German neo-Nazi cell may be linked to rabbi’s murder
Police in Germany and Switzerland are investigating possible links between the 2001 murder of a rabbi in Zurich and a killing spree by a terrorist neo-Nazi cell.
The Israeli-born rabbi, Abraham Grunbaum, 70, was killed instantly after being shot at point-blank range on June 7, 2001 in the Agudas Achim synagogue, according to the Swiss paper Tagesanzeiger.
The JTA news agency reported Wednesday that the crime was recorded on a security camera, but the image quality was low, the report said. Police found two bullet casings and cigarette butts at the site. The rabbi was not robbed, thus the motive was considered likely to be hate.
A rash of murders that followed shortly after the Orthodox rabbi’s killing now have been attributed to a German neo-Nazi gang, the National Socialist Underground. In all, the gang is suspected of involvement in at least 10 killings over a decade, and police are now investigating whether the gang was involved in Grunbaum’s death.