Judge Acquits German Rightist in Bombing, Blames Town

A German court acquitted a radical rightist teen-ager Wednesday of firebombing a home for foreigners in the eastern village of Dolbenbrodt. But the judge in the case also condemned the community, saying residents sought the attack and then stonewalled investigators.

Brandenburg state court Judge Klaus Przybilla said prosecutors had insufficient evidence to convict Silvio Jackowski, 19, of firebombing the vacant hostel a day before 80 foreign asylum-seekers were to move into the building in November, 1992.

Jackowski once claimed that residents had paid him $1,250 to set the fire, although he changed his story in court, saying that three other skinheads had been paid to do the job and that he never took part.

The judge did not comment on the alleged payment but accused the town’s 260 residents of having created “a climate for the firebombing,” saying, “The will of the majority in the village was carried out.”

There were no deaths in the incident, which came amid a wave of fatal attacks on foreigners following German reunification in 1990. But the bucolic village became a symbol of xenophobic hate nonetheless.

Residents had circulated a petition against the county government’s decision to move foreigners into their quiet town about 25 miles southeast of Berlin, expressing concern about the safety of women and children. At a meeting in the local pub a week before the blaze, residents argued that the hostel should be converted into a hotel for tourists. They claimed they already had a potential investor.

One villager allegedly yelled out, “It’s best the thing burns.”

Then, townsfolk allegedly celebrated the deed the morning after the blaze.

Przybilla said investigators had encountered “a wall of silence” when trying to figure out who committed the crime. He said the court had “reasonable doubts” that Jackowski set the fire and was obligated to acquit him, although it found him guilty of lesser charges of driving without a license and illegal possession of a weapon.

Jackowski was sentenced to four weeks in jail but was released because he had already spent 10 months in confinement.

The judge said Jackowski had detailed knowledge of the attack and that it was possible he drove his fellow skinheads to set the fire. Prosecutor Robert Lenz said he would launch a new investigation.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a state court in Mannheim again convicted radical rightist leader Guenter Deckert of insulting Jews by denying that the Holocaust occurred. The ruling came three months after Germany’s highest appeals court sent the case back for retrial, arguing more proof was needed that the head of the far-right National Democratic Party meant to slander Jews.