On the 15th anniversary of the school shooting in Winnenden, the victims are remembered again. On Monday at 9:33 a.m., all the church bells in the small town near Stuttgart will ring, as in previous years. At this time, the first emergency call was received by the police on March 11, 2009. A former student broke into the Albertville secondary school and opened fire with his father’s pistol. He killed eight female students, one male student and three female teachers during class. On his escape to Wendlingen, the 17-year-old shot three other people and himself.
The names of those killed and their ages are read out at a memorial within sight of the school (9:30 a.m.). Most were 15 or 16 years old. According to the headmaster, the lower and middle grades also form a human chain around the school, as always. A total of three memorial services and a string of lights are planned later in the evening (8 p.m.).
From the perspective of Winnenden’s mayor Hartmut Holzwarth (CDU), the rampage and its consequences still move people in Winnenden even after 15 years. But what changes over the years is the needs of each individual to deal with the crime and its consequences.
There are those directly and indirectly affected who were at the school at the time, who had children there, friends or relatives, said Holzwarth. And there are also the people who only moved to Winnenden later and, above all, the unburdened children and young people. “We have to introduce them to the topic just as carefully in many conversations and events as we are required to do when dealing with those directly affected. That is our responsibility as a city.”
The head of the Albertville secondary school, Sven Kubick, has a similar experience. Students increasingly asked questions because they couldn’t remember the day because of their age or because they came across fake news (deliberate disinformation) on the Internet. “We need a certain informative part of school commemoration to teach what happened back then,” he explained.
But looking back shouldn’t be everything. “We also have to succeed in gaining meaning from it and conveying it as a message,” said Kubick. The aim of the school is to educate the students to be mindful and appreciative of one another.
