Enlarge image
Space company OHB: The damaged building after the fire
Photo: - / dpa
On New Year's Eve, the premises of the Bremen space company OHB were on fire.
A few days after the arson attack on the building, a letter of allegation has emerged on the Internet.
The letter, published on a platform classified as left-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, justified the attack on the night of January 1 with the company's business dealings with the Bundeswehr. OHB is an "armaments company" that builds and sells satellite systems for military purposes, the authors explained. The letter is now being checked, said a police spokeswoman. The author is therefore a group called »Autonomous Antimilitarists«.
Bremen's Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte and Interior Senator Ulrich Mäurer (both SPD) were expected at the company on Thursday. »I strongly condemn the attack on OHB and assure the company of my full solidarity. Anyone who sets a fire in an office is nothing more than a criminal. The police will do everything possible to determine the perpetrators, «wrote Mayor Bovenschulte on Twitter shortly after the crime.
Similar incident as early as November 2021
The fire on New Year's Eve badly affected several offices on two floors. The act caused considerable property damage, but nobody was injured. Radio Bremen first reported on the letter of confession.
Interior Senator Mäurer had already expressed suspicions before the letter of confession appeared. It would appear that "this time too, the perpetrators are probably to be found in the left-wing extremist scene," he said shortly after the arson attack. Mäurer was referring to an attack in mid-November 2021 when two incendiary devices were discovered in a parking lot in front of the company.
At that time, a short time later, a letter of allegation appeared on an Internet platform classified as left-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which the police checked and judged to be genuine.
One of the reasons given for the act in November was the business relationship between OHB and the German Armed Forces, which involves the contract for the SAR-Lupe reconnaissance satellite system.
There was a similar incident at OHB in 2018 when containers were set on fire.
asc / dpa / AFP