It is not clear whether the suspect was known to the victim, while nothing is known of his motive or mental state.

Images showed emergency vehicles and armed police lined along one side of the memorial site. Officers cordoned off the site and were searching the area.

They also said they did not know what the weapon was.

Many officers have been deployed to the area in the aftermath, with a police statement on X saying there were also rescue workers on site “caring for several people who witnessed the events”.

The attack appears to have taken place on the northern side of the memorial – opposite to which sits the US embassy.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which covers 19,000 sqm, is described as being Germany’s central Holocaust memorial.

Hours after the attack in the German capital, Swedish police said they had apprehended three men near the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, on suspicion of preparing to commit violent crime.

“We are unable to comment on the potential motive,” police spokesperson Susanna Rinaldo told the Reuters news agency.

There has been no suggestion that the attack in Berlin and arrests in Stockholm are linked.

The stabbing comes just days before federal elections are held in Germany.