Fake Letter Bomb

On the night of 30/31 December 1996, an imitation letter bomb was dropped into the letterbox of the local editorial office of the Thüringische Landeszeitung in Jena, at Am Planetarium 8. Inside the envelope was a handwritten sheet of paper reading: “We’ve had enough of lies and deceit. This will be the last joke now. From ‘97 it’s really going to hit hard!!!” The note was adorned with swastikas, with the letter “S” written each time as a rune.

Around the same time, the mailroom of the city administration, at Am Anger 15, found an envelope with similar contents, and the Jena police headquarters found another: “Into the fighting year of ‘97 with a bombing mood. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – this year it’s Bubis’s turn!!!” In all three cases, the envelope contained a piece of styrofoam with a battery and wires connected by a lump of modelling clay. The Gera public prosecutor’s office investigated Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe, as well as Ralf W., Andre K. and Holger G. The proceedings were discontinued in June 1997.

(Text and image: Frank Döbert)

External sources

Schäfer-Gutachten im Auftrag des Freistaates Thüringen, 2012, S. 52 f..