The Bratislava LGBT+ bar shooting and the ‘Jewish Occupied System’

Today, CST releases its latest (and final) research briefing of the year: The Bratislava LGBT+ Bar Shooting and the 'Jewish Occupied System'.

On 12 October 2022, Juraj Krajcík, a 19-year-old white supremacist, perpetrated a fatal shooting attack outside an LGBT+ bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, killing two and injuring one. His murders join the tragic record of recent extreme right-wing terrorist attacks targeting religious, ethnic and minority communities globally.

The attacker posted on social media in the hours before and after the shooting. Earlier that day, he tweeted a link to his manifesto. Posting pre-attack manifestos online shortly before an attack, often coupled with efforts to film or livestream attacks, has become a recurring feature of far-right terrorist modus operandi.

Later that night, his post-attack posts on 4chan revealed that he had aspired to attack at least two other targets: Slovakia’s prime minister and the nearby Chabad House, a Jewish religious outreach centre.

In August, nearly two months to the day of his attack, the shooter tweeted selfies outside the targeted LGBT+ bar, the city's Chabad House and the Slovak prime minister’s apartment building, presumably acts of hostile reconnaissance for his pre-attack preparations.

CST’s Research Briefing dives into the attacker’s 65-page manifesto, which is replete with incitement to murder Jews, LGBT+, ethnic minorities and others. The text demonstrates the attacker’s adherence to a deeply antisemitic conspiracist worldview, fuelled by a white supremacist, accelerationist ideology and fixated with destroying "ZOG" (Zionist Occupied Government), a widespread conspiracy claiming limitless Jewish power to control the US and foreign governments.

The manifesto also highlights how far-right terror attacks in 2019 and 2022 – alongside memes and material glorifying attackers and tactical guidance shared on 4chan, 8chan and Telegram – directly inspired and motivated his attack plans in Bratislava. He revered these likeminded terrorists as “saints”.

Yet, English-language media reports on the Bratislava shooting paid much less attention to the farewell letter the attacker left for his family. Addressing them directly, he emphasised that he chose the “path of struggle against the jewish enemies and their collaborators”. He also expressed emotions of “joy that such an opportunity to strike at the jewish occupied system is presented to me”.

CST’s Research Briefing reviews the details of the attack, the perpetrator’s use of social media and the core conspiratorial features of his letter and manifesto. The briefing also emphasises the persistent risks and consequences of violent accelerationist material being so easily accessible, highlighting how this contributes to the current cycle of terrorist copycat attacks and addressing the threat implications of more extremists “operationalising” their conspiracies and mobilising to violence.

 Download the full research briefing.