February 13 Edmonton Daniel Kautz, a […]

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When

1980-02-13

Description

February 13 Edmonton Daniel Kautz, a thirty-two-year-old gay man, set fire to the Beth Shalom Synagogue, causing more than $1 million in damage. Over the next three weeks he set fire to three other religious institutions (the South Side Church of the Nazarene, St. Joseph's Cathedral, and the mausoleum at the Edmonton Cemetery), causing heavy damage. Kautz later admitted under psychiatric examination that he felt persecuted by religion because of his homosexuality. He also was convinced that he was the Antichrist, and howled at the moon when setting the fires. On March 2, 1981, Kautz pleaded guilty to charges of arson and breaking and entering, and was sentenced to a term of four years, to be served under psychiatric care at the Alberta Hospital.

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Edmonton

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Daniel Kautz

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Doug Swanson, "Howling 'Antichrist' Set Three Church Fires, Court Told," Edmonton Journal, 3 March 1981, p. A1."Gay Jailed in Church Torchings," Toronto Sun, 4 March 1981, p. 42 "Edmonton Man Gets Four Years for Church Fires," Globe and Mail, metro ed., 4 March 1981, p. 11 "Arsonist Torched Churches Because of Homosexual Stand," Toronto Star, four star ed., 4 March 1981, p. A21

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Daniel Kautz

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