After Halle synagogue attack, owner gifts kebab shop to employees

FRANKFURT, Germany — The owner of a kebab shop targeted in a deadly far-right attack in the German city of Halle last month has gifted the eatery to the two brothers who were working there during the shooting.

Siblings Ismet and Rifat Tekin received a framed letter transferring the ownership of the Kiez-Doener to them in a ceremony yesterday as the restaurant reopened for the first time since the October 9 attack.

“I wish my successors much strength in processing the terrible events of October 9, 2019 and hope they have many customers of different cultures and religions,” their former boss Izzet Cagac writes in the letter, which was accompanied by a key.

„Kiez-Döner“ in Halle an Mitarbeiter verschenkt https://t.co/a3X8CwFmCk pic.twitter.com/3bjaswVvTJ

— WELT (@welt) November 16, 2019

A 20-year-old customer was shot dead when a gunman opened fire on the kebab shop after earlier trying and failing to storm a synagogue. He also killed a female passerby.

The assailant, a suspected neo-Nazi, was arrested and later admitted that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, fueling concerns about an increasingly violent far-right scene in Germany.

At the reopened kebab shop, a colorful memorial wall pays tribute to the victims and all customers could eat for free over the weekend, local media reported.

Der Spiegel weekly praises Cagac’s gift as an act of hope.

“In a society increasingly plagued by brutality and hatred, this gesture of solidarity and humanity offers a small ray of light,” it writes.

— AFP