International Press Reactions to the Rampage in Graz

"Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Munich):

"The teams will have a lot to do in the coming days and weeks. Because what is also known from other school shootings: They have effects far beyond the event itself, traumatizing not only the families of the victims but also eyewitnesses and emergency responders for years. The shooting spree has not only shaken political life in Austria but has brought it to a complete standstill."

"Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung":

"What drives a young person to break into their former school and kill students and teachers? More will be learned about the background of the act and the perpetrator from Graz, who killed himself on the spot, in the coming days. Psychologists and 'experts' will offer more or less well-founded remote diagnoses. Whether this leads to serious insights or even meaningful consequences remains to be seen. It will not alleviate the suffering of the victims, their relatives, and the classmates.

Two things are clear. It does not make our daily lives safer if firearms become more easily accessible. (...) The other is a disgusting voyeurism that was already being peddled on the internet shortly after the terrible act at the Graz school. Images circulated on all sorts of platforms (...). Media that acquire them and advertise with headlines about 'horror scenes' should be condemned. Also because such things could entice copycats."

"spiegel.de" (Berlin):

"Hopeful and with a touch of mockery, yesterday's Tuesday began in Austria. 'Masterful in their inconspicuousness,' was the new government under Chancellor Christian Stocker, commented sardonically by the country's most widely read paper 'Kronen Zeitung' in the morning - in the rest of the world between Gaza and Donbass, a lot is happening, 'only in Austria not'. (...)

The bloodbath in Styria represents the most devastating massacre in Austria since the end of World War II. Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker, who rushed to Graz immediately, spoke of a 'dark hour and a national tragedy'. (...)

Even (FPÖ) party leader Herbert Kickl, contrary to his usual manner, made not the slightest attempt to gain political capital from the bloodbath.

However, just as a thought experiment, if the perpetrator had not been named Artur A., who according to official information is an Austrian citizen, but, for example, Ahmed B. - it is unimaginable what would have erupted in a country like this: In polls, the FPÖ is clearly ahead nationwide, in Styria they already hold the governor's office. That the tragedy occurred precisely on terrain governed by them is an uncomfortable coincidence for the security-restrictive Freedom Party."

"Bild" (Berlin):

"Eleven dead people, yes, it is so incomprehensible. So senseless. (...)

On the BORG school's website, even before the rampage, it stated: 'The social problems that students face today have become more diverse.' One of the main tasks of the school is to 'repair or at least alleviate traumatic experiences'.

How terribly relevant these words suddenly sound. The school remains closed until further notice."

"Delo" (Ljubljana):

"Yesterday's bloodbath at a school in Graz has shaken our public much more than if it had happened on the other side of the Atlantic or somewhere in distant countries. (...) It is unprofessional to speculate prematurely about who decided to commit such an act and why. The background is always more complex and deeper than we can glean from headlines and online portals. Undoubtedly, the social environment in which we live plays an important role - it is characterized by hate, intolerance, violence, conspiracy theories, and hate speech. (...)

Such tragedies are no longer distant stories. They are coming closer to our doorstep. They are also a reflection of a society where intolerance and a lack of compassion are spreading. (...) A society that does not invest in cohesion and compassion will repeatedly face disintegration. And as long as the central theme of both national and world politics is armament and not education, we are already at great risk."

"Večer" (Maribor):

"Grief, horror, despair ... All of this can be said in light of the events in Graz. It is understandable that we are shaken by the images we can see literally across the border, almost on our doorstep. Never before has there been a shooting in a school so close to us. Nevertheless, in moments when the circumstances of the incident are completely unknown to us, we should refrain from making various value judgments about the incident and the perpetrator. If the cases were always as clear-cut as the public assumes, they probably could have been prevented long ago. (...)

Every individual, but also the school and the events within it, are a reflection of society. What we sow, we will reap - that is clear to us. (...) We should strive at every step for a friendlier, more tolerant, inclusive, and supportive society. With a militaristic discourse, constant attempts to convince us that we need to invest more money in defense and armament, and even calls for the arming of the civilian population, as we have also experienced, we are moving very far from this goal."

"El País" (Madrid):

"There are countless questions that need to be answered. In the coming days, some of them may be answered, others could spark national debates. Everything will come, and it will be hard to digest. At the moment, this country is in shock because of one of those crimes that seemingly only happen thousands of kilometers away, in schools in Kansas or California, in places of extreme violence, far from happy Austria, the myth of the small, idyllic, and peaceful Alpine and Danube country, which has been disproven so often in history, yet is still rooted in the collective identity."

"La Vanguardia" (Barcelona):

"Austria, an EU country with 9.2 million inhabitants, is far removed from similar tragedies that regularly plague the USA and other Western countries. According to the Global Peace Index, it is among the ten safest countries in the world. At the same time, according to the independent research project Small Arms Survey, Austria is among the most heavily armed populations in Europe."

"El Mundo" (Madrid):

"The procedure for obtaining a gun license in Austria is controversial. The selection process consists of two phases - a suitability test and an interview - and can be completed in just three hours. A hurdle that many consider insufficient in light of the events. Easy access to weapons is a common factor in school shootings - a phenomenon long almost exclusively associated with the USA, but now also occurring more frequently in Europe. In the case of Graz, there is also a possible connection to the bullying the attacker was subjected to as a teenager.

Another recurring pattern is the suicide of the attacker. For some analysts, this is the ultimate goal of the act of violence, whether carried out directly or through a confrontation with the police. Artur A. seems to have followed this pattern: He left the house early and left his letter on the desk - as a harbinger of what was to come."

"La Repubblica" (Rome):

"Austria is shocked. In Graz, the injured are fighting for their lives, people are donating blood. Now the discussion is focusing on the issue of weapons. The gun laws in Austria are more liberal than in other EU countries."

Corriere della Sera (Milan):

"The easy access to weapons is one of the most common elements in school massacres, situations that the USA has frequently experienced and are now also occurring repeatedly in Europe. The bloodbath in Graz is no exception in this regard."

"Il Giornale" (Milan):

"To kill where one once suffered harassment and humiliation: This seems to have been the insane plan of the murderer who took his own life in the school toilet in Graz. The former victim has become the judge and executioner of the innocent."

"L'Avvenire" (Rome):

"Never before has such a massacre occurred in Austria. The slaughter is the isolated act of a young man with a gun license, who harbored a brutal rage against his former school. The shooting in Graz is the most terrible in Austria's post-war history."

"La Stampa" (Turin):

"The Graz massacre and the unknown roots of evil: In view of the dead in Graz, one must think of the bloodbath at Columbine told by Michael Moore in his documentary ("Bowling for Columbine", ed.). The dynamics of the massacre in Colorado are similar: The only difference is that there were two killers in Columbine."

"Kathimerini" (Athens):

"Shock in Austria: Armed gunman kills several people in a school. Deep mourning prevails in Austria after a bloody incident in a school, where an armed man killed ten people in the southern Austrian city of Graz. It is the worst attack on a school in the country's recent history."

(APA/Red)

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