- Cologne school massacre
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Cologne school massacre 
Commemorative plaqueLocation Cologne, Germany Date June 11, 1964 Attack type Mass murder, school shooting, murder-suicide, massacre Weapon(s) Flamethrower, lance, homemade mace Death(s) 11 (including the perpetrator) Injured 22 Perpetrator Walter Seifert The Cologne school massacre occurred in a Catholic elementary school located at Volkhovener Weg 209 in the suburb of Volkhoven in Cologne, Germany on June 11, 1964. Walter Seifert, born on June 11, 1922, killed eight students and two teachers.
Seifert reportedly fell apart when his wife died in childbirth in 1961; 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 in the Wehrmacht during World War II.
On June 11, the day of his 42nd birthday, Seifert took a self-made flamethrower, lance and mace and entered the schoolyard. After blocking off the main gate with a wooden wedge, he proceeded to kill eight students and two teachers and injure twenty two others, mostly students. He smashed in the windows of the buildings and pointed his flamethrower in the classrooms, setting the classroom on fire, effectively killing nine people. He was then confronted by a teacher, Ursula Kuhr, 24, whom he stabbed with the lance.
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 the hospital the next day from the poison.
Contents
Victims
Gravestone for Ursula Kuhr on Cologne Südfriedhof
Teachers:
- Gertrud Bollenrath, aged 62
- Ursula Kuhr, aged 24
Students:
- Dorothea Binner
- Renate Fühlen
- Ingeborg Hahn
- Ruth Hoffmann
- Klara Kröger
- Stephan Lischka
- Karin Reinhold
- Rosel Röhrig
Notes
- Both teachers who died had a school named after them.
- Anna Langohr, one of the surviving teachers, was presented with the Medal Cross by Pope Paul VI as well as other decorations from the city.
See also
- Bremen school shooting
- Eppstein school shooting
- Erfurt massacre
- Winnenden school shooting
- Emsdetten school shooting
- Ansbach school attack
References
External links
- Ursula Kuhr Schule Page on the massacre (In German, with pictures)
- Wie lebende Fackeln stürzten Kinder ins Freie, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 12, 1964)
- Noch fünfzehn Kinder mit schweren Verbrennungen im Krankenhaus, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 12, 1964)
- Von Behörden als Querulant abgewiesen, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 12, 1964)
- Noch 10 Kinder in Lebensgefahr, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 13, 1964)
- Ein Kind in Köln heute früh seinen furchtbaren Verletzungen erlegen, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 15, 1964)
- Noch ernste Sorge um 16 Kinder, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 16, 1964)
- Drei Kinder ringen mit dem Tode, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 18, 1964)
- Das 7. Todesopfer in Köln, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 19, 1964)
- Für drei Kinder haben die Ärzte keine Hoffnung mehr, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 22, 1964)
- Lebensgefahr nicht gebannt, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 27, 1964)
- Das 10. Opfer in Volkhoven, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 30, 1964)
- 550000 DM für die Opfer von Volkhoven, Hamburger Abendblatt (July 17, 1964)
- Großzügige Hilfe für die Opfer von Volkhoven, Hamburger Abendblatt (July 25, 1964)
Categories:- 1964 in Germany
- School killings in Germany
- History of Cologne
- Crime in Germany
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