Cologne School Massacre
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The Cologne School Massacre occurred in a Catholic elementary school in a suburb of Cologne, Germany called Volkhoven on the June 12, 1964. Walter Seifert (born June 11, 1922) killed 8 students and 2 teachers and then eventually himself.
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[edit] Perpetrator Walter Seifert
Seifert reportedly fell apart when his wife died in childbirth several years before; his tuberculosis worsened and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He felt he was being treated unfairly by the government which he claimed was cheating him out of his war pension for his service during World War II. [citation needed] After he left the schoolyard, he swallowed a poisonous insecticide E605 in hopes of committing suicide before police could catch him. He was soon apprehended by police, but died in hospital the next day from the poison.
[edit] Weapons
- A home-made flamethrower constructed from a garden sprayer
- A long lance
[edit] The Massacre
On June 11, Seifert took the flame-thrower and lance and entered the schoolyard. After blocking off the main gate with a wooden wedge, he proceeded to kill 8 students and 2 teachers and injure 21 others, mostly students. He smashed in the windows of the buildings and pointed his flamethrower in the classrooms, setting the classroom, and many of the people inside it, on fire. He was then confronted by a teacher, Gertrud Bollenrath, whom he stabbed with the lance. Apparently throughout the attack he screamed "I am Adolf Hitler the Second!"
[edit] Victims
Teachers:
- Gertrud Bollenrath, 62
- Ursula Kuhr, 24
Students:
- Dorothea Binner
- Renate Fühlen
- Ingeborg Hahn
- Ruth Hoffmann
- Klara Kröger
- Stephan Lischka
- Karin Reinhold
- Rosel Röhrig
[edit] Notes
- Both teachers who died each had a school named after them.
- Anna Langohr, one of the surviving teachers, was presented with the Medal Cross from Pope Paul VI as well as other decorations from the city.
