Walter Seifert

Case record: Walter Seifert

STATUS

Committed suicide by poisoning himself with cyanide the same day; died next day.

Background

Walter Seifert was born on June 11, 1922. He was 42 years old on June 11, 1964. He was reportedly out of work for years due to tuberculosis. Seifert reportedly fell apart after 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 during World War II in the Wehrmacht. Walter wrote several letters about his unfair treatment by medical officers to the head of the health department, the director of the upper city and the head of the provincial government trying in vain to make a war pension valid. Several medical officers certified Walter with schizophrenia symptoms, but they did not think he was violent.

The offence

On June 11, 1964, Walter Seifert converted a garden sprayer into a flamethrower and filled it with an easily inflammable mixture that could deliver a six-meter flame. He took the flamethrower, a lance 1.5 meters long, and a homemade iron centrifuge to the Catholic elementary school at Cologne Volkhoven. The school consisted of three wood pavilions containing six classrooms, near the main administration building. Seifert blocked a small school gate with a wooden wedge.

In the schoolyard, teacher Anna Langohr was teaching a group of girls about sports. Seifert went to the first pavilion, which held four classrooms. He threw some disks in with the centrifuge, put the flamethrower into an opened window and pulled the trigger. The wooden classrooms and the clothes of the children immediately caught on fire and panic ensued.

Gertrud Bollenrath, a teacher, began to smoother the flames from the children's clothes before going out into the yard and putting herself in harm's way. Seifert stabbed her with the lance, killing her.

While students ran all over the schoolyard, Seifert let loose another deadly flame. Anna, 67, tried to stay between the students and Seifert, but the flames overtook her and she collapsed to the ground.

Seifert then began to approach another wooden pavilion. The teachers inside, Ursula Kuhr and a teacher identified only as Kunz, saw him coming and tried to shut the wing doors, but Seifert tore one of them off its hinges. Ursula, 24, lost her balance and fell down. Seifert stabbed the fallen teacher several times while she was on the floor, killing her.

After leaving the schoolyard, Seifert fled into a field. Police apprehended him in the field.

The incident involved the Katholische Volksschule at Volkhovener Weg 209 in the suburb of Volkhoven in Cologne, Germany on June 11, 1964.

Investigation

At the time of the attack, survivors claimed that Seifert repeatedly chanted "I am Adolf Hitler the Second!"(unproofed).

Neighbors and others responded to the fire and commotion in the school yard. Men who drove the garbage trucks were able to break down the gate Seifert had wedged closed and extinguished the fire with blankets and clothes. They stopped cars in the street and had them transport the wounded students to area hospitals.

Arrest

Police apprehended Walter Seifert in the field. During the chase, Seifert swallowed a cap of plant poison E605. By the time of the sunset on June 11, Walter Seifert had died in Lindenburg. He died next day from the poison.

Death and custody

Seifert 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. He died next day while in custody.

Gertrud Bollenrath, 62, died just after 1:00 at Holy Spirit Hospital. Anna was in critical status for a week, and she was not until October that she was able to leave the hospital.

Victims

Walter Seifert killed eight students and two teachers.

• Teachers:
  • Gertrud Bollenrath, 62
  • Ursula Kuhr, 24
• Students:
  • Dorothea Binner
  • Renate Fühlen
  • Ingeborg Hahn
  • Ruth Hoffmann
  • Klara Kröger
  • Stephan Lischka
  • Karin Reinhold
  • Rosel Röhrig

Twenty-two other victims survived with very severe burns, including twenty children and two teachers. Another portion of the incident description stated that Seifert injured twenty-one others, mostly students. The students had burns over 90% of their bodies. Eight students died from their injuries.

Weapons and methods

Seifert used:

• A home-made flamethrower constructed from a garden sprayer
• A long lance
• A homemade iron centrifuge
• An easily inflammable mixture that could deliver a six-meter flame
• An insecticide E605 used to poison himself

Aftermath

The Volkhoven council decided a few days later to tear down the school to remove the reminder of this event. In 1965, the Catholic elementary school in Cologne Heimersdorf was named for Ursula Kuhr. In 1986, the Sonderschule (special school) at Fuehlinger Weg was named for Gertrud Bollenrath.

Anna Langohr was presented with the Medal Cross from Pope Paul VI as well as other decorations from the city, including the Service Medal and the Service Award of the FRG from Mayor John van Nes Ziegler and the Rescue Medal of North Rhine-Westphalia. Anna died on January 27, 1990 at the age of 93.

The 28 students who were wounded underwent months of long and painful treatment, which could not heal the scars completely, both physical and psychological.

Timeline

• June 11, 1964 — Walter Seifert entered the Katholische Volksschule at Volkhovener Weg 209 in Volkhoven, Cologne, converted a garden sprayer into a flamethrower, and opened fire, setting classrooms on fire; he fled into a field and was apprehended by police after swallowing plant poison E605 during the chase; Gertrud Bollenrath was reported as dying just after 1:00 at Holy Spirit Hospital; the fire was extinguished and wounded students were transported to area hospitals.
• June 12, 1964 — Walter Seifert died in hospital from the poison while in custody.

Other details

Walter Seifert had previously served in the Wehrmacht during World War II and claimed he was owed a war pension. He felt he was being cheated by government actions regarding the validity of his war pension. During the attack, the wooden classrooms and the clothes of the children immediately caught on fire and panic ensued. The school massacre left ten people dead not including Seifert’s suicide.