A group of climate activists claimed responsibility for the attack, which left the German capital in darkness for several days.
Amid heavy snowfall in the German capital and temperatures dropping below zero, almost 100,000 people were left without power for several days after an alleged left-wing arson attack on Berlin’s power grid on Saturday, which caused a massive blackout.
The activist group Vulkangruppe – or Volcano Group – claimed responsibility for the attack, citing the role that fossil fuels and artificial intelligence play in accelerating the climate crisis.
Approximately 45,000 homes and more than 2,000 businesses in the upscale neighborhoods of southwestern Berlin were affected by the blackout, which lasted more than four days.
This is believed to be the longest blackout in Berlin’s post-war history.
What exactly happened?
The attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday, when a fire broke out in a cable pipeline over the Teltow Canal, which runs through the south of the city. The fire damaged several high-voltage cables near Berlin’s Lichterfelde power station.
Authorities extinguished the fire, but not before the power was cut off at around 6am. The outage affected up to 45,000 homes and 2,200 businesses in four southern Berlin districts, including Nikolassee, Zehlendorf, Wannsee and Lichterfelde, according to Stromnetz Berlin, the city’s electricity grid operator.
Consequently, several people were left without power and heating at a time when temperatures were around minus 10ºC. Furthermore, surface train lines were interrupted and cell phone connections were affected.
Some battery-powered Christmas decorations could be seen in the windows of a residential building in the Zehlendorf neighborhood, on Sunday morning, in the middle of a blackout. Ralf Hirschberger/AFP/Getty Images
The Vulkangruppe group later claimed responsibility for the fire in a letter sent to the police. “We have successfully sabotaged the gas-fired power plant in Berlin-Lichterfelde”, read the letter, which was circulated online.
According to the group, this caused blackouts in the “affluent” neighborhoods of Berlin.
In the letter, Vulkangruppe apologized to disadvantaged residents of southwest Berlin, stating that the aim was to target the fossil fuel industry and that the action was a “necessary measure against the expansion of fossil fuel power plants” in Germany.
“The objective of the action was not to cause blackouts, but rather to target the fossil fuel industry,” they said in the statement.
“We know that we have to stop this destruction. We know that we are not alone. Do not lose hope in a world where life has space, and not greed for money, power and destruction”, it could also be read. “People call us eco-terrorists, but we respect life. They call us irresponsible, but we take responsibility for ending this imperial and destructive way of life.”
The Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, told journalists this Wednesday that the incident “was not a small arson attack, nor sabotage, but a terrorist attack perpetrated by a left-wing extremist organization, with enormous consequences for the supply of many Berliners”.
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced this Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into the incident, with suspicions of crimes related to participation in a terrorist organization, anti-constitutional sabotage and arson.
What was the impact?
An 83-year-old woman died during the blackouts, according to deputy police chief Marco Langner. The woman was found by a family member, who called an ambulance, but rescuers were unable to save her, said the person responsible, this Wednesday, without giving further details about the circumstances of her death.
According to Marco Langner, there were also reports of robberies during the blackout.
In addition to blackouts in homes and businesses, the attack forced the suspension of train services on several lines of the S-Bahn, Berlin’s light rail.
Cell phone networks were also affected. “The information came very late because there was no cell phone signal and we didn’t know if the blackout was in Berlin and across Germany, or even across the world,” Thomas Ohm, a resident of Nikolassee, told CNN.
Five hospitals in the affected regions were forced to use emergency generators. Stromnetz Berlin reported that, on Sunday, power had already been restored to these hospitals.
The electricity company indicated that the gradual restoration of power to customers began at 11:00 on Wednesday, but warned residents to avoid using high-powered electrical appliances immediately after power restoration.
One Berlin resident affected by the blackout, Thomas Dastig, described to CNN that the experience was “scary.”
“My coldest room reached 4ºC and the hottest room reached 8ºC. I was afraid that my pipes would freeze”, he said.
Another resident, Daniel Wöste, worked with his sister to organize generators for eight homes in his neighborhood. “We take special care of the elderly,” he noted.
Domenico Castronovo, owner of a small pizzeria in Berlin’s Nikolassee neighborhood, told CNN that the blackout had “serious consequences” for many local businesses.
“Due to the interruption in electricity supply, we were forced to temporarily close, which resulted in the loss of large quantities of food and stored supplies”, he pointed out.
A few kilometers from the affected areas, life continued as normal, with shops and restaurants open and other Berliners offering beds or baths to those affected.
Students work on their laptops at a service station in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office in Berlin on Monday. Omer Messinger/Getty Images
Following the attack, hundreds of police officers were mobilized in the neighborhoods affected by the power cuts, illuminating the areas after dark with lamp posts, in addition to installing mobile posts. Police have also set up a hotline for those affected.
Who is the Vulkangruppe Group?
Vulkangruppe is a far-left extremist group in Germany, motivated by anarchist, anti-capitalist and radical environmentalist ideologies.
The group is known for carrying out arson attacks. According to the German secret service, the BfV, the group has been behind several similar attacks against critical infrastructure since 2011.
In March 2024, the group claimed responsibility for a major attack on the energy supply at Tesla’s Gigafactory, near Berlin, which forced production to stop for several days. The group published a letter online claiming to have set fire to a pole at the electric car factory following the attack.
CNN’s Chris Stern contributed to this report.
