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According to the Hamburg public prosecutor, the attack on a 26-year-old student in front of the synagogue in Hohen Weide has no political background.

This is the result of the investigation, which, according to a spokeswoman for the prosecutor, has been concluded.

Rather, it can be assumed that the perpetrator who attacked his Jewish victim with a folding spade and seriously injured him was mentally ill.

The Jewish community in Hamburg was surprised: "It sounds very remote that it was not an anti-Semitic act," said its chairman, Philipp Stricharz, of the taz, which was the first to report.

Dressed in a Bundeswehr camouflage suit, the 29-year-old attacked the three-year-old victim on October 4 and seriously injured the head.

The student who wanted to go to the synagogue for the Feast of Tabernacles wore a kippah and was clearly recognizable as a Jew.

A note with a hand-painted swastika was found in the suspect's pocket.

The act had caused horror and outrage nationwide.

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The police initially shared the assumption that there might be a political motive behind the crime.

The attack happened a few days before the anniversary of the attack on the synagogue in Halle an der Saale.

"Based on the current assessment of the overall circumstances, the act can be assumed to be an anti-Semitically motivated attack," it said.

However, doubts about the culprit's responsibility arose early on.

Police officers who were on site to protect the synagogue and observed the attack had arrested the 29-year-old, who has Kazakh roots.

According to the police, he had already made an "extremely confused" impression when he was arrested.

After the crime, he was placed in a psychiatric clinic on a court order.

Charges of attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm are probably ruled out due to the mental state of the accused.

Rather, he will probably be permanently housed in a psychiatric facility.

"It must be recognized that we are threatened as a Jewish community"

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"There is no evidence of a political motive," said the prosecutor's spokeswoman.

The illness was the trigger for the act, one could not speak of a classic motive.

The 29-year-old is completely incompetent.

Although no base motives were found, the act was insidious, said the spokeswoman for the taz.

Even if a piece of paper with a painted swastika was found in the attacker's pockets, a political motive for the act can be ruled out.

Philipp Stricharz, on the other hand, has no doubt about an anti-Jewish motive.

The perpetrator let himself be driven to the synagogue in a taxi and there targeted a man with a kippah, he told the radio station NDR 90.3.

"It must be recognized that we are threatened as a Jewish community," said Stricharz.

How can you prevent anti-Semitic acts in the future if you don't even call them anti-Semitic, he asks.