Cologne school massacre

1964 mass murder at an elementary school in Cologne, West Germany

The Cologne school massacre was a mass murder that occurred at the Catholic elementary school (katholische Volksschule) located in the suburb of Volkhoven in Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia, West Germany, on 11 June 1964. The perpetrator, Walter Seifert, also known as "Der Feuerteufel von Volkhoven" ("Firedevil of Volkhoven"), attacked the people at the school with a home made flamethrower and a spear, killing eight pupils and two teachers, and wounding twenty two others. When police arrived at the scene, Seifert fled from the school compound and poisoned himself. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the same evening.

Willi Walter Seifert (19 June 1921 – 11 June 1964) was born in Bickendorf, a district of Cologne, in what was then Weimar Germany.

Seifert had made all of his weapons about two months prior to the attack. The spear was made from a broomstick and a triangular scraper, while he used a pump bracket to create the mace. His flamethrower was made from an insecticide sprayer with a wire netting attached to the nozzle, and filled with a mixture of old motor oil and paint thinner. The attack lasted for about fifteen minutes. Kuhr died at the scene, while Bollenrath died from her wounds in hospital at 13:00. Along with teachers Langohr and Wiltrud Schweden, twenty eight pupils were taken to hospitals, some of them with burns to 90% of their bodies. Eight of the pupils died in the following weeks.

Both teachers who died had schools named after them. Anna Langohr, one of the surviving teachers, was presented with the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal by Pope Paul VI as well as with the Medal of Merit ("Verdienstmedaille"), the lowest class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the "Rettungsmedaille of the State of North Rhine Westphalia", a Lifesaving Medal presented to those who risked their lives in the pursuit of saving another person's life. After her death in 1990, aged 93, an elementary school in a neighbouring suburb was named after Langohr.