HERDECKE, Germany (BN24) — Iris Stalzer, the newly elected mayor of Herdecke in western Germany, is in critical condition after being stabbed 13 times outside her home on Tuesday, in an attack that has shocked the country’s political establishment.
According to German broadcaster WDR, the 57-year-old Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician was able to drag herself into her house following the assault. Her two teenage children, a 15-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter, were inside the home at the time. Stalzer reportedly told her son that several men attacked her on the street, stabbing her repeatedly in the stomach and back before fleeing.
Local newspaper Bild reported that Stalzer’s son was taken from the scene wearing a forensic suit to preserve potential evidence. Police launched a major operation in Herdecke, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, sealing off the area and beginning an intensive investigation.
In a joint statement later Tuesday, police and prosecutors said they were “investigating in all directions” and that a “family background also cannot be ruled out at present.” Authorities have not confirmed any arrests or identified suspects.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the attack on the social platform X, calling it an “abhorrent act.”
“We fear for the life of the designated mayor, Iris Stalzer, and hope for her full recovery,” Merz wrote. “My thoughts are with her family and loved ones.”
Stalzer, a lawyer specializing in labor law, was elected mayor of Herdecke on September 28 with 52% of the vote, defeating a candidate from Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union in a runoff. She was due to take office on November 1.
Matthias Miersch, leader of the Social Democratic parliamentary group in Berlin, also expressed shock and concern. “We heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke,” he said. “We hope that she survives this terrible act.”
Stalzer’s personal website notes that she has lived in Herdecke for most of her life and has built her career locally. Her election marked a new chapter for the town’s leadership, but the brutal attack has cast a shadow over the transition and raised security concerns for local politicians across Germany.
