A “Rambo of the Black Forest” at war with modern society, a “sensitive” soul traumatized by previous brush with the law, or simply a rebel without cause: as the police comb through the forests of southwestern Germany for the sixth day, the The motives of a 31-year-old gunman at the center of the large-scale persecution remains unclear.
The man, named by police as Yves Rausch, has been on the run since last Sunday morning, after arresting four officers and stealing their firearms in what his mother says was a moment of “panic.”
Police had been called to a log cabin on the outskirts of Oppenau, in Baden-Württemberg, after sighting a “suspicious” figure in combat gear and carrying a bow and arrows, but they were taken by surprise when the man pointed them at them. a weapon.
A 200-strong police unit has spent the past five days searching the forest, using helicopters, thermal detectors, and sniffer dogs to explore abandoned buildings, caves, and old bunkers, without success.
Rausch, who has no fixed address, is believed to have been living outdoors for some time. “We assume that the 31-year-old man moves confidently through the rugged terrain around Oppenau and knows the area very well,” police said.
It is unclear whether Rausch has a political motive or whether he decided to flee the police unexpectedly.
A two-page text calling for a “harmonious life within and within nature” that Rausch reportedly left at a local restaurant has been described in some German media as his “manifesto”.
The Bild newspaper said the content of the text closely resembled the 35,000-word neo-Luddite essay, Industrial Society and its Future, by Theodore Kaczynski, better known as Unabomber, who tried to spark a revolution in the United States with a campaign to national bombardment between 1978 and 1995.
However, police said on Friday they did not believe Rausch was the author of the text left at the restaurant.
According to Der Spiegel magazine, Rausch was found guilty of “incitement to the people” at the age of 15, after posting a sign in a building to read “Jews.” In 2010, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for serious bodily harm, after shooting an acquaintance with a crossbow.
Speaking to local German media, friends and family say the 2010 incident was a tragic accident and that Rausch, who trained as a carpenter in prison, does not pose a threat to the local population.
In an interview with Mittelbadische Presse, his mother said that she had “experienced terrible things” during her time in prison and that pointing a gun at the police officers must have been “a last-minute panic”, sparked by fear of returning.
Speaking to local BigFM radio station, a friend identified only as “Sebastian” said Rausch was “a charming, polite and helpful boy,” adding: “He does not want to go back behind bars. He is afraid of being arrested again. and so I would have reacted this way. “
According to his mother, Rausch used the forest cabin where he had the confrontation with the police as his home, growing vegetables and carving wooden gnomes that he hoped to sell.
“The police should give up all their forces,” he said. “After a day or two he will leave the forest on his own.”
