The German federal government has announced an unprecedented measure: a reward of €1 million has been offered for reliable information that will help to identify and apprehend those responsible for the January arson attack on Berlin’s energy infrastructure.
This was announced on Monday at a meeting of the Berlin House of Representatives’ Internal Affairs Committee by Senator for Internal Affairs Iris Spranger (SPD). According to her, this amount was proposed by the federal government, and the decision itself is described as ‘unique’ in terms of both the size of the reward and the nature of the incident.
On the night of 3 January 2026, unknown people set fire to a cable bridge in the Lichterfelde district (south-west Berlin). The powerful fire destroyed key high-voltage cables, leading to one of the longest blackouts in the city’s post-war history.
Approximately 45,000 to 50,000 households and more than 2,000 businesses were left without electricity and, consequently, heating. In sub-zero temperatures, the outage also affected hospitals, nursing homes and other critical facilities. It took several days to fully restore power, with some areas only getting electricity back after 4-5 days.
Responsibility for the sabotage was claimed by the radical left-wing anarchist group Vulkangruppe / Vulkan-Gruppe. In a published manifesto, the authors stated that their goal was not so much to stop the supply of electricity to residents as to strike a blow against ‘fossil fuels and green capitalism.’ At the same time, they apologised to low-income families affected by the power outage.
The group, which has been operating under various ‘volcanic’ names since 2011, has repeatedly set fire to cables, power lines, railway infrastructure and even attacked substations near the Tesla factory near Berlin (2021 and 2024). German special services classify it as an extreme left-wing extremist organisation.
The investigation into the case has been taken over by the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe under articles on membership in a terrorist organisation, constitutionally hostile sabotage, arson and disruption of the work of socially important enterprises. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and state services are working together.