Anonymous
05-03-2002, 05:00 AM
Distraught nation asks why
Classmates say he was smart and funny so why did Robert Steinhäuser become a mass murderer? Neil Mackay looks at the trail of guns and cults that led to a bloodbath
IT was about 9.30am on Friday when Robert Steinhäuser left his grandparents' home on the outskirts of the baroque town of Erfurt, in what was once East Germany, and hopped on a bus for the 20-minute journey to his former school, the Gutenburg Gymnasium.
The school had expelled him in February for disruptive behaviour and he would otherwise have been sitting his arbitur (higher) exams for a place at university. Instead he packed a bag for school with a mask, Ninja fighting costume, two guns, a pump-action shotgun and a pistol and more than 500 rounds of bullets.
Once the short journey was over, the 19-year-old stood in the playground for nearly an hour smoking cigarettes before entering the school. He changed into his killing clothes in a bathroom, concealing the guns beneath a long, black coat -- reminiscent of the so-called Trenchcoat Mafia killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 12 students and teachers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in April 1999.
Steinhäuser then made his way to Room 209 where a maths exam was underway. Juliane Blank, who was in the classroom, said: 'He must have opened the door without being heard.' He sat at the back and as the teacher asked students to turn over their papers, he suddenly leaped to his feet saying: 'I'm not going to take this test.' That's when the shooting started.
Ten minutes later 16 people were dead: 13 teachers, two female pupils and a police officer. Four hours later, when the German police's elite SEK or Special Action Commandos were completing a room-to-room search of the school, they found a 17th body -- Robert Steinhäuser. He'd blown his own head off.*****
He was part of the sinister Blue Rose Cult -- an internet-based ring of lonely and delinquent youngsters, who are into Gothic music and devil-worship. The cult has been linked to at least 15 teenage suicides in eastern Germany in the past two years, and there have been reports that some members have slaughtered animals as part of satanic rituals.
Others take part in bizarre rituals where they slash each other with razors and then drink the blood of their friends. The group encourages teenagers to talk about their 'miserable lives and useless existence' in chatrooms. It is a fine blend of alienation, existential teenage angst and a numbed fascination with ultra- violence and the dark side.
Via email, members of the Blue Rose Cult even encourage each other to commit suicide. In November 2000, an 18-year-old from Klietz in Germany jumped out of his window to his death. On his computer were messages from the Blue Rose Cult telling him to take his own life.***
From http://www.sundayherald.com/24220
Classmates say he was smart and funny so why did Robert Steinhäuser become a mass murderer? Neil Mackay looks at the trail of guns and cults that led to a bloodbath
IT was about 9.30am on Friday when Robert Steinhäuser left his grandparents' home on the outskirts of the baroque town of Erfurt, in what was once East Germany, and hopped on a bus for the 20-minute journey to his former school, the Gutenburg Gymnasium.
The school had expelled him in February for disruptive behaviour and he would otherwise have been sitting his arbitur (higher) exams for a place at university. Instead he packed a bag for school with a mask, Ninja fighting costume, two guns, a pump-action shotgun and a pistol and more than 500 rounds of bullets.
Once the short journey was over, the 19-year-old stood in the playground for nearly an hour smoking cigarettes before entering the school. He changed into his killing clothes in a bathroom, concealing the guns beneath a long, black coat -- reminiscent of the so-called Trenchcoat Mafia killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 12 students and teachers at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in April 1999.
Steinhäuser then made his way to Room 209 where a maths exam was underway. Juliane Blank, who was in the classroom, said: 'He must have opened the door without being heard.' He sat at the back and as the teacher asked students to turn over their papers, he suddenly leaped to his feet saying: 'I'm not going to take this test.' That's when the shooting started.
Ten minutes later 16 people were dead: 13 teachers, two female pupils and a police officer. Four hours later, when the German police's elite SEK or Special Action Commandos were completing a room-to-room search of the school, they found a 17th body -- Robert Steinhäuser. He'd blown his own head off.*****
He was part of the sinister Blue Rose Cult -- an internet-based ring of lonely and delinquent youngsters, who are into Gothic music and devil-worship. The cult has been linked to at least 15 teenage suicides in eastern Germany in the past two years, and there have been reports that some members have slaughtered animals as part of satanic rituals.
Others take part in bizarre rituals where they slash each other with razors and then drink the blood of their friends. The group encourages teenagers to talk about their 'miserable lives and useless existence' in chatrooms. It is a fine blend of alienation, existential teenage angst and a numbed fascination with ultra- violence and the dark side.
Via email, members of the Blue Rose Cult even encourage each other to commit suicide. In November 2000, an 18-year-old from Klietz in Germany jumped out of his window to his death. On his computer were messages from the Blue Rose Cult telling him to take his own life.***
From http://www.sundayherald.com/24220