2008 changed everything

Islam critic stabbed was also in Graz

The victim: Michael Stürzenberger (pictured at a Pegida rally in Graz in 2015)

(Bild: APA/ERWIN SCHERIAU)

Michael Stürzenberger, a German critic of Islam from Bavaria, was injured in a knife attack at a meeting of the right-wing populist citizens' movement Pax Europa in Mannheim on Friday afternoon (see video above). The 59-year-old was once press spokesman for the CSU, but a terrorist attack in 2008 changed everything for him ...

Born in Bad Kissingen in 1964, Stürzenberger studied political science and history at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, then worked as a journalist for RTL and Sat.1. He then went into politics and became press spokesman for the Bavarian governing party CSU.

Photos from the crime scene in Mannheim on Friday: 

+4

Fotos

Death of friend changed his attitude
After the death of a friend in the Islamist terrorist attacks in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai in 2008, he became increasingly radicalized and dedicated to the fight against Islam, including in the far-right movement Pegida, reported the Bild newspaper and Focus magazine. He was therefore also observed by the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Stürzenberger left the CSU and joined the "Die Freiheit" party.

The victim: Michael Stürzenberger (pictured at a Pegida rally in Graz in 2015)

(Bild: APA/ERWIN SCHERIAU)

Appearance in Graz in 2015 with legal consequences
He has also been up to mischief in Austria. At the end of March 2015, he took part in a Pegida rally (for "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident") in Graz and gave a speech there. He is said to have described all Muslims as potential terrorists. This statement had repercussions in court. Judge Julia Riffl sentenced him to four months' conditional imprisonment and a fine of 960 euros. The right-wing activist was reported to the Graz Green Party at the time.

Koran compared with Hitler's "Mein Kampf"
Alongside NPD functionaries, he also demonstrated against a large mosque in Munich and warned against the "Islamization" of Germany. He accused German politicians of not taking the dangers posed by Islam seriously. He compared the Koran with Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf". Stürzenberger describes himself as pro-Israeli and pro-Ukrainian.

On Friday, he was the victim of a knife attack in Mannheim. One of his colleagues told Bild about his condition: "He was hit in the leg and face and is undergoing emergency surgery. There is apparently no danger to his life. This is the second serious attack on him." In 2022, he was hit in the face with his fist by a Muslim in Bonn.