A nighttime arson attack over the weekend on the home of Andreas Büttner, the State of Brandenburg’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, marked a chilling escalation in Germany’s struggle against rising antisemitism.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Büttner recounted how he awoke shortly after 3:20 a.m. to the sound of shattering glass. He had fallen asleep in a chair downstairs rather than in his bedroom – a turn of events he now describes as lifesaving.
“I saw damage to the front door and an unusual light,” Büttner said. Moving to another room, he realized that a second building on his property, just meters from the family home, had been set ablaze. “From that moment on, I knew something was very wrong.”
With his children asleep in the house, Büttner ordered them to stay in their rooms while he contacted the police and fire department. His eldest son attempted to contain the flames until firefighters arrived minutes later.
“Five minutes later, it could have been a completely different story,” he said. “If the fire had reached the main building, we may not have been able to leave through the door. We would have had to escape through windows – if we could escape at all.”
Antisemitic attack on Brandenburg antisemitism commissioner
As emergency crews worked, Büttner noticed a symbol that removed any doubt about the motive: a red triangle painted on the door of the main house – a Hamas marker increasingly used in antisemitic intimidation following October 7.
“At that moment, I knew this was not a coincidence,” he said. “It was a terror attack. They targeted me, my work, and my family.”
The arson, Büttner emphasized, was not only an attack on a Jewish community or on Israel-related targets but something unprecedented in his state: a direct attack on a government official whose mandate is to fight antisemitism.
“This was the first time in the history of Brandenburg that such an attack happened,” he said, adding that the state’s leader confirmed as much in a call the following evening. “This is a new level. A new escalation.”
Israeli officials have echoed that concern. Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, told the Post that the arson was a disturbing milestone: an antisemitic attack aimed squarely at someone tasked with combating antisemitism itself.
“It is an extremely disturbing and alarming event. The personal property of an official involved in the fight against antisemitism was attacked. Unfortunately, we are used to attacks against synagogues and Jewish institutions. But now, not just being Jewish makes you a target, but also being an ally to the Jews in fighting this hatred.”
For a brief moment, Büttner admitted, he wondered whether his work had put his family in danger. “I thought, ‘Am I risking their lives by doing my job?’” he said.
The answer came quickly – and unanimously – from his family.
“They said, ‘Are you crazy? You’re doing the right thing. We’re not backing down,’” he recalled. “They won’t break us. They won’t win.”
By Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the attack, the family resumed normal life. His children went to school and work. Büttner went back to the office and held a previously scheduled planning meeting with his team.
“That was our first decision as a family,” he said. “We continue.”
Büttner placed the attack in a broader national and global context, describing what he and his federal counterparts have called a “tsunami of antisemitism” in Germany since October 7.
“It’s not just more incidents; it’s more violence,” he said. “There’s a difference between graffiti and attacking people. And we are seeing more attacks on people.”
Rejecting attempts to frame such incidents as mere anti-Zionism, Büttner was unequivocal: “They are antisemitic. ‘Anti-Zionism’ is just another word they use.”
Germany’s post-Holocaust commitment to “never again,” he warned, is being tested in real time.
“Jews must be able to live freely in this country,” he said. “If we fail at that, then everything we did in the last 80 years was for nothing.”
If the attackers hoped to silence him, Büttner said, they miscalculated.
“They chose the wrong person and the wrong family,” he said. “If anything, they will hear me more – and they will hear me louder.”