Syrian Jihadist Sentenced for Knife Attack at Berlin Holocaust Memorial
5th March 2026
A Berlin court has sentenced a 20-year-old Syrian man to 13 years in prison for a jihadist-inspired knife attack on a Spanish tourist at the German capital’s Holocaust memorial.
The suspect, named only as Wassim Al M., was convicted of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, and attempted membership of a terrorist organisation.
The attack occurred in February 2025, only days before Germany’s general election. The court confirmed that Al M. acted “in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group” and targeted a person of Jewish faith. The victim survived only because the knife missed major blood vessels by millimetres.
Al M. approached the 30-year-old victim from behind among the concrete steles of the memorial, inflicting a 14-centimetre (over five-inch) cut to his throat. Despite serious injuries, the victim managed to stagger out of the steles before collapsing in front of the memorial.