Fire at Charité cancer treatment building entrance under investigation by State Security

In the early hours of 11 November 2025, a fire was set at the entrance area of a Charite cancer treatment building in Berlin-Mitte. According to Tagesspiegel and the trade outlet kma Online, the fire was reported at around 2:05 a.m. at the cancer center on Invalidenstrasse on the Campus Charite Mitte. Burn marks were left on the facade and a door of the entrance area, but the building remained in operation and patients were directed to use a side entrance. No one was injured.

The fire was reported the same night as a separate incident at the Vivantes Klinikum Neukolln, where an illegal pyrotechnic device detonated outside the radiotherapy clinic entrance at around 1:14 a.m., roughly 45 minutes earlier, damaging windowpanes and a door. Because both incidents struck cancer treatment facilities within a short window, Berlin police initially treated them as possible politically motivated property damage. The State Security division (Staatsschutz) at the Berlin LKA took up the case alongside explosives specialists, and police appealed for witnesses, photos and video footage.

By 17 November 2025, the police framing had shifted. Tagesspiegel reported that police vice president Marco Langner said there were no indications of a connection between the two acts, and interior state secretary Christian Hochgrebe said there were no indications of politically motivated acts. State Security involvement was concluded: the Charite fire was passed to an arson investigation unit and the Neukolln explosion to a specialized explosives unit. The investigation into who was responsible remains ongoing.

What is established: a deliberate fire damaged the entrance of a Charite cancer building on 11 November 2025, with no injuries, and Berlin State Security initially probed it alongside the same-night Vivantes Neukolln explosion as a possible coordinated, politically motivated series. That early framing was later walked back. By 17 November, police reported no indications of a link between the two incidents and no indications of political motivation, and reassigned the Charite case to an arson unit. No perpetrator or motive has been confirmed, and the investigation continues.