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From Brand in jüdischem Altenheim : Anschlag in München nach 56 Jahren offenbar aufgeklärt, tagesschau.de, 20 August 2026. Quoted for study. The words are the publisher's; the analysis is ours.
Meaning
Seven residents, survivors of the Holocaust, were killed.
Word for word: Seven residents and residents, survivors of the Holocaust, were killed.
Reports that seven people living in a place, who had survived the Holocaust, were killed; typical of news reporting about an attack.
A passive-voice sentence in the preterite: the finite auxiliary 'wurden' plus past participle 'getötet' forms the Vorgangspassiv. The subject 'Sieben Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner' is nominative plural; the apposition 'Überlebende des Holocausts' is a substantivised adjective in nominative plural with a genitive attribute 'des Holocausts'.
Rules at work(6)
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wurden getötet
The action is reported from the perspective of the victims, who appear as the subject; the agent is not mentioned.
Werden plus a past participle. The agent, when it is mentioned at all, follows von for a person and durch for a means. In the perfect passive the participle of werden appears as worden rather than geworden.
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wurden
Written narrative and news style uses the preterite of 'werden' rather than the perfect to form the passive.
The simple past is the written narrative past. In speech it survives mainly in sein, haben and the modals, where hatte and war are far commoner than the perfect forms.
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Sieben Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner
The subject of the passive sentence stands in the nominative.
The nominative marks the subject of the clause: whoever or whatever is doing the verb. It is also the case used after the verbs sein, werden and bleiben, so both sides of Das ist mein Bruder stand in the nominative.
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des Holocausts
The genitive marks the noun attribute specifying what the survivors survived.
The genitive shows possession and follows a small set of prepositions. Masculine and neuter nouns add s or es. In speech it is often replaced by von plus the dative, but it is alive in writing and in fixed expressions.
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Überlebende
The past participle of 'überleben' is used as a capitalised noun declined like an adjective.
An adjective can be capitalised and used as a noun, and it goes on taking adjective endings: der Alte, ein Alter, etwas Neues.
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Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner ... wurden
The plural subject requires the plural finite form 'wurden'.
The finite verb takes an ending that matches its subject in person and number. The endings for regular verbs in the present are e, st, t, en, t, en.
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Words(9)
- sieben
seven
numeralA1
- die Bewohnerin
female resident, female inhabitant
nounA2pl. Bewohnerinnengen. Bewohnerinweak declension
- und
and
conjunctionA1coordinating
- der Bewohner
resident, inhabitant
nounA2pl. Bewohnergen. Bewohnersstrong declension
- der Überlebende
survivor
nounB2pl. Überlebendegen. Überlebendenadjectival declension
Substantivised adjective; declined like an adjective and capitalised.
- der
the
determinerA1definite
Appears twice: dative feminine 'der Wirtschaft' and nominative plural 'die Beschlüsse'.
- der Holocaust
the Holocaust
nounC1pl. Holocaustegen. Holocaustsstrong declension
- werden
become, will (future auxiliary)
verbA2werden, wurde, ist gewordenmit habenirregular
Also the passive auxiliary; do not confuse with bekommen (= receive).
- töten
to kill
verbB2töten, tötete, hat getötetmit habenweakgoverns accusative