One Year After the Graz School Shooting: How BORG Dreierschützengasse Finds Its Way Back to Everyday Life

On 10 June 2025, roughly two minutes after the bell for the third period, a 21-year-old former student of BORG Dreierschützengasse opened fire. Within seven minutes, he fired 40 shots from a legally owned Glock 19 pistol and a sawed-off shotgun. Nine young people and one teacher died in the classrooms on the second and third floors; the perpetrator subsequently took his own life. Among the victims was 15-year-old Anna Bella Bernhart from class 5A, the music class.

The Attack and the Victims

One year on, the parents Natascha and Stefan Bernhart recounted in an interview with profil how they experienced the hours of waiting for news of their daughter. Stefan Bernhart says: „Viele glauben, dass es mit der Zeit leichter wird, aber Zeit allein macht nichts besser.“ A mother of one of the killed children, who was not named, said: „Irgendwann werde ich wieder leben können, nur jetzt im Moment kann ich es einfach noch nicht.“ An ex-gratia payment from the state victims' fund was also credited to her account without prior notice.

The school community is preparing to move back into the renovated school building. Education Director Elisabeth Meixner announced: „Zum Schulanfang starten wir im neuen Gebäude“ – with the aim of establishing a „neuen Normalität“ and a return to an orderly everyday routine. In the current school year, subjects such as physics and sport were still taught directly in the building on Dreierschützengasse, since those rooms were not affected by the shooting; the majority of lessons were held in temporary quarters provided by the company AVL List.

Renovation and Return

According to the education directorate, the renovation of the first floor is scheduled for completion on 14 August, the second floor on 10 July, and the third floor on 19 June. Plans call for parts of the former crime-scene areas to be converted into lounges and break rooms. Following the approach taken after the 2009 Winnenden shooting, in which a 17-year-old killed 15 people at the Albertville-Realschule and some of the crime-scene rooms were later turned into common areas, a retreat space for students is also to be created in Graz.

Student spokesperson Manuel Mohr said: „Das Datum – 10. Juni 2025 – hat sich in unsere Köpfe gebrannt, der Jahrestag wird nicht leicht. Die Wunden sind nicht einfach verschwunden. Aber wir haben gelernt, gemeinsam damit umzugehen.“ Vice student spokesperson Nuno Koval added that there is „keine einfache Antwort“ to how the students are doing, „aber was man sagen kann: Unterricht fühlt sich wieder normaler an.“ (no edit)

Words from the Helpers and the School Leadership

Psychotherapist Edwin Benko, who was deployed with the crisis intervention team of the Province of Styria immediately after the attack – including for two weeks for the staff of a supermarket into which students had fled – sees the anniversary as a stress test: „So ein Ereignis ist eine Verletzung der Seele. Wenn man ständig daran kratzt, kann sie nicht heilen.“ Benko was on his last day of vacation on the day of the attack, was alerted by phone, and was among the first helpers on the scene. By his own account, he receives increased calls from relatives around the anniversary, even though the acute phase of support ended long ago.

Education Councillor Stefan Hermann (FPÖ) said with regard to the anniversary that one is looking „bewusst nicht in die Vergangenheit“. Strohmaier said she had not considered resigning „keine einzige Sekunde“: „Das hätte ich als Davonlaufen empfunden.“ Heidrun Nedoma, head of the steering group at the school site, stressed: „Jeder trauert anders.“ (no edit)

In parallel to the in-school memorial formats, further events marking the anniversary took place in Graz and in the Province of Styria, but without media presence. The city and the province thus responded to the wishes of relatives, who had positioned themselves – in part critically – against the large-scale mourning format immediately after the attack. On the BORG Dreierschützengasse website, the following sentence has appeared in capital letters for months: „Wir halten zusammen.“ (no edit)

The Province of Styria set up a violence protection advisory board after the attack, which revised the emergency plans for schools. In eight regional conferences, all school sites were reviewed together with the police – also with regard to escape routes. Education Director Meixner also spoke of a „strukturellen Sicherheitskonzept“ for the renovated site, the details of which she did not make public for security reasons.