Berlin Mitte knife attack: Police arrest suspect following stabbing at Holocaust Memorial

21 February 2025 , 21:53

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Berlin Mitte knife attack: Police arrest suspect following stabbing at Holocaust Memorial

Police in Berlin reported that an unidentified person has left a man ’seriously injured’ at the Holocaust Memorial in Mitte. Investigations are ongoing at the crime scene this evening.

Police have raced to a Holocaust Memorial in Berlin after a knife attack which saw one man stabbed and rushed to hospital with "serious" injuries - and others at the scene treated for shock.

The attack broke out at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Mitte - Berlin’s central borough - close to the US Embassy. A cordon has been placed around the area, where authorities are on site with several emergency vehicles. Blood-soaked clothing left at the site was taken away by police, who say they have arrested a suspect near the crime scene.

The person’s identity is being checked and the investigation is ongoing, the force added. One man who was left seriously injured in the attack has been taken to hospital, while witnesses at the scene are being treated for shock by rescue workers.

The stabbed victim, who has not been named, is reportedly due to undergo surgery while in hospital, a police spokeswoman told German news outlet Zeit Online.

Berlin Police said in a tweet: "At around 6pm, a man was seriously injured by an unknown person in the field of stelae at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in #Mitte. The injured man was taken to hospital.

"Rescue workers are on site caring for several people who had to witness the events. Investigations are ongoing at the crime scene. A press collection point will be set up on Behrenstrasse, near Cora-Berliner-Street."

Police spokesman Florian Nath told Bild earlier that the perpetrator had initially fled the scene and was at large for some time after witnesses saw a man running away. He said at the time: "The victim is a male, injuries from a stabbing weapon. He is in hospital. There is no information yet about the man’s identity. The murder weapon has not yet been found. The perpetrator is on the run. Witnesses claim to have seen a man running away."

The attack occurred around 6pm "in the field of steles of the memorial", although there is currently no apparent connection to the embassy or the Berlin memorial, Bild reports.

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin-Mitte opened in 2005 near the district’s US Embassy. It features more than two thousand concrete steles to commemorate the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust during World War II.

Elizabeth Baker

Technology & Business Editor