Neukölln is a severely culturally enriched borough of Berlin. Last week a man went on a stabbing rampage in a primary school in Neukölln, seriously wounding two little girls. Gary Fouse has translated two articles about the incident.

The first article is from the Berliner Morgenpost. You’ll notice that there are no hints about ethnicity in this report, just the usual boilerplate about mental illness:

Motive unclear

Attack in Neukölln school: Man wounds schoolgirls

by Sebastian Kohler
May 3, 2023

In a Berlin school, a man attacked two schoolchildren. Both were taken injured to the hospital. What is known.

In a school in Berlin-Neukölln, two schoolgirls were seriously wounded in a physical attack. The girls, ages 7 and 8 years, were apparently attacked by a man, leaving one of the girls in a life-threatening condition. The Berlin police were able to announce the arrest of the presumed perpetrator. Who he is and for what reason he attacked the two children is as yet not clear.

Police arrest presumed perpetrator: Schoolgirl in life-threatening condition

The BZ (Berliner Zeitung) first reported the attack on the school on Mainzerstrasse. Several children were reportedly witnesses to the traumatic attacks. According to initial information, the weapon is allegedly a knife. Both victims of the attack were carried by a helicopter for treatment. As for the provisionally-arrested person, a Berlin police spokeswoman gave no information. “We are investigating all angles,” says the police press office.

According to information obtained by BZ, the perpetrator waited for the police after the attack and submitted to arrest without resistance. The rear door of the school was closed off by police at 3pm, two hours after the attack. Parents stood before the main entrance and waited for their children. They were allowed to leave the building after a few minutes and were turned over to their parents.

[Tweet above video:]

Berlin education senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch, on the knife attack at the Evangelical School in Neukölln: “Religious or political motive on the part of the perpetrator can probably be ruled out. No regular operation in the next two days.”

What motivated the perpetrator to wound the two girls in a serious, life-threatening manner is yet completely unclear. Neither political or religious motives are believed to have led to the bloody act. As the Berliner Zeitung writes, the perpetrator is reportedly psychologically sick and knew neither of the children.

[Tweet: Kai Wegner (Berlin mayor)]

I am shocked at this unthinkable act. My thoughts in these difficult hours are with both the wounded girls, for whom I wish a speedy recovery. My sincere condolences to the parents, teachers, schoolmates, as well as friends.

For the next two days, school administrators have suspended classes. The children who were witnesses to the act were provided with spiritual counseling, as were the rescue personnel who first showed up at the crime scene. Berlin’s governing mayor, Kai Wegner (Christian Democrat party) expressed his horror on Twitter and expressed his sympathy to the relatives of the victims.

The second article is from Der Tagesspiegel. As is customary in Germany and other Western European countries, the report is coy about the alleged perpetrator’s surname: he is identified simply as “Berhan S.” However, the name Berhan is common in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Factor in the description of his “strictly religious family”, then draw your own conclusions:

He was already known for domestic violence

What is known about the knife attacker in Neukölln

After the attack on two girls in Neukölln, the alleged perpetrator is in a psychiatric hospital. He was already on file with the police and justice system.

by Julius Geller Alexander Froelich
May 4, 2023

He arrived with a kitchen knife; two schoolgirls are in the hospital since Wednesday afternoon; and everything has changed in Neukölln. The sheer horror for children and parents. Berhan S., “simply walked into this schoolyard,” says a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor Officer, a random act, a “chance encounter”.

About 3pm, the 38-year-old attacked two girls, 7 and 8 years of age, on the playground of the school. He stabbed the younger schoolgirl several times, and she was seriously wounded. He also wounded the 8-year-old with the knife, stabbing her in the throat, (and) she is still in a life-threatening condition as of Thursday, though not as acutely. The doctors have been able to stabilize her.

Judge issues placement order

The alleged attacker in Neukölln has been provisionally placed in a hospital. An investigating judge issued the placement order, the Public Prosecutor’s Office reported Thursday afternoon.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, 38-year-old Berhan S. is accused of two counts of attempted murder. As the police reported, S. confessed to the act. He was arrested Wednesday at the scene of the crime.

How could this happen? How safe are children in the schools? The case raises a number of questions; parents are unsettled. Berhan S. submitted to arrest by police, who were alerted near the scene of the crime, without resistance. He confessed to the attack, but the exact motive puzzles the investigators. There are indications, however, of mental illness as the result of drug use.

Berhan S. appears several times in Justice and police files. There may be found bodily injury, insults, threats, fraud, drug crimes, theft, and property damage. Nothing gives a reason to believe that S. would commit such an act as happened on Wednesday. When he surrendered, he gave the police officers the impression that “he was beside himself.”

According to the authorities, Berhan S. is a German citizen and was born in Berlin, a few hundred meters away from the school, with a reported address in a homeless shelter. Neighbors reported a police operation. In police records, it is also noted that Berhan S. was also considered suicidal. At least, there was a police response because S. wanted to take his own life.

S. was on record in 2009 due to massive domestic violence. He reportedly beat and injured his companion repeatedly. The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Thursday it is the same person. At that time, the investigations into the batterer came to nothing; the police could not prove the acts; the woman withdrew the complaints and made contradictory statements.

S. “and his strictly religious family” reportedly threatened the woman, reported her mother at the time to Tagespeigel. Up to now, 11 reports have been made to the police for threats, several coercions, bodily injuries, and insults.

In Neukölln, the school is now trying to deal with the terrible event. About 30 children reportedly observed the act in the playground, among them the sister of one of the girls. Pupils as well as teachers and educators are being supported by psychologists for talks and spiritual care, reported the school foundation of the State Evangelical Church, as sponsor of the school. The offer is also directed at the parents, said a spokeswoman. A devotional for the school community is reportedly in the planning.