Apparently by biting through the Adam’s apple, choking and throttling, Fritz Haarmann killed several people in Hanover at the beginning of the 20th century. t-online went on the trail of the murderer.

The story of Friedrich (Fritz) Heinrich Karl Haarmann is creepy. The serial offender from Hanover murdered numerous boys, his acts were sexually motivated. But that’s not all: Afterwards, he disposed of the corpses in the river. In some cases he is said to have slaughtered and cut up his victim in his own apartment – there were also rumors that he was supposed to have sold the meat as edible goods. At least 24 men wearing hats were counted.

Hanover: The murderer with the cleaver

The “cannibal” was born on October 25, 1879 as the youngest of five siblings. His parents were the locomotive heater Karl Friedrich Haarmann and his wife Johanne. The father is said to have been strong to him, the mother is said to have spoiled him. He is also said to have been sexually abused by his older brother.

After leaving school, he was quickly out of work, and criminal proceedings were already initiated against him – because he is said to have abused the neighbors’ children. Haarmann joined the military, but was quickly retired; he was certified as having schizophrenia.

He then lived as a petty criminal: embezzlement, theft, break-ins and stolen goods brought him up to 17 convictions. He worked as a police spy. He spent the First World War in prison.

Boys disappear into Haarmann’s apartment

Shortly after the end of the war, a male prostitution market was opened in the gardens around Café Kröpcke. And Haarmann lives nearby. Rumors spread around him. It goes without saying that he went into his apartment with a lot of guys, but they didn’t come out again.

View of the house of serial killer Fritz Haarmann (archive picture): He was born in Hanover on October 25, 1879. At the age of 45 Haarmann was executed – also in Hanover. (Source: localpic)

Sometimes it was said that a meat grinder was used to chop bones and process meat. Sometimes it was said that Haarmann had sold the boys to the French Foreign Legion. “Wait, just wait a while, soon Haarmann will come to you too. With the little cleaver he’ll make liver sausage out of you” – this song was written back then.

By chance, children found a total of five human skulls on a leash in May and June 1924. These finds were examined, they came from young men and were probably severed from the body with a knife. When the fourth skull was found on June 13, 1924, the investigation into a serial killer began. The murder commission of the Hanoverian criminal police ruled out a robbery and suspects a homosexual perpetrator.

Hundreds of human bones found in leash

Haarmann was on the road a lot back then, often on the black market that was flourishing at the time. He was also on tour in 1924, at the train station he got into an argument with a young man named Kurt Fromm. Both were held by the police. An official from the moral department recognized Haarmann and issued an arrest warrant without further ado. Because Haarmann had often come into conflict with the law.

The policeman – together with his colleagues – was also busy with the gruesome find of the 500 body parts that were later salvaged from the leash. He pricked up his ears.

Photo taken by the criminal police in Haarmann’s chamber (archive photo): The serial killer had murdered many boys here. (Source: localpic)

When the police went to Haarmann’s apartment on June 23, they found traces of blood and a number of young men’s clothing, some of them stained with blood. On July 5, 1924, the Hanover Tourist Office finally lowered the water level on the Leine with a weir. There in the river bed 300 pieces of human bones were then recovered, which could be assigned to at least 22 people.

Human bones found after lowering the level of the leash (archive picture): Fritz Haarmann had killed numerous people. (Source: localpic)

In the end, Haarmann confessed. He went down in the history of Hanover as a vampire, as a human butcher, as a cannibal. “Werewolf of Hanover” was also mentioned.

Death by biting through the Adam’s apple

With a view to the murders, it was suspected that. Death occurred by biting through the Adam’s apple and by simultaneous choking and throttling.

At times, Haarmann does not live alone, Hans Grans, a good 20 years younger, has lived again since 1919 and was also him in connection with the murders. Hans Grans was initially to be sentenced to death in the trial, this sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Grans lived in Hanover until the mid-1970s.

After Haarmann was sentenced to death on December 19, 1924, the Magdeburg executioner Carl Gröpler carried out the execution by beheading with the guillotine in the early morning of April 15, 1925 – unnoticed by the public – in the courtyard of the court prison in Hanover .

Trial in Hanover (archive photo): On December 19, 1924, the Hanover jury court sentenced Haarmann to death. (Source: localpic)

Possible change in personality due to meningitis

Then the Ministerialrat in the Prussian Ministry of Justice Hartung Haarmanns Kopf is available to the Kraepelin Brain Research Institute in Munich. Studies of the brain have shown that Haarmann must have had meningitis, which can lead to changes in the brain and personality – this may also have played a role in his horrific deeds.

In 1995 Götz George slipped into the role of Haarmann for the feature film “Der Totmacher”. The dialogues, which arose under the direction of Romuald Karmakar, were taken from the interrogation protocols of the interrogation. The docudrama seems completely radical, the reality of Fritz Haarmann was certainly even more radical.