GERMANY: No one will disturb the sea of flowers and candles covering the steps of Erfurt's Gutenberg school this morning.
The steps that should be filled with students reluctantly starting another school week are now a shrine to the 16 people gunned down on Friday by a former student, Robert Steinhäuser. A banner reads: "A wave of sorrow has begun. And even if we realise it some day, we will never understand it." The weekend passed in slow motion for Erfurt's 200,000 residents as they tried and failed to understand last Friday's tragedy.
"It's a strange feeling, like I'm wrapped in cotton wool and very numb," said one student as she lit a candle at the steps of her school.
Those gathered in front of the school drew comfort from the story of Mr Rainer Heise, the reluctant hero of the Erfurt shootings.
The 60-year-old teacher sat yesterday in his small living room telling his story as the telephone rang incessantly in the background. He came face to face to Steinhäuser and challenged him: "You can shoot me but look me in the eye when you do it." Steinhäuser laid down his gun saying "No, that's enough for today." Mr Heise then pushed his former student into a materials store room, locked the door and ran to the principal's office for help.
"The deputy headmistress was sitting dead at her desk. Her glasses were still on. There was a dark pool on the desk, it might have been blood." Police described Mr Heise as "a courageous teacher" who "most probably prevented a far worse massacre". While they revised down the total dead by one to 17 at the weekend, the massacre remains the worst in Germany's post-war history.
Police described Steinhäuser, who killed himself before he could be arrested, as "an excellent shot". He had plenty of practice, at a shooting range owned by the local police sport club. He also amassed nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition and was granted a gun licence last October without any apparent difficulty.
In less than 15 minutes, he fired over 40 rounds, picking out 13 staff members and a policeman with cold-blooded efficiency. Police say he most likely shot a 14-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy by accident through a door.
Some acquaintances describe Steinhäuser, a pasty-faced 19-year-old with a love of heavy metal music, as quiet and intelligent while others have a different impression. One former teachers remembered him as "an arrogant big-mouth".
Police no longer believe there was a second gunman and still have no motive for the attack other than revenge for being excluded from state exams required to attend university.
Officers questioned Steinhäuser's brother over the weekend and searched the family home, turning up further ammunition, violent comics and computer games.
One tabloid reported the gunman's Internet chat nickname was "Satan's son".
The German Chancellor , Mr Gerhard Schröder visited, the school on Saturday, accompanied by his wife, Ms Doris Schröder-Kopf. After laying a wreath and speaking to townspeople, the couple left for a memorial service in a nearby church, tears streaming down Ms Schröder-Kopf's cheeks.
A student representative yesterday rejected suggestions to close the Gutenberg school, an imposing four-storey Jugendstil building.
Funerals of the victims are planned for Friday and students will come together again this morning for counselling sessions in the town hall. Whenever they do return to Gutenberg school, they will pass under a stone plaque with the school motto of nearly 100 years, now a poignant hope: "Learn to live".
