1
I Couldnt Control MyselfMurder in Post WWI
Berlin

• The better you know this huge city of stone, the
  more you think its an insane asylum. In the east
  live the criminals in the center, the swindlers.
  In the north theres misery in the west, its
  prostitution. And in every direction under the
  sun, things are collapsing. Fabian,1920

2
The Reflection of Crime

• Crime, according to Friedrich, reflects the
  society in which it is committed.
• German society, after WWI, was reflected by
  violent and compulsive crimes, commonly in the
  form of serial killers.
• Friedrich connects this reflection to the fact
  that Germany was recovering from the loss of two
  million dead, a mass murder in itself.
• He also mentions that the increase in hunger
  rates provided motivations for mass murderers to
  sell their victims as canned meat, thus
  facilitating cannibalism amongst the naïve
  citizens.

3
From Denker und Dichter to Denkes und Dichter

• Germans once described themselves as a nation of
  Denker und Dicther, or thinkers and poets.
• During this post WWI era, Bertolt Brecht, a
  German poet describes it as a nation of Denkes
  und Dichter, or mass murderers and poets.
• This evolved view of German society reflects the
  extraordinary advances in art and culture as well
  as the presence of heinous violence, both
  catalyzed by the chaos of the era.

4
Denkes

• Denkes Denke is the name of a criminal who
  killed people in order to use their corpses. He
  canned the meat and made soap from the fat,
  buttons from the bones and purses from the skin
  I contend that the best people of Germany, those
  who condemned Denke, failed to recognized the
  qualities of true German genius which the fellow
  displayed method, conscientiousness,
  cold-bloodedness, and the ability to base ones
  every act on a firm philosophical
  foundation-Brecht
• Brect developed this term from the well-known
  serial killer Karl Denke.

5
The DenkesKarl Denke

• Karl Denke, discovered in 1924 after neighbors
  broke up dispute between Denke and a young
  workman. Police searched his home, discovered
  barrels of smoked human flesh, crates of bones,
  and pots of human lard.
• Denke kept precise records of each victim, the
  date, and the weight of the bodies.
• Denke had been a salesman of smoked pork during
  years of famine. People realized they had bought
  and eaten human flesh.
• Previous to discovery, Denke had been prominent
  figure in community, referred to as Vatter
  Denke by locals.
• Hung himself before he could be prosecuted.
• Believed to have killed betwenn 30 and 40.

6
The DenkesGeorg Fritz Haarmann

• Most well-known of all serial killers in Germany
  during the 1920s.
• Worked as a police informant on petty thieves.
• His victims were exclusively young boys
• Like, Grossmann, he searched for his victims at
  train stations. Offered them help, food, beer.
  Would take them back to his house, he would
  sexually assault them and then tear their throats
  out with his teeth, thus gaining the name
  Hannover Vampire and also The Butcher of
  Hannover.
• Haarmann labeled the human meat as pork or veal
  and sold it on the black market.
• He also sold the victims clothing, which led to
  the discovery of his crimes a mother noticed her
  missing sons jacket on the son of the landlord of
  Haarmanns building.

7
Georg Fritz Haarmann, cont.

• Arrest and trial caused national uproar. 1931,
  first man to be executed in Germany for years,
  becoming a test case for capital punishment.
  Some claim the call for capital punishment
  illustrated the growing power of the Nazis.
• Popular song sang by schoolchildren of Berlin
  Wait, wait just a little while, and soon
  Haarmann will come to you. With his little
  hatchet, hell make smoked meat out of you,
  lyrics and tune derived from a song about
  patience leading to happiness.

Fritz Haarmann, left
8
The DenkesCarl Grossmann

• Berlin-based serial killer, an ex-butcher turned
  door-to-door salesman.
• Prayed upon foreign peasant girls.
• Grossmann would go to the train station, offer
  the newly arrived girls jobs as housekeepers and
  then later would mutilate and murder them.
  Dismembering the bodies and possibly selling the
  meat to local butcher shops.
• Also possibly sexually abused his victims,
  Grossmann was discovered naked standing over a
  dead girl whose throat had been cut. When
  discovered, he claimed he was punishing the
  housekeeper for trying to steal from him.
• Said to have murdered at least 23 other women,
  their remains found in his kitchen and a near by
  canal.
• Grossmann hung himself in his jail cell after
  confessing to the murders

I couldnt control myself
9
Other Murderers

• Baron Winterfield, killed mailmen during chaos of
  Spartakus Week
• Peter Kürten, The Vampire of Düsseldorf
• Fritz Langes M, said to be based off of his
  murders, before executed he said "Tell me, after
  my head has been chopped off, will I still be
  able to hear, at least for a moment, the sound of
  my own blood gushing from the stump of my
  neck?...that would be the pleasure to end all
  pleasures."

• Bruno Lüdke, said to have been responsible for
  more than 50 murders starting in 1928, mostly
  women. Discovered after Nazis found him
  committing necrophilia on a victims body.
• Said to have been severely mentally challenged
  and abused as a child.
• Re-investigation into police records speculate
  that the confession was forced and the police
  were in need of a scapegoat for the numerous
  unsolved murders.

10
The Role of Fear in Germany

• Hitlers comments about violence within Germany
  Brutality is respected. The people need
  wholesome fear. They want to fear something
  Havent you seen everywhere that after the
  beer-hall battles those who have been beaten are
  the first to join the party as new membersThey
  need something that will give them a thrill of
  horror.
• Violence and fear in a chaotic nation leads to
  people searching for protection. If they cannot
  find it from the police, or the govt., they must
  search elsewhere.

11
Back to Brecht

• I contend that the best people of Germany, those
  who condemned Denke, failed to recognized the
  qualities of true German genius which the fellow
  displayed
• method,
• conscientiousness,
• cold-bloodedness,
• and the ability to base ones every act on a firm
  philosophical foundation

• Does Brechts definition of the qualities of true
  German genius seem to implicate other groups or
  individuals who used violence in this era?
• How does ones ability to base ones actions on
  firm philosophical foundations allow for
  violence?
• Do the Denkes of the post WWI era, or at least
  Brechts description of them resemble the Nazis?