German mayor fights for life after being repeatedly stabbed at her home a week after
A newly elected German mayor is fighting for her life today after a stabbing attack at her home – with police taking her teenage adopted son away for questioning.
The attack on Iris Stalzer, 57, mayor-elect of Herdecke near the western city of Dortmund, took place at around noon near her own home, said public broadcaster WDR.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned the incident as a ‘heinous act’.
She was discovered inside her apartment by her 15-year-old adopted son, according to German outlet Bild, with life-threatening injuries and several stabbing wounds on her stomach and back.
Police have reportedly arrested the boy, who told officers that his mother was attacked outside their home by ‘several men on the street’, the outlet said.
It added that he called 911 alongside his 17-year-old sister, who was understood to also be present in the apartment when authorities arrived.
Stalzer is receiving emergency treatment in hospital and is claimed to be in critical condition.
She was due to take office after being elected as the mayor of Herdecke, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, only a week ago.
Emergency services stand next to a rescue helicopter in Herdecke, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, after the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, has been found critically injured in her apartment
The attack on Iris Stalzer, 57, mayor-elect of Herdecke near the western city of Dortmund, took place at around noon near her own home, said public broadcaster WDR
Stalzer is the newly elected mayor of Herdecke in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
Local police have issued a major alert and a manhunt is reportedly ongoing for the suspects, according to Bild.
A rescue helicopter was photographed at the scene in Herdecke, accompanied by emergency services.
A homicide squad is expected to take over the investigation into the attack shortly.
The police are urgently appealing to the public for information.
It has not yet been determined whether there was a political motive behind the incident.
Local and regional authorities were not immediately available to comment.
The motive was unclear but the case raises memories of the 2019 murder of conservative local government president Walter Luebcke, a supporter of then Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, who was shot dead by a far-right activist as he smoked a late-night cigarette on his terrace at home.
Stalzer, of Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior party in the country’s conservative-led national government, was elected on September 28 as mayor of Herdecke.
After securing just over 52.2 percent of the vote, she celebrated her success in a post on Instagram, writing: ‘Above all, I would like to thank the citizens of Herdecke for this fantastic result and the trust you have placed in me as the new mayor.
‘I will begin my term in November – full of joy, enthusiasm, and respect for this task. Together with you, I want to shape, develop, and keep our city vibrant.’
Ambulance vehicles are seen near the site where Iris Stalzer, the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, was severely injured in a knife attack, in Herdecke, western Germany on October 7, 2025
Police officers work at the scene after Herdecke’s newly elected Mayor Iris Stalzer was found seriously injured in a stabbing incident, in Herdecke, Germany, October 7, 2025
The comments to the post are now filled with ‘get well soon’ messages in the wake of the news of the attack.
‘Disgusting act. A speedy recovery,’ one person wrote.
‘I pray for your health,’ another added.
The mayor is married with two teenage children and has lived in Herdecke for almost the entirety of her life.
She is a lawyer and a specialist in employment legislation.
Merz wrote on social media that ‘we fear for the life of mayor-elect Iris Stalzer and hope for her full recovery’.
‘My thoughts are with her family and her relatives,’ he added.
Police said only that there was a large operation under way in Herdecke.
The leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, told reporters that ‘we heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke’.
He said that ‘we hope that she survives this terrible act’.
‘We can’t say anything at the moment about the background,’ he added.
Stalzer, who beat a candidate from Merz’s center-right Christian Democrats in a runoff vote to win election, is due to take office on November 1.
Herdecke is a town of about 23,000 people in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between the cities of Hagen and Dortmund.
Local and regional authorities were not immediately available to comment.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.