The old lady from the Frühlingsstraße

The court heard three witnesses concerning the Frühlingsstraße fire today. All three are relatives of the old lady who lived wall-to-wall with “the Three”. One of the witnesses brought her into safety after the fire had started.

Their testimony showed clearly that the trio’s neighbor was not in very good health, in particular that she was not able to walk well or far and that she was hearing-imparied, and that Beate Zschäpe was aware of this. The indictment charges her with attempted murder of her neighbor. Today’s testimonies show that there was indeed a very serious danger to the old lady’s life. They also showed that the old lady had trouble coming to terms with the fire and the loss of her apartment.

One of the witnesses also reported – just as several witnesses last week had – that she saw Zschäpe carrying cat baskets shortly after the fire broke out. Where she differed from the other witnesses was in how Zschäpe was dressed at the time.

The Zschäpe defence tried to raise doubts concerning their testimony, but accomplished the opposite: one of the old lady’s nieces had stated in her police examination that Zschäpe had set the fire knowing that it could well lead to the death of her aunt. Asked how she arrived at that thought, she was quick on the comeback and summarized how this charge against Zschäpe will be proven: Zschäpe had run from the house directly before the explosion, the two men had already been dead – who else should have set this fire? The questioning also revealed that the old lady’s three nieces met with their aunt for coffee in her apartment every Friday afternoon and that on the day of the fire, they were a little later than usual. It remains to be seen whether the court will now announce that there is a suspicion of not only three counts, but six counts of attempted murder.