Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed their condolences to US President Joe Biden after the school massacre in Texas. “Our thoughts are with the injured and survivors of the victims of this incredible massacre, for which words can hardly be found,” Scholz wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
According to the Office of the Federal President, Steinmeier wrote to Biden that the “cruel death of defenseless children, who were full of curiosity and joie de vivre at the beginning of their lives, leaves me stunned”. In the face of such suffering there are “no suitable, healing words”, but he wanted to “express my deepest condolences to you and the American people, also on behalf of my countrymen”.
“All our sympathy goes to the relatives of the victims,” ​​added Steinmeier. “I wish the injured a speedy recovery. And I wish American democracy, to which we Germans owe so much, the strength and cohesion to get to the root of the problem of gun violence.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also sent his condolences and complained that people were being shot “in peacetime”.
French President Emmanuel Macron also expressed his condolences to the people of the United States. “19 of the victims were younger than ten years old,” Macron wrote on Twitter. The children and their teachers were “cowardly murdered”. “We share the shock and sadness of the American people and the anger of everyone working to end the violence.”
Pope Francis said Wednesday after a general audience at the Vatican that he was “heartbroken” by events in Texas. “I pray for the children and adults who were killed and their families,” said the head of the Catholic Church, calling for the “uncontrolled” arms trade to be curbed.
