A Syrian man was convicted by a Berlin district court on Thursday for stabbing a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial in February 2025. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Identified only as 20-year-old Wassim Al M. under German privacy laws, the man was convicted on multiple charges, including attempted murder and attempted membership in a foreign terrorist organization, German media reported.
The man told police at the time of the arrest that he had wanted to kill Jews. A formerly unaccompanied minor who applied for asylum after arriving in Germany in 2023, he indicated that he was motivated by distress over the war in Gaza.
His victim was slashed in the neck and face, hospitalized and placed into a coma, and still is unable to work, the court was told.
Man makes Islamic State gesture during arrest
During the trial, Wassim Al M. said he regretted his actions, but according to German media, the judges did not believe him because, at the time of his arrest, he made an Islamic State gesture.
Still, prosecutors did not pursue a life sentence per the victim’s request that Al M. eventually be able to lead a normal life.
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a memorial and public art piece featuring 2,711 slabs of concrete. It has been the target of antisemitic graffiti in the past as well as the epicenter of a debate over the appropriateness of selfies at solemn sites of Holocaust remembrance.