Fritz Haarmann
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Heinrich Karl "Fritz" Haarmann (October 25, 1879 – April 15, 1925), also known as the Butcher of Hanover and the Vampire of Hanover was a German serial killer
who is believed to have been responsible for the murder of 27 boys and young men between 1918 and 1924. He was convicted, found guilty of 24 murders and executed.
Haarmann returned to Hanover and took employment in a cigar factory. He was arrested in 1898 for molesting children, but a psychologist declared Haarmann was mentally unfit to stand trial, and he was sent to a mental institution indefinitely. Six months later, Haarmann escaped and fled to Switzerland
, where he worked for two years before he returned to Germany
. He again enlisted in the military, this time under an alias, but in 1902, he was again discharged under medical terms. He was awarded a full military pension and returned to live with his family and took employment in the small business his father had established. After an argument with his father, Ollie, led to a violent fight between them, Haarmann was arrested, charged with assault
and again sent for psychiatric evaluation. This time, a doctor did not diagnose Haarmann as mentally unstable. A court discharged Haarmann and he again returned to live with his family. Shortly afterwards, Haarmann attempted to open a small shop, but the business soon went bankrupt.
In 1914, Haarmann was convicted of a series of thefts and frauds and was imprisoned just as World War I
began. Upon his release in 1918, he was struck by the poverty of the German nation as a result of the loss the nation had suffered in World War I
. The country was bankrupt. Fritz Haarmann immediately reverted to the criminal life he had lived before he was arrested in 1914. The new state of Germany
provided him with even more opportunities to operate on the fringes of the criminal network, and because of the increase in crime as a result of the poverty the nation was enduring, police again began to rely on Haarmann as an informer.
, and he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. Haarmann avoided serving his sentence throughout 1919, and during this time, met a young runaway named Hans Grans, who was subsequently to become his lover.
Haarmann served his 9-month imprisonment between March and December 1920. Again, he regained the trust of the police and became an informer. Shortly after his release, Haarmann moved into a new apartment: number 27 Cellerstraße. Shortly afterwards, Hans Grans moved into Haarmann's apartment.
Haarmann's subsequent victims largely consisted of young male commuters, runaways and, occasionally, male prostitutes
who hung around Hanover's central station
, whom Haarmann would lure back to his apartment and then kill by biting through their throats, sometimes while sodomizing
them. All of Haarmann's victims were dismembered before they were discarded, usually in the Leine
River. The possessions of several victims were either sold on the black market or retained by either Haarmann or his younger lover, Hans Grans. Rumor also had it that Haarmann would peddle meat from the bodies of his victims as canned black market pork
. Although no physical evidence
was ever produced to confirm this, Haarmann was known to be an active trader in contraband meat.
Haarmann's accomplice and live-in partner, Hans Grans, sold the possessions of several of the victims cheaply on the black market, and kept other possessions for himself, and Haarmann initially claimed that although Grans knew of many of his murders, and personally urged him to kill two of the victims so he could obtain their clothing and personal possessions, was otherwise not involved in the murders.
Haarmann was eventually apprehended when numerous skeletal
remains, which he had dumped into the Leine
River, washed up downstream in May and June 1924. The police decided to drag the river and discovered more than 500 human bones which were later confirmed as having come from at least 22 separate human individuals. Suspicion quickly fell upon Haarmann, who had convictions for molesting children and had been connected to the disappearance of Friedel Rothe in 1918. Haarmann was placed under surveillance and on the night of June 22, was observed prowling Hanover's central station
. He was quickly arrested after trying to lure a boy to his apartment. His apartment was searched and the walls were found to be heavily bloodstained. Haarmann tried to explain this as a by-product of his illegal trade as a butcher. However, clothing and personal items known to be possessions of several missing youths were also found in his home. Under interrogation, Haarmann quickly confessed to raping, killing and butchering young men since 1918. When asked how many he had killed, Haarmann claimed "somewhere between 50 and 70". The police, however, could only connect Haarmann with the disappearance of 27 youths, and he was charged with 27 murders. It is interesting to note that only a quarter of the personal items found in his apartment were identified as having belonged to any of the victims.
. The term "serial killer" had not yet been coined, and the public and press were at a loss for words to describe the case; Haarmann was simultaneously referred to as the "werewolf
", a "vampire
", and "The Wolf Man". Apart from the cruelty of what Haarmann had admittedly done, even more scandalous - shaking German society to the core - was the involvement of the police in the case: Haarmann was a police informant who frequently gave up other criminals to investigators; until Haarmann was arrested, it had never occurred to police that the serial killer they were looking for was well-known to them and right under their nose, even though some of the victims were last seen in his company.
The trial lasted barely two weeks. On December 19, 1924, Haarmann was found guilty of 24 of the 27 murders and sentenced to death
. He was acquitted
of three murders which he denied, even though the personal possessions of the boys were either in his possession or acquaintances of his at the time of his arrest. Haarmann made no appeal against the verdict.
Haarmann was beheaded by guillotine
on April 15, 1925. His last words before he was beheaded were: "I repent, but I do not fear death."
Hans Grans was initially found guilty of enticement to murder in the case of Adolf Hannappel, a 17-year-old apprentice carpenter who vanished from Hanover's railroad station on November 11, 1923. Witnesses had seen Grans, in the company of Haarmann, pointing to Hannappel. Haarmann claimed this was one of two murders committed upon the insistence of Grans and for this reason, Grans was sentenced to death. The discovery of a letter from Haarmann declaring Grans' innocence later led to a second trial and a 12-year prison sentence for Grans. After serving his sentence, Hans Grans continued to live in Hanover until his death in 1975.
The remains of Haarmann's victims were buried together in a communal grave in Stöckener Cemetery in February 1925. In April 1928, a large granite memorial in the form of a triptych, inscribed with the names and ages of the victims, was erected over the communal grave.
After his execution, Haarmann's head was preserved in a jar by scientists to examine the structure of his brain. Haarmann's head is now kept at the Göttingen
medical school.
The case stirred much discussion in Germany about the death penalty, the correct approach towards mentally ill
offenders, police investigation methods, and homosexuality
.
The case of Fritz Haarmann has been the inspiration for at least three films. The classic film M
, which starred Peter Lorre
and was released in 1931 and directed by Fritz Lang
was inspired by the crimes of Fritz Haarmann, as well as those of two other infamous German serial killers of the early twentieth century: Düsseldorf
child killer Peter Kürten
and Carl Großmann.
The film The Tenderness of the Wolves (Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe), released in July 1973, was directly based upon Haarmann's crimes. The film, directed by Ulli Lommel
, cast Kurt Raab
as Haarmann. German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
produced the film and also appeared in a minor role as Wittkowski.
The most recent film to be based upon Haarmann's murder spree, Der Totmacher
(The Deathmaker), was released in 1995. This film starred Götz George
as Haarmann. This film focuses on the records of the psychiatric examinations of Haarmann by Erich Schultze, one of the main psychiatric
experts in the trial. The plot of Der Totmacher centers around Haarmann's interrogation after his arrest, as he is being interviewed by a court psychiatrist.
as planned. Allegedly, Haarmann had also featured in the 2006 issue, but the inclusion drew no attention at the time. The 2008 calendar included a new picture of Haarmann in handcuffs
.
Kim Newman
included Haarmann as a minor character in his 1995 novel The Bloody Red Baron
, serving as a "batman" (military servant) to Manfred von Richthofen
, the "Red Baron".
Beton Kopf Media, the record label behind German electro-industrial
project :Wumpscut:
, uses a picture of Haarmann as company logo.
Margit Sandemo
opted to use Haarmann for the villainous Lynx in her Isfolket book series.
Haarmann has also been the subject of the song "Fritz Haarmann [sic
] der Metzger" ("Fritz Haarmann the butcher") by death
/thrash metal
band Macabre
.
In the novel Black House by Stephen King
and Peter Straub
, Haarmann is mentioned as having been possessed by Mr. Munshun
(an agent of the Crimson King
).
Mentioned as an example of notorious serial killers in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 'Don't Look Behind You', Season 1, Episode 2, 9/27/1962.
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who is believed to have been responsible for the murder of 27 boys and young men between 1918 and 1924. He was convicted, found guilty of 24 murders and executed.
Early life
Fritz Haarmann was born in Hanover in 1879, the sixth child of poor parents. Haarmann was a quiet child who shunned many boys' activities such as sports and preferred to play with his sisters' toys. He was also a poor student. At the age of 16, at the urging of his parents, Haarmann enrolled in a military academy at Neu Breisach. He initially adapted to military life, and performed well as a trainee soldier. After just one year in the academy, however, he began to suffer seizures and was discharged for medical reasons.Haarmann returned to Hanover and took employment in a cigar factory. He was arrested in 1898 for molesting children, but a psychologist declared Haarmann was mentally unfit to stand trial, and he was sent to a mental institution indefinitely. Six months later, Haarmann escaped and fled to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where he worked for two years before he returned to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He again enlisted in the military, this time under an alias, but in 1902, he was again discharged under medical terms. He was awarded a full military pension and returned to live with his family and took employment in the small business his father had established. After an argument with his father, Ollie, led to a violent fight between them, Haarmann was arrested, charged with assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
and again sent for psychiatric evaluation. This time, a doctor did not diagnose Haarmann as mentally unstable. A court discharged Haarmann and he again returned to live with his family. Shortly afterwards, Haarmann attempted to open a small shop, but the business soon went bankrupt.
Criminal career
For the next decade, Haarmann lived as a petty thief, burglar and con artist. He was frequently arrested and served several short prison sentences. He gradually began to establish a relationship with Hanover police as an informer, largely as a means of redirecting the attention of the police from himself, and later admitted that the police began to view him as a reliable source of information regarding Hanover's criminal network.In 1914, Haarmann was convicted of a series of thefts and frauds and was imprisoned just as World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
began. Upon his release in 1918, he was struck by the poverty of the German nation as a result of the loss the nation had suffered in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The country was bankrupt. Fritz Haarmann immediately reverted to the criminal life he had lived before he was arrested in 1914. The new state of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
provided him with even more opportunities to operate on the fringes of the criminal network, and because of the increase in crime as a result of the poverty the nation was enduring, police again began to rely on Haarmann as an informer.
Murders
Between 1918 and 1924, Haarmann committed at least 24 murders, although he is suspected of murdering a minimum of 27. Haarmann's first known victim was a 17-year-old youth named Friedel Rothe. When Rothe disappeared in September 1918, his friends told police he was last seen with Haarmann. Under pressure from Rothe's family, police raided Haarmann's apartment, where they found their informer in the company of a semi-naked teenage boy. They charged Haarmann with sexual assaultSexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, and he was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. Haarmann avoided serving his sentence throughout 1919, and during this time, met a young runaway named Hans Grans, who was subsequently to become his lover.
Haarmann served his 9-month imprisonment between March and December 1920. Again, he regained the trust of the police and became an informer. Shortly after his release, Haarmann moved into a new apartment: number 27 Cellerstraße. Shortly afterwards, Hans Grans moved into Haarmann's apartment.
Haarmann's subsequent victims largely consisted of young male commuters, runaways and, occasionally, male prostitutes
Male prostitution
Male prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...
who hung around Hanover's central station
Central station
A central station usually designates the principal passenger railway station of cities which have multiple stations. The central station functions as the main transport hub for rail transport, normally with interchange with other modes of public transport...
, whom Haarmann would lure back to his apartment and then kill by biting through their throats, sometimes while sodomizing
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
them. All of Haarmann's victims were dismembered before they were discarded, usually in the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
River. The possessions of several victims were either sold on the black market or retained by either Haarmann or his younger lover, Hans Grans. Rumor also had it that Haarmann would peddle meat from the bodies of his victims as canned black market pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
. Although no physical evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
was ever produced to confirm this, Haarmann was known to be an active trader in contraband meat.
Haarmann's accomplice and live-in partner, Hans Grans, sold the possessions of several of the victims cheaply on the black market, and kept other possessions for himself, and Haarmann initially claimed that although Grans knew of many of his murders, and personally urged him to kill two of the victims so he could obtain their clothing and personal possessions, was otherwise not involved in the murders.
Haarmann was eventually apprehended when numerous skeletal
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
remains, which he had dumped into the Leine
Leine
The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia...
River, washed up downstream in May and June 1924. The police decided to drag the river and discovered more than 500 human bones which were later confirmed as having come from at least 22 separate human individuals. Suspicion quickly fell upon Haarmann, who had convictions for molesting children and had been connected to the disappearance of Friedel Rothe in 1918. Haarmann was placed under surveillance and on the night of June 22, was observed prowling Hanover's central station
Central station
A central station usually designates the principal passenger railway station of cities which have multiple stations. The central station functions as the main transport hub for rail transport, normally with interchange with other modes of public transport...
. He was quickly arrested after trying to lure a boy to his apartment. His apartment was searched and the walls were found to be heavily bloodstained. Haarmann tried to explain this as a by-product of his illegal trade as a butcher. However, clothing and personal items known to be possessions of several missing youths were also found in his home. Under interrogation, Haarmann quickly confessed to raping, killing and butchering young men since 1918. When asked how many he had killed, Haarmann claimed "somewhere between 50 and 70". The police, however, could only connect Haarmann with the disappearance of 27 youths, and he was charged with 27 murders. It is interesting to note that only a quarter of the personal items found in his apartment were identified as having belonged to any of the victims.
Trial
Fritz Haarmann's trial began on December 4, 1924. Haarmann was charged with the murder of 27 boys and young men who had disappeared between 1918 and June that year. The trial was spectacular; it was one of the first major media events in GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The term "serial killer" had not yet been coined, and the public and press were at a loss for words to describe the case; Haarmann was simultaneously referred to as the "werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
", a "vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
", and "The Wolf Man". Apart from the cruelty of what Haarmann had admittedly done, even more scandalous - shaking German society to the core - was the involvement of the police in the case: Haarmann was a police informant who frequently gave up other criminals to investigators; until Haarmann was arrested, it had never occurred to police that the serial killer they were looking for was well-known to them and right under their nose, even though some of the victims were last seen in his company.
The trial lasted barely two weeks. On December 19, 1924, Haarmann was found guilty of 24 of the 27 murders and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. He was acquitted
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
of three murders which he denied, even though the personal possessions of the boys were either in his possession or acquaintances of his at the time of his arrest. Haarmann made no appeal against the verdict.
Haarmann was beheaded by guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
on April 15, 1925. His last words before he was beheaded were: "I repent, but I do not fear death."
Aftermath
The remains of Haarmann's victims were buried together in a communal grave in Stöckener Cemetery in February 1925. In April 1928, a large granite memorial in the form of a triptych, inscribed with the names and ages of the victims, was erected over the communal grave.
After his execution, Haarmann's head was preserved in a jar by scientists to examine the structure of his brain. Haarmann's head is now kept at the Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
medical school.
The case stirred much discussion in Germany about the death penalty, the correct approach towards mentally ill
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
offenders, police investigation methods, and homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
.
Victims
| Name | Age | Date of disappearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friedel Rothe | 17 | September 25, 1918 | Haarmann claimed to have buried Rothe in Stöckener cemetery |
| Fritz Franke | 17 | February 12, 1923 | Franke was initially from Berlin |
| Wilhelm Schulze | 17 | March 20, 1923 | Schulze was an apprentice writer |
| Roland Huch | 16 | May 23, 1923 | Student. Vanished from Hanover station |
| Hans Sonnenfeld | 19 | May, 1923 | A runaway from the town of Limmer |
| Ernst Ehrenberg | 13 | June 25, 1923 | Disappeared whilst running an errand for his parents |
| Heinrich Struß | 18 | August 24, 1923 | Haarmann was in possession of Struß' violin case when arrested |
| Paul Bronischewski | 17 | September 24, 1923 | Vanished on his way to visit his Uncle |
| Richard Gräf | 17 | September, 1923 | Disappeared after telling his friends a detective from Hanover had found him a job |
| Wilhelm Erdner | 16 | October 12, 1923 | Disappeared from Hanover station. Haarmann sold Erdner's bicycle |
| Hermann Wolf | 15 | October 24 or 25, 1923 | The victim's clothes were traced to Haarmann and his acquaintances |
| Heinz Brinkmann | 13 | October 27, 1923 | Vanished from Hanover station after missing his train home to Clausthal |
| Adolf Hannappel | 17 | November 11, 1923 | An apprentice carpenter. Witnesses saw Haarmann approach Hannappel |
| Adolf Hennies | 19 | December 6, 1923 | Hennies disappeared whilst looking for work in Hanover |
| Ernst Spiecker | 17 | January 5, 1924 | Disappeared on his way to appear as a witness at a trial |
| Heinrich Koch | 20 | January 15, 1924 | Koch was known to be an acquaintance of Haarmann |
| Willi Senger | 19 | February 2, 1924 | The victim's clothes were found in Haarmann's apartment after his arrest |
| Hermann Speichert | 16 | February 8, 1924 | An apprentice electrician |
| Alfred Hogrefe | 16 | April 6, 1924 | An apprentice mechanic. All of Hogrefe's clothes were traced to Haarmann or Grans |
| Hermann Bock | 22 | April, 1924 | Bock was last seen by his friends walking towards Haarmann's apartment |
| Wilhelm Apel | 16 | April 17, 1924 | Disappeared on his way to work |
| Robert Witzel | 18 | April 26, 1924 | Haarmann admitted dumping Witzel's remains in the Leine Leine The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia... River |
| Heinrich Martin | 14 | May 9, 1924 | An apprentice locksmith. Martin disappeared from Hanover station |
| Fritz Wittig | 17 | May 26, 1924 | Haarmann insisted Grans ordered him to commit both this murder and the murder of Hannappel |
| Friedrich Abeling | 10 | May 26, 1924 | The youngest victim. Remains dumped in the Leine Leine The Leine is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller river and 281 km in length.The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia... River |
| Friedrich Koch | 16 | June 5, 1924 | Vanished on his way to college. Koch was last seen in the company of Haarmann |
| Erich de Vries | 17 | June 14, 1924 | Haarmann led police to Erich's remains after his arrest |
In film
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
, which starred Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
and was released in 1931 and directed by Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
was inspired by the crimes of Fritz Haarmann, as well as those of two other infamous German serial killers of the early twentieth century: Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
child killer Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten was a German serial killer dubbed The Vampire of Düsseldorf by the contemporary media. He committed a series of sex crimes, assaults and murders against adults and children, most notoriously from February to November 1929 in Düsseldorf.-Early life:Kürten was born into a...
and Carl Großmann.
The film The Tenderness of the Wolves (Die Zärtlichkeit der Wölfe), released in July 1973, was directly based upon Haarmann's crimes. The film, directed by Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel , is a German actor and director, noted for his many horror films, and for his career as an actor on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films.-Career:...
, cast Kurt Raab
Kurt Raab
Kurt Raab was a West German stage and film actor, as well as a screenwriter and playwright. Raab is best remembered for his work with cult German film director, Rainer Werner Fassbinder with whom he collaborated on 31 film projects.-Biography:Raab was born in Bergreichenstein, Sudetenland, what is...
as Haarmann. German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
produced the film and also appeared in a minor role as Wittkowski.
The most recent film to be based upon Haarmann's murder spree, Der Totmacher
Deathmaker
Deathmaker is a 1995 German film directed by Romuald Karmakar and starring Götz George, Jürgen Hentsch and Pierre Franckh. The film is based on the transcripts of the interrogation of the notorious serial killer Fritz Haarmann....
(The Deathmaker), was released in 1995. This film starred Götz George
Götz George
Götz George is a German actor, son of actor couple Berta Drews and Heinrich George. His arguably best-known role is that of Duisburg commissar Horst Schimanski in the TV crime series Tatort.-Early years:...
as Haarmann. This film focuses on the records of the psychiatric examinations of Haarmann by Erich Schultze, one of the main psychiatric
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
experts in the trial. The plot of Der Totmacher centers around Haarmann's interrogation after his arrest, as he is being interviewed by a court psychiatrist.
In other media
In 2007, the Hanover Tourism Board (Hannover Tourismus) caused controversy by including Haarmann in its cartoon-style advertising calendar, along with other well-known people from the city. The calendar became a best-seller, and the initial print run of 20,000 calendars was expected to run out in November 2007, rather than lasting through ChristmasChristmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
as planned. Allegedly, Haarmann had also featured in the 2006 issue, but the inclusion drew no attention at the time. The 2008 calendar included a new picture of Haarmann in handcuffs
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
.
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
included Haarmann as a minor character in his 1995 novel The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron
The Bloody Red Baron is a 1995 novel by British author Kim Newman. It is the second book in the Anno Dracula series and takes place thirty years after the former.-Plot:...
, serving as a "batman" (military servant) to Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...
, the "Red Baron".
Beton Kopf Media, the record label behind German electro-industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
project :Wumpscut:
Wumpscut:
:Wumpscut: is an electro-industrial music project from Germany...
, uses a picture of Haarmann as company logo.
Margit Sandemo
Margit Sandemo
Margit Sandemo is a Norwegian-Swedish historical fantasy author. She has been the best-selling author in the Nordic Countries since the 1980s, when her novel series of 47 books, The Legend of the Ice People, was published...
opted to use Haarmann for the villainous Lynx in her Isfolket book series.
Haarmann has also been the subject of the song "Fritz Haarmann [sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
] der Metzger" ("Fritz Haarmann the butcher") by death
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
/thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Macabre
Macabre (band)
Macabre is an extreme metal band from Illinois. They were formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois, and have never had a line-up change. They blend thrash metal, death metal, and grindcore to form their own unique style dubbed murder metal...
.
In the novel Black House by Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
and Peter Straub
Peter Straub
Peter Francis Straub is an American author and poet, most famous for his work in the horror genre. His horror fiction has received numerous literary honors such as the Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and International Horror Guild Award, placing him among the most-honored horror authors in...
, Haarmann is mentioned as having been possessed by Mr. Munshun
Mr. Munshun
Mr. Munshun, alias the Monday Man, is a fictional character within the pages of the Stephen King and Peter Straub collaboration Black House, itself a sequel to their first joint effort, The Talisman....
(an agent of the Crimson King
Crimson King
The Crimson King, also commonly known as Los', is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the antagonist in the novel Insomnia the main villain due to a plot twist in Black House and one of the main villains in the latter half of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.-Fictional...
).
Mentioned as an example of notorious serial killers in the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, 'Don't Look Behind You', Season 1, Episode 2, 9/27/1962.
External links
- Fritz Haarmann: The Butcher of Hannover - The Crime Library
- A Most Vicious Vampire - The Crime Library ROSA RAUSCHEN: Persönlichkeiten von schwulem Interesse – Fritz Haarmann Matthias Blazek: "Haarmann-Affäre: Delegation aus Berlin zu Gast in Hannover" (Berlin police in Hannover because of the Haarman case)