Not A Normal School Day

Germans paused for a moment of silence Monday to honor the victims of last week's suicide school shooting that left 17 dead, while most classes in the stricken city of Erfurt were canceled to give students a chance to express their grief and fears.

A handwritten sign taped to a pillar outside city hall summed up the mood in this east German city: "Monday can't be a normal school day."

Children clutched their parents' hands and older students embraced tearfully as they assembled with their teachers at the high school in a morning chill before heading to the nearby city hall for sessions with counselors and teachers. Some pupils had seen their teachers being shot and nearly 200 of the school's 750 students were trapped in the building for two hours, waiting for police to evacuate them.

Older residents, many carrying flowers and dabbing their eyes, mixed with students and teachers huddled in small groups outside city hall as they lined up in a cold rain to sign a condolence book.

After a series of less deadly incidents in Germany over the last few years, school violence was brought home with a vengeance in Friday's rampage by a 19-year-old former student, who snuck into an Erfurt school with a 9 mm pistol and fatally shot 13 teachers, two teen-age students and a policeman, then killed himself.

"This happens a lot in America, but it's not just an American thing anymore," said Robert Kippel, 17, a student from another school who was among the many pupils who devoted their morning to honoring the victims. "It can happen anywhere."

"America is so far away and it never seemed real to me before," said 16-year-old Christin Beinlich.

At 11:05 a.m. — the time Erfurt police received a call from the school janitor saying someone was shooting — Germans in classrooms and public buildings across the country paused in a moment of silence to honor those killed by Robert Steinhaueser. Citizens of Erfurt huddled under umbrellas as the city virtually came to a halt.

"Tomorrow we will try to resume normal lessons, but if the children need to talk, we will always interrupt to let them speak," said Rowitha Tichatschke, a German and English teacher from a middle school in Erfurt.

As police continued to comb the Gutenberg Gymnasium Monday, mourners maintained a vigil in front of the school and a still-growing sea of flowers spilled down the front steps, carpeting half the yard in front of the building.

Principal Christine Alt said the school, where students where in the midst of university entrance exams, would reopen in the fall.

Edmund Stoiber, the conservative challenger to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Sept. 22 elections, laid a bouquet at the school Monday while politicians debated the need for tighter gun control laws and curbs on sales of violent computer games, which police say Steinhaeuser enjoyed at home.

Officials said Steinhaueser — a gun club member who was licensed to own weapons — walked into the building just before 11 a.m., used a bathroom to change into all-black clothing and a ski mask before going on a shooting spree.

Erfurt Police Chief Rainer Grube said witnesses confirmed suspicions Steinhaeuser was bent on killing teachers, recalling the gunman bursting into some classrooms but leaving if he saw no teachers. The two teen-age victims, a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were killed when Steinhaeuser fired in rage through a classroom door locked from the inside by terrified students.

By Vanessa Gera