Iris Stahlzer, 57, the newly elected mayor of Heredecke in the industrial Ruhr region, is in critical condition after being attacked and stabbed multiple times outside her home, German media Bild, Welt, Focus and t-online reported.
Stahlzer, a member of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), was found by her son in their apartment on Sunday evening, where she managed to get home seriously injured. According to initial reports, she had received at least 13 stab wounds to the abdomen and chest. The attackers — Several men are reportedly still being sought.
The local police in Hagen have launched a large-scale operation and a ringfahndung (manhunt), but no arrests have been made at this time and the motive for the attack remains unclear. Several possible versions are being investigated, including a politically motivated assassination attempt.
Stalzer won the election on September 28 with 52.2% of the vote, defeating the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate Fabian Haas. She was due to take office in November. She is a lawyer by profession, married and the mother of two teenage children.
The attack has sparked outrage and alarm among German politicians. North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul said it was "a terrible act of violence against a representative of democratically elected authority" and promised that the perpetrators "will be found and brought to justice".
SPD Secretary General Kevin Künert described the incident as "another warning that hatred against politicians in Germany is becoming a real threat to their lives".
The case inevitably recalls the murder of Walter Lübke in 2019 - a conservative CDU politician and supporter of Angela Merkel's migration policy, who was shot dead by a neo-Nazi on his terrace. In recent years, violence against local government officials in Germany has become more frequent: in 2024 alone, the Federal Ministry of the Interior recorded more than 220 attacks on politicians and public figures.
Iris Stalzer remains in intensive care, where doctors are fighting for her life. The Dortmund prosecutor's office is leading the investigation, and German media are warning that this attack could have "serious consequences for the security of local authorities throughout the country".