Winnenden School Shooting
I know that some readers who don't know where I am from (or don't know their German geography too well) have asked whether I, my family or friends were affected by the shootings yesterday. Let me assure you, we're all accounted for!

Winnenden, the town were 16 people (mostly students) were shot dead yesterday is 385km (239 miles) away from where I grew up. Solingen, my hometown, is near Cologne and Düsseldorf in the German state Nordrhein-Westfalen, while Winnenden is close to Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.


View Larger Map
A = Solingen (my hometown), B = Winnenden

Thank you for your concern, though!

Cologne City Archive collapse
The bodies of the last two missing persons have been found under the debris. The body of a 17-year-old baker was found on Sunday, while another body was recovered today. It is assumed, that the body found today is that of 24-year-old Design student Khalil G. He was found in a 9m deep hole, where the building had collapsed into the subway tunnel below.
Both men were tenants of the houses adjacent to the City Archive, which partly collapsed along with the Archive building on 03.03.2009.

Meanwhile, 25% of the documents formerly housed in the Archive were recovered and are reported to be mostly intact. A canopy has been built over the debris, to protect buried documents and items from the elements.