Roland Weisselberg
Angered and distressed by the threat of the evils of Islam to his country, his homeland, his family and his kinfolk the German vicar committed suicide by setting himself alight on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 in protest.
The 73 year old Roland Weisselberg poured petrol over himself and set fire to himself in the Erfurt monastery, where Martin Luther took his monastic vows in 1505. Despite robust efforts by many on the scene who rushed to extinguish the flames, Mr. Weisselberg later died of his injuries.
A warning
In a farewell letter to his wife the vicar wrote that he was setting himself on fire to warn against the danger of the Islamification of Europe. During the past four years the vicar had frequently expressed his concern about the growth of Islam, urging the Lutheran Church to take this issue seriously. As the fire started the vicar cried: “Jesus and Oskar!” Oskar Brüsewitz was a 47-year old German vicar who died after setting himself on fire 30 years ago, on 18 August 1976, in the market square of the German town of Zeitz in protest against the Communist regime in East Germany. Both Erfurt and Zeitz are situated in the former East German province of Saxony.
Axel Noack, the Lutheran Bishop of Saxony, said he was shocked by the tragic event in Erfurt. Bishop Noack emphasised that the motive for the suicide complicates matters. He said he hopes that the affair and the question of how Christians should relate to Muslims will not lead to “unrest”. The Bishop emphasised that Christians reject a culture war. “Fear of other cultures is the result of our own insecurity,” he said, adding that since there are not many Muslims in what was once East Germany, there is not much of a debate about Islam there.