Serial Killer in St. Louis, 1977

8 October, 1977
Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel (BSKI)
Richmond Heights, MO

Joseph Paul Franklin, a serial killer who believed it was his duty to kill Jews, randomly picked the address of the BSKI synagogue out of a phonebook from among the different synagogues in the St. Louis area. On Shabbat morning, he hid in some tall grass across for the parking lot and waited for several hours until a bar mitzva at the synagogue was finishing up. As guests left the building, Franklin fired five shots and then fled the scene.

One guest, Gerry Gordon, was killed, and two others were wounded.
"Gerry was something of a jokester so when I heard the shots, I saw him grab his stomach. At first I thought he was joking because that's what he did. But then his wife came running over to me in tears saying Gerry's been shot, help me. She had blood all over her dress." (St. Louis Jewish Light)  
Franklin confessed to the crime in 1994. He was convicted of murder and executed. He was also guilty of several other murders and had firebombed Beth Shalom Synagogue in Chattanooga, TN earlier in 1977, totally destroying the building. In that case, a minyan had been scheduled for the time of the explosion, but congregants had left because only eight men were present. (JTA)

After his trial, Franklin remarked that his only regret was that "killing Jews is not legal."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mas'uda Shemtov Synagogue, Iraq, 1950

Image
14 January 1951 Baghdad, Iraq After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews living in the Arab world were increasingly persecuted and the overwhelming majority were forced to flee. On January 14, 1951, several hundred Iraqi Jews crowded into the courtyard of the Mas'uda Shemtov synagogue. They had come to make arrangements for a flight to Israel, which was becoming urgent. Suddenly, someone threw a hand grenade toward this crowd. The grenade hit a high-tension wire above and exploded. Five people were killed and twenty were injured. (Moshe Gat, The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948-1951  p.134) In wake of the bombing, the government claimed that Zionist agents had carried out the bombing to encourage emigration to Israel. Two Zionist activists were arrested and executed. However, Israeli papers reported that a Christian Iraqi officer had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out this crime, and similar bombs were uncovered in his house. In 2006, a former Mossad
Read more

Vienna, 1981

Vienna, Austria Aug. 29, 1981 In 1981, the Stadttempel of Vienna was attacked by the Abu Nidal Organization in a terrorist attack.  Many guests had come to the synagogue to celebrate a bar mitzva, something the attackers knew about and chose to exploit. ( Arutz Sheva ) Two Palestinian gunmen tried to break into the synagogue, but the gates to the compound were closed. Instead, they open-fired with machine guns and tossed four grenades into the crowd. Two people were killed: a mother, who had thrown herself on top of a friend's baby to shield him from the grenade blast, and an elderly man. ( JTA ) Another 21 people were injured. ( New York Times )  The windows of the building shattered, and the facade was riddled with bullet holes. A pool of blood formed at the front door.  The same synagogue had been attacked in 1979, but without casualties. Another attack was foiled in 2016. ( The Jewish Press )
Read more

Siedlce, 1939

During Sukkot, 1939, German soldiers forced their way into the synagogue in Siedlce, Poland. They beat the Jews who were praying inside. When people tried to escape, they were shot. Yosef Rubin was killed in this way. ( Association of Siedlcers in Israel ) A few months later, the synagogue was burned to the ground. According to some reports, homeless Jews who had been living in the synagogue died inside. ( Yizkor Book )
Read more