David Koresh

David Koresh (actually Vernon Wayne Howell * 17th August 1959 in Houston , Texas ; † 19th April 1993 in Waco , Texas) was the leader and self-proclaimed prophet of the Branch Davidians , a eschatological elimination of the Branch Davidians - sect . He had bound his followers to himself with his interpretation of the Revelation of John .

Howell took the name David Koresh around 1985 , the first name referring to the biblical King David and the last name to the Persian general Cyrus II . In Koresh's reading, however, he also referred to the fourth of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse .

Koresh had bound his followers to himself with a combination of unorthodox biblical interpretation and charismatic personality. While he was preaching sexual abstinence to his male cultists , he himself impregnated several women in the group.

Koresh died in the FBI's storming of the cult headquarters in Waco , in the course of which a fire broke out, which was probably started by cult members themselves.

literature

• Clifford L. Linedecker: Sect Leader of Death. David Koresh and the Waco Massacre. Heyne, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-07530-7 .
• Colin Wilson : Dance the Devil. Charlatans, gurus, sect leaders. Hugendubel, Kreuzlingen / Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7205-2260-1 , pp. 27-44.

Web links

• David Koresh in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Obituary: David Koresh , obituary by Malise Ruthven in the Independent , April 24, 1993
• Biography: David Koresh , website for the PBS documentation Waco - The Inside Story , 1995
• "A white church commemorates 86 dead"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Public Broadcasting Service : Book of Revelation Discussion (transcript of a conversation between Koresh and an FBI officer on March 7, 1993)
2. ↑ Christoph Gunkel: The forced apocalypse. In: spiegel.de . April 18, 2013, accessed on February 26, 2017 (German).