Theo Berger
Encyclopedia
Theo Maximilian Berger was a notorious Bavaria
n criminal, best known for his numerous escapes from prison. Despite escaping four times, Berger spent 36 years in jail and eventually committed suicide there. Altogether, Berger had been sentenced to a collective 137 years in jail.
In 1986, he became the subject of a documentary, titled Der Al Capone vom Donaumoos (The Al Capone
of the Donaumoos
) and later wrote his memoirs, which were smuggled out of Straubing prison. In 2006, he also became the subject of a theatre play in Neuburg an der Donau
, titled Bruchstücke (Shards).
In his time, Berger received a number of nicknames, among them Al Capone vom Donaumoos, König der Ausbrecher (English:King of the jail breakers) or Der schöne Theo (English:The beautiful Theo). He was at times compared to some of the other legendary Bavarian criminals and robbers, the Räuber Kneißl
and the Bayerische Hiasl
.
in what is now the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
, a son of a local farmer. He was the second of nine sons. One of his brothers was later shot by the police.
Berger was described as of a rebellious nature in school, hitting back at the local village priest
when he tried to discipline him. Shortly after turning 18, Berger was sentenced to three years in jail for minor offences, in the belief that it would break him. Berger's punishment, in retrospect, was seen as far too harsh for his early crimes and resulted in him developing a hatred for the authorities. After his release he was re-arrested within four months, this time for car theft. Later attempts to start a non-criminal life failed, being accused of theft when he was innocent, lacking a drivers' licence to carry out his job and finding his wages confiscated to pay for his illegitimate children. In 1965, Berger escaped from the local police station in Schrobenhausen
after having been arrested for a fight by jumping out of a window on the first floor, stealing a bicycle and cycling to Ludwigsmoos, where friends cut off his hand cuffs.
In 1968, Berger was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bank robbery, which he was to spend in the high-security jail at Straubing. He quickly came to realise that Straubing was not as secure as its reputation, as he himself was able to carry a hack saw in his suit case on arrival. He used this hack saw for his first escape, when on transfer in Munich
. He was confronted by the police in March 1969 and arrested after firing and injuring a police officer. Berger later claimed in his memoirs that the hate in which he was prosecuted by the police made him fire at the officers.
He returned to his home area, the Donaumoos
, after this escape despite this being the most searched for place by the police. Berger's life, by his own admission, was always moving between the Moos and prison. Berger was cleverly able to evade the police and earned secret admiration and support for this. The home of his family in Ludwigsmoos became a tourist attraction. However, after his shots at the police officer in 1969, Berger did lose a lot of support in the region. His admirers saw in him somebody that took from the rich and never actually killed somebody.
Berger was often purposely playing cat-and-mouse with the police. He would call up the local police station and inform them that he had just stolen a car, was going to refuel it and then was ready to be chased.
After each escape, Berger was caught eventually and his court cases, held in Augsburg
, became pilgrimages for the local population from the Donaumoos. After his own admission in his memoirs, Berger was always able to receive keys for his cell in Straubing and a gun when he wanted to. He even, at one stage, toyed with the idea of passing a gun to the Red Army Faction
-terrorists Knut Folkerts and Bernd Rößner after seeing them in the court yard of the Straubing jail. He eventually handed in his guns to the Bavarian justice department in the hope of being allowed to receive medical treatment outside of jail but was refused.
He made his fourth escape, as a consequence, in September 1983, when he escaped through a toilet window while being part of a group of inmates who visited the Straubing Zoo. His escape lasted for only eleven days, he was arrested without resisting on a bridge over the Danube
in Ingolstadt
, being afraid the police would shoot him otherwise.
Berger, in his later life in prison, suffered from a rare version of blood cancer. By 1989, his weight was reduced to 60 kg and he suffered from speech impediments because of long periods of isolation. He was released from prison in 1985 because of his illness but Berger and one of his accomplices, Otto Hinterlechner, were the main suspects in a bank robbery in March 1986. The two were eventually confronted by the police and arrested after a shoot-out with the police.
While Berger could not be convicted of this bank robbery, the fact that shots were fired at the police resulted in him being charged with attempt of murder. He was sentenced to another 12 years in prison despite not having fired a shot from his gun. Hinterlechner, who originally stated that Berger told him to fire later withdrew this statement. A psychological assessment of Berger at the time found that he suffered from excessive masculinity
, a lack of scruple when it came to aggression as well as a complete absence of fear for retribution by others. On top of his 12 year sentence, it was decided that Berger should remain in preventive detention
for the rest of his life. In 1989, when his father died, Berger was allowed to attend the funeral, but was guarded by 20 police officers and a police helicopter.
When Berger's wife died in 2001, he was allowed to attend the funeral but was escorted by three police officers and was not allowed to spend time with his family. In his later days in jail, Berger felt, that he was sentenced to death in jail, despite the death penalty having been abolished
in Germany in 1949. Hubert Dietl, a high ranking official in the Bavarian justice department once declared that Berger should die in jail as he was a danger to the public. He never publicly showed regret for his crimes but an inmate in his final years stated that Berger had changed and was much calmer and unlikely to be threat to anybody anymore.
by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, questioned, as he never killed anybody and even murderers in Germany tend to be released after much shorter sentences. Berger was buried at the Alten Friedhof in Neuburg an der Donau.
. She made four unsuccessful appeals to have Berger pardoned, and died in 2001. He had five children with three different women; two of the children died as infants. The surviving three children are all daughters.
Berger's daughter Michaela, who regularly visited him throughout his time in jail, made numerous attempts to have her father released and to have him live with her and her children. Shortly before his suicide, plans were underway to permit Berger to spend one day a week at his daughter's house. However, Berger's death prevented this from happening.
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n criminal, best known for his numerous escapes from prison. Despite escaping four times, Berger spent 36 years in jail and eventually committed suicide there. Altogether, Berger had been sentenced to a collective 137 years in jail.
In 1986, he became the subject of a documentary, titled Der Al Capone vom Donaumoos (The Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
of the Donaumoos
Old Bavarian Donaumoos
The Old Bavarian Donaumoos is a former bog on the southern side of the Danube river, south west of Ingolstadt, Bavaria, in the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district. The bog, drained from 1790 onwards, has now dropped 3 metres in surface level because of the drainage and associated environmental effects...
) and later wrote his memoirs, which were smuggled out of Straubing prison. In 2006, he also became the subject of a theatre play in Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau, literally Neuburg on the Danube River, is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany.-Divisions:The municipality has 16 divisions:-History:...
, titled Bruchstücke (Shards).
In his time, Berger received a number of nicknames, among them Al Capone vom Donaumoos, König der Ausbrecher (English:King of the jail breakers) or Der schöne Theo (English:The beautiful Theo). He was at times compared to some of the other legendary Bavarian criminals and robbers, the Räuber Kneißl
Mathias Kneißl
Mathias Kneißl, known as Robber Kneißl , 4 August 1875, Unterweikertshofen — 21 February 1902, was a German outlaw, poacher and popular social rebel in the Dachau district, in the Kingdom of Bavaria...
and the Bayerische Hiasl
Matthias Klostermayr
Matthias Klostermayr, known as Bavarian Hiasl was a renowned German outlaw, poacher and social rebel who had come to be described, particularly in accounts written in the English-speaking world, as the Bavarian Robin Hood.A native of the municipality of Kissing...
.
Biography
Berger was born in 1941 in Ludwigsmoos, a small village near SchrobenhausenSchrobenhausen
Schrobenhausen is a town in the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, approx. 25 km southwest of Ingolstadt, and 35 km northeast of Augsburg....
in what is now the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
Neuburg-Schrobenhausen is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Pfaffenhofen, Aichach-Friedberg, Donau-Ries and Eichstätt, and by the city of Ingolstadt.-History:...
, a son of a local farmer. He was the second of nine sons. One of his brothers was later shot by the police.
Berger was described as of a rebellious nature in school, hitting back at the local village priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
when he tried to discipline him. Shortly after turning 18, Berger was sentenced to three years in jail for minor offences, in the belief that it would break him. Berger's punishment, in retrospect, was seen as far too harsh for his early crimes and resulted in him developing a hatred for the authorities. After his release he was re-arrested within four months, this time for car theft. Later attempts to start a non-criminal life failed, being accused of theft when he was innocent, lacking a drivers' licence to carry out his job and finding his wages confiscated to pay for his illegitimate children. In 1965, Berger escaped from the local police station in Schrobenhausen
Schrobenhausen
Schrobenhausen is a town in the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, approx. 25 km southwest of Ingolstadt, and 35 km northeast of Augsburg....
after having been arrested for a fight by jumping out of a window on the first floor, stealing a bicycle and cycling to Ludwigsmoos, where friends cut off his hand cuffs.
In 1968, Berger was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bank robbery, which he was to spend in the high-security jail at Straubing. He quickly came to realise that Straubing was not as secure as its reputation, as he himself was able to carry a hack saw in his suit case on arrival. He used this hack saw for his first escape, when on transfer in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He was confronted by the police in March 1969 and arrested after firing and injuring a police officer. Berger later claimed in his memoirs that the hate in which he was prosecuted by the police made him fire at the officers.
He returned to his home area, the Donaumoos
Old Bavarian Donaumoos
The Old Bavarian Donaumoos is a former bog on the southern side of the Danube river, south west of Ingolstadt, Bavaria, in the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district. The bog, drained from 1790 onwards, has now dropped 3 metres in surface level because of the drainage and associated environmental effects...
, after this escape despite this being the most searched for place by the police. Berger's life, by his own admission, was always moving between the Moos and prison. Berger was cleverly able to evade the police and earned secret admiration and support for this. The home of his family in Ludwigsmoos became a tourist attraction. However, after his shots at the police officer in 1969, Berger did lose a lot of support in the region. His admirers saw in him somebody that took from the rich and never actually killed somebody.
Berger was often purposely playing cat-and-mouse with the police. He would call up the local police station and inform them that he had just stolen a car, was going to refuel it and then was ready to be chased.
After each escape, Berger was caught eventually and his court cases, held in Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, became pilgrimages for the local population from the Donaumoos. After his own admission in his memoirs, Berger was always able to receive keys for his cell in Straubing and a gun when he wanted to. He even, at one stage, toyed with the idea of passing a gun to the Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
-terrorists Knut Folkerts and Bernd Rößner after seeing them in the court yard of the Straubing jail. He eventually handed in his guns to the Bavarian justice department in the hope of being allowed to receive medical treatment outside of jail but was refused.
He made his fourth escape, as a consequence, in September 1983, when he escaped through a toilet window while being part of a group of inmates who visited the Straubing Zoo. His escape lasted for only eleven days, he was arrested without resisting on a bridge over the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
in Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
, being afraid the police would shoot him otherwise.
Berger, in his later life in prison, suffered from a rare version of blood cancer. By 1989, his weight was reduced to 60 kg and he suffered from speech impediments because of long periods of isolation. He was released from prison in 1985 because of his illness but Berger and one of his accomplices, Otto Hinterlechner, were the main suspects in a bank robbery in March 1986. The two were eventually confronted by the police and arrested after a shoot-out with the police.
While Berger could not be convicted of this bank robbery, the fact that shots were fired at the police resulted in him being charged with attempt of murder. He was sentenced to another 12 years in prison despite not having fired a shot from his gun. Hinterlechner, who originally stated that Berger told him to fire later withdrew this statement. A psychological assessment of Berger at the time found that he suffered from excessive masculinity
Masculinity
Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...
, a lack of scruple when it came to aggression as well as a complete absence of fear for retribution by others. On top of his 12 year sentence, it was decided that Berger should remain in preventive detention
Preventive detention
Preventive detention is an imprisonment that is not imposed as the punishment for a crime, but in order to prevent a person from committing a crime, if that person is deemed likely to commit a crime....
for the rest of his life. In 1989, when his father died, Berger was allowed to attend the funeral, but was guarded by 20 police officers and a police helicopter.
When Berger's wife died in 2001, he was allowed to attend the funeral but was escorted by three police officers and was not allowed to spend time with his family. In his later days in jail, Berger felt, that he was sentenced to death in jail, despite the death penalty having been abolished
Capital punishment in Germany
Capital punishment was abolished in West Germany in 1949 and East Germany in 1987.-Legal position:The current Constitution of Germany , which came into effect on 23rd May, 1949, forbids capital punishment...
in Germany in 1949. Hubert Dietl, a high ranking official in the Bavarian justice department once declared that Berger should die in jail as he was a danger to the public. He never publicly showed regret for his crimes but an inmate in his final years stated that Berger had changed and was much calmer and unlikely to be threat to anybody anymore.
Death
After 36 years in jail, Berger committed suicide by hanging himself in Straubing prison on 20 November 2003. The length of Berger's 36 years in jail were, in his obituaryObituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, questioned, as he never killed anybody and even murderers in Germany tend to be released after much shorter sentences. Berger was buried at the Alten Friedhof in Neuburg an der Donau.
Personal life
In 1991, Berger married while in prison to a teacher from KarlshuldKarlshuld
Karlshuld is a municipality in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen in Bavaria in Germany.-History:The locality was created in the course of the dewatering of the Donaumooses begun at 1790 in the year 1795 as colony of Karl baron v. kind of hitting a corner. The place was until 1840 seat of an...
. She made four unsuccessful appeals to have Berger pardoned, and died in 2001. He had five children with three different women; two of the children died as infants. The surviving three children are all daughters.
Berger's daughter Michaela, who regularly visited him throughout his time in jail, made numerous attempts to have her father released and to have him live with her and her children. Shortly before his suicide, plans were underway to permit Berger to spend one day a week at his daughter's house. However, Berger's death prevented this from happening.
In popular culture
- Berger's life was the subject of a German documentary by Oliver Herbrich, filmed in 1986. The movie has a length of 59 minutes and features Theo Berger himself as one of the co-authors and actors. The movie was seen as too controversial by the Bavarian public televisionBayerischer RundfunkBayerischer Rundfunk [Bavarian Broadcasting] is the public broadcasting authority for the German Freistaat of Bavaria, with its main offices located in Munich. BR is a member of ARD.- Legal foundation :...
, but shown in cinemas in Augsburg and the Donaumoos. - In 2006, Berger also became the subject of a theatre play in Neuburg an der DonauNeuburg an der DonauNeuburg an der Donau, literally Neuburg on the Danube River, is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany.-Divisions:The municipality has 16 divisions:-History:...
, titled Bruchstücke. It became the most successful play in the history of theatre in Neuburg. However, the play was not uncontroversial, seen by some of his victims as an undeserved glorification of a criminal.
Further reading
- Theo Berger (1989) Ausbruch. Die Erinnerungen des Al Capone vom Donaumoos AV-Verlag, AugsburgAugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, ISBN 3925274278