networks.[31] Balliet was arrested inZeitz, located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Halle.[38]
TheFederal Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwalt) took over the investigation since the attack was a potential violation of Germany'sinternal security. The prosecutor indicated that it was investigating a "murder with special significance."[39] According to the prosecutor's spokesperson, there are currently no indications of a terrorist organisation being involved.[37] Security sources said the then-unidentified suspect was a German national who had no prior criminal history, and that the indications of aright-wing extremist background became stronger.[39] On 10 October, police searched Balliet's house inBenndorf nearEisleben.[40]
Balliet used the streaming serviceTwitch to broadcast his attacks. According to Twitch, that stream was not listed in the recommendations of the site or made public in any other way, meaning that he had to specifically send the link to people to lead them to the stream.[41]
The perpetrator was Stephan Balliet (born 10 January 1992),[42] a 27-year-old Germanneo-Nazi, who lived in an apartment inBenndorf nearEisleben,[43][44][45] with his mother.[5] He grew up inSaxony-Anhalt and learned to handle weapons during his time in theGerman armed forces, having done his six-month military service in aPanzergrenadier battalion as an 18-year-old. There, he was trained on the use of theHK G36assault rifle and theHK P8pistol. No evidence of right-wing beliefs were found in his military file.[46] He studied "molecular and structural product design" for one year at the age of 22, and after that chemistry for one year atHalle University.[46]
In addition to the livestream, Balliet left amanifesto in English, where he stated his goal had been to "Kill as many anti-Whites as possible, Jews preferred."[17] The manifesto contained antisemitic and neo-Nazi messages, contained photos and descriptions of his homemade weapons arsenal and information about his intentions. Balliet claimed to have chosen the Halle synagogue as the target because it was the closest place where he could find "the Jew." He wrote that "if he could kill only one Jew, that was worth the attack." His manifesto showed his belief in a "Jewish world conspiracy."[47] Balliet announced his plans on animageboard called Meguca, which was shut down shortly after the shooting.[48] On Meguca, Balliet wrote that he had madeDIY weapons in recent years using a3D printer and that anyone who wanted to could watch him in a "live test" via a link to his live-stream.[46][48] He utilised makeshift weapon designs byPhilip Luty.[49]
A psychological assessment after the shooting described him as having a complexpersonality disorder withautistic traits, but that he was aware and morally responsible for his actions.[50][51] He was deemed to be of an average intelligence by a forensic psychiatrist; hisIQ was tested at 105. The same psychiatrist also described him as having been a socially awkward loner with an unstable sense of self-worth since his youth. During the trial he repeatedly requested he not be referred to as mentally ill under any circumstances, deeming a diagnosis "politically motivated".[51]
At the event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the peaceful revolution inLeipzig,German PresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier called for solidarity with fellow citizens who were Jewish. ChancellorAngela Merkel also offered her condolences to the families of the victims and took part in a night vigil in front ofBerlin's New Synagogue.[52] The members of theEuropean Parliament stood for aminute of silence on the day of the attack to honour the victims and send condolences to the families.[53] Security for Jewish institutions across the country was increased.[54]
Josef Schuster, president of theCentral Council of Jews in Germany, told TV stationDas Erste that on the day of the attack there were no police patrols close to the Jewish facility in Halle. If the regular police force had been there, the second murder in the shop could have been avoided, Schuster said.[55] He described it as "scandalous" that "the synagogue in Halle was not protected by the police on a holiday like Yom Kippur."[11]
TheNew Zealand government'sOffice of Film and Literature Classification also classified the suspect's livestream footage of the shootings as objectionable, making it illegal to download or distribute in New Zealand. The Chief CensorDavid Shanks likened the content and filming of the video to theChristchurch mosque shootings in March 2019.[56]
The day after the attack,Spiegel Online published an article citingpolitical scientistMatthias Quent [de], entitled: "The lone offender, who was not alone." Quent claimed that the perpetrator was part of a large virtual network, and that the fact that he streamed the act live and spoke in English displays the importance of this far-right "Human Haters International" for him. Especially because of thefar-right subculture on the internet, it is difficult to avoid such acts, Quent said, since that subculture is not yet fully grasped by security services andsocial media law enforcement legislation, also he claims there is "barely any research" on the process of howradicalization occurs there.[57]
A day after the attack,Thuringia's Minister for Interior Georg Maier (SPD) and the Bavarian Minister for InteriorJoachim Herrmann (CSU) called the nationalistic-völkisch politicianBjörn Höcke to account. Maier said that Höcke and his partyAlternative for Germany (AfD) were responsible for attacks like this, while they would be "moral arsonists", feeding antisemitic resentments.[58]Jörg Meuthen, the AfD federal spokesman, strongly condemned the attack.[59][60]
According to theJewish Telegraphic Agency, "More than 10,000 people marched in Berlin against anti-Semitism and in a show of support for the victims of anti-Semitic violence in the city of Halle" a few days after the attack.[61]
Hamas, the rulingIslamist political party and military organization of theGaza Strip, denounced the shooting stating it "poses a danger for all people and that terrorism has no religion or is not restricted to a single nation."[62][63]
On 11 October 2019, during a court hearing in front of the investigating judge of theFederal Court of Justice, Balliet confessed to the crime and also confirmed a right-wing extremist, antisemitic motive. His lawyer confirmed the confession. According to investigators, Balliet hoped to inspire others to perpetrate similar right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic acts.[64] On 21 April 2020, German prosecutors announced they had filed charges against Balliet, including two charges ofmurder, attempted murder of 68 people,incitement,bodily harm, and predatory extortion.[65][66][67]
Balliet was sent from Saxony-Anhalt to theFederal Court of Justice, (Bundesgerichtshof) inKarlsruhe. The court appointed local lawyer Hans-Dieter Weber as Balliet's defence counsel. At their first meeting Balliet asked Weber if he was Jewish, and when the lawyer said no, responded, "Even if you were a Jew, I would not reject you now." Weber said that by recording the crime, Balliet had himself provided evidence. Asked about possible role models for his crime, Balliet said, he was "aware of" and "followed" major assassinations, as well as the2011 Norway attacks and theChristchurch mosque shootings; he denied that he had been motivated by these crimes.[68]
On 21 December 2020, theHigher Regional Court of Naumburg sentenced Balliet tolife imprisonment with subsequent preventive detention, the highest possible sentence in German law, and deemed the defendant to have a severe gravity of guilt,[69] which effectively ruled out a release after 15 years in prison.[70]
In June 2020, Balliet attempted to escape from prison, climbing an 3.4 m (11-foot) fence during a recreation period.[20][71] He was recaptured five minutes later, and transferred to a maximum security prison.[20][71]
On 12 December 2022, Balliet took two prison guards hostage using an improvised gun during an escape attempt.[72] Balliet lied to the guards that he had a machine gun, and forced them to open doors for him. Within an hour Balliet was overwhelmed and captured, after the hostages failed to unlock a door due to security measures.[72] He was injured during his capture but the two hostages were unharmed.[73] On 20 December 2022, Balliet was transferred toAugsburg-Gablingen prison inBavaria as a result of the incident.[74]
One of the prison guards held hostage developedPTSD as a result of the incident and could no longer work.[75] A trial relating to this escape attempt began 25 January 2024.[72] Balliet was charged with hostage taking and violating theWeapons Act. The gun was made out of wire, writing materials, and batteries.[72][76] When asked by the judge if he would attempt to escape again, Balliet stated that every living thing wants to be free, and also stated that he had decided to attempt escape because he had read about the2022 German coup d'état plot.[72] When asked where he had obtained the powder used in the cartridges for the improvised gun, he stated it was a "professional secret".[72] The prosecution stated that prison staff knew that he had the ability to build weapons.[72]
On 27 February 2024 he was sentenced to seven years in prison for the escape attempt, and ordered to pay compensation to the affected officers.[77] One of the hostages received€8,000 in compensation for pain and suffering after the hostage taking, with the other receiving€15,000, and an additional€2,262 for loss of earnings.[78]
Authorities say he has admitted carrying out the shooting and had anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist motives.
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