The mayor of a town in western Germany is in a life-threatening condition after she was stabbed in an “abhorrent attack” just days after her election, police said.
Iris Stalzer, 57, was found with serious injuries and several stab wounds in her apartment in Herdecke in North Rhine-Westphalia, according to German media.
Ms Stalzer’s son was led away in handcuffs and an evidence-preserving overall “purely to protect evidence”, police told the German newspaper Bild. Her daughter, 17, was also reportedly in the house at the time.
A major police operation has now begun in Herdecke, the town of 23,000 people that Ms Stalzer was due to lead as mayor from 1 November. She was elected mayor on 28 September, as a member of the centre-left Social Democrats, the junior party in Germany’s conservative-led national government.
Ms Stalzer had dragged herself back into her house after the attack, which took place at around midday, broadcaster WDR reported.
“We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke,” conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on social media. “It must be swiftly investigated. We fear for the life of the mayor-designate and hope for her full recovery.”
The leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, told reporters that “we heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke”.
“We hope that she survives this terrible act. We can’t say anything at the moment about the background,” he added.
Ms Stalzer beat a candidate from Mr Merz’s centre-right Christian Democrats in a runoff vote to win election in Herdecke, which lies in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between the cities of Hagen and Dortmund. The election came after a regional campaign that politicians in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s largest state, said was distinguished by a particularly vicious tone.
Ms Stalzer’s website says she is married with two teenage children, and has spent almost her whole life in Herdecke. She has worked as a lawyer specialising in labour law.
In Germany, a recent study found that 60 per cent of politicians had experienced violence at least once. One in five said it had made them more reluctant to appear in public.
In 2019, conservative local government president Walter Luebcke, a supporter of the then chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, was shot dead by a far-right activist on his terrace at home.
Henriette Reker was stabbed by a right-wing extremist in 2015, the day before being elected mayor of Cologne. She made a full recovery and is still in office.
