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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Philip Oltermann in Berlin

MYSTERIOUS: Firefighter arrested in germany over refugee shelter arson attack - What They Never Told You

Firefighters extinguish fire in a hotel
Firefighters extinguish a fire in a hotel where refugees from Ukraine were accommodated in Gross Stroemkendorf, Germany, in October. Photograph: Jens Büttner/AP

A fire that tore through a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in north-east Germany last month was started by one of the firefighters who later helped to extinguish it, according to prosecutors in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, who have arrested the 32-year-old man.

A swastika daubed on a Red Cross sign outside the repurposed thatched-roof hotel in the town of Groß Strömkendorf two days before the fire had led some to speculate about a political motive behind the arson attack, which caused millions of euros worth of damage. None of the shelter’s 17 inhabitants were harmed.

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