Consulate General
of Israel
Opened on 8 April 2011 by Seehofer and Lieberman. Today on Karolinenplatz in the former NSDAP party quarter, within sight of the NS-Dokumentationszentrum. The only Israeli consulate general in the European Union. Attempted attack on 5 September 2024 — exactly 52 years after the Munich Olympics massacre.
Founding and moves
On 8 April 2011 Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer and Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman sign the joint declaration establishing the consulate general. Work begins at Brienner Straße 19 in September 2011; the formal opening ceremony follows on 3 July 2012. First consul general: Tibor Shalev-Schlosser.
In early 2014 the Free State of Bavaria (owner) and the State of Israel (tenant) settle on the permanent seat: a three-storey building in the rear courtyard of the former State Lottery Administration on Karolinenplatz. Conversion at around €8 million, split equally between Bavaria and Israel. 10 November 2015: ceremonial opening in the presence of Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely. The staircase contains Bavarian and Israeli stones. Three diplomats, around 20 staff, sections for press, innovation, culture, education and economic affairs.
Since September 2023 Talya Lador-Fresher has been consul general. She is the face of the consulate at home and abroad — including after the 2024 attack.
Symbolism of the location
The Karolinenplatz location was chosen deliberately. The consulate general sits in the middle of the former NSDAP party quarter of the 1930s. Within sight is the NS-Dokumentationszentrum, a few steps away the former Brown House of the NSDAP, and nearby Klenze’s Königsplatz with the plinths of the Honour Temples. Where Hitler ruled Bavaria from Brienner Straße in the early 1930s, today a few hundred square metres house a twofold answer from the Federal Republic: the NS-Dokumentationszentrum (historical clarification) and the Israeli Consulate General (diplomatic relations). Memory and the present at a single address.
Munich Olympics massacre
At 4.35 a.m. eight members of the Palestinian terrorist group “Black September” storm the Israeli team’s quarters at Connollystraße 31 in the Olympic Village. Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano are killed immediately. In the failed rescue attempt at Fürstenfeldbruck all the remaining hostages die — 11 of 14 Israeli Olympic team members in total. Consequence: the founding of GSG 9.
Attempted attack at Karolinenplatz
Exactly 52 years after the Olympics massacre: an 18-year-old Austrian (Emrah Ibrahimovic) opens fire in front of the consulate general with a Swiss Karabiner 31. An attempt to crash the fence by car fails. Two shots are fired at the consulate. The attacker flees into the neighbouring building of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech). In an exchange of fire with five police officers, the attacker is fatally hit. The authorities classify the act as antisemitic, anti-Israeli terrorism.
Security measures
The consulate is under round-the-clock 24/7 protection by the Munich police. After the 2024 attack, security was tightened — retractable bollards, reinforced glazing, access controls. A minor incident in March 2026: the extended bollards briefly blocked a police robot that was supposed to examine a suspicious rucksack.
The 1970 Reichenbachstraße arson
The history of security threats does not begin only in 2024. As early as the evening of 13 February 1970, a Sabbath, seven people died in the arson attack on the Jewish old people’s home above the synagogue on Reichenbachstraße — all of them had survived the Nazi era; two had been in concentration camps. The attack remained unsolved for decades. Only in January 2026, after new witness statements, did the Munich Public Prosecutor General’s Office identify a far-right extremist — who had already died in 2020 — as the prime suspect and classify the deed as an antisemitically motivated mass murder.
Words.
“The opening of the new Consulate General of the State of Israel at Munich’s Karolinenplatz is a historic moment.”— Horst Seehofer · 10 November 2015
“Shots fired outside the NS-Dokumentationszentrum and the Israeli consulate in Munich.”— Jüdische Allgemeine · 5 September 2024
Furtherreading.
Back to
the map of
all nine sites.
Königsplatz, Honour Temples, Führerbau, Administrative Building, NS-Doku, Schelling-Salon, Osteria, Prinz-Carl-Palais, Consulate General.