A unique case of a serial-killer
being both vicious and brutally opportunistic, from the normally tender
age of 5 years old. Peter Kurten brought a swift end to many lives, and
shocked a whole nation with his secretive activities...
Died circa 1892
Kurten confessed his responsibility
in drowning 2 friends, at the age of 5.
FONT SIZE="1">Died circa 1900
Strangulation experiment while having sex in the woods at Graffenberger. No body ever found, so presumed she survived.
Christine Klein (8) Died circa 1913
Throat was slit after molestation. Dropped his embroidered handkerchief during the burglary. Died circa 1913
Kurten attacked two strangers with
an axe, saying that he derived sexual pleasure from watching the blood
flow.
Died circa 1925-1929
Exact number unknown. Intermittent
attacks for self-gratification. Death by strangulation.
Died 3rd February 1929
Attacked a woman walking home and stabbed her 24 times with a pair of scissors. She survived the attack.
Rudolf Scheer (45) Died 13th
February 1929
Repeatedly stabbed in the head
and neck, while on his way home from a beer cellar.
Rosa Ohliger (8) Died 9th
March 1929Undisturbed activity whilst he dragged the girl behind a hedge
and stabbed her 13 times. Returned to the crime scene to burn the body.
Died early August 1929
Two women and a man attacked on their way home late at night. They survived.
Luise Lenzen (13) Died 24th August 1929
Lured with Gertrud Hamacher to a
meadow where he strangled and stabbed Luise, and slit Gertrud's throat
Gertrud Hamacher (5) Died
24th August 1929
Gertrud Schulte (?) 24th
August 1929
Attacked on the same afternoon
as Lenzen & Hamacher murders. Stabbed many times before escaping. Managed
to give the police their first good description of the man they were seeking
Maria Hahn (20) Died late
1929
A Servant girl who had been stabbed
20 times and buried on the banks of the Rhine. Body undiscovered until
late-Autumn. Intentions to crucify the body to shock passers-by were compounded
by the weight of the body.
Ida Reuter (31) Died 29th
September 1929
Servant girl, raped and battered
to death with a hammer in a wood just outside Dusseldorf.
Elizabeth Dorrier (?) Died
early October 1929
A half-gypsy servant girl suffers
the same fate as Ida Reuter.
Gertrud Alberman (5) Died
7th November 1929
After 2 bungled attempts, the last
of his many murders took place. Strangled and stabbed 36 times with scissors.
Notoriety akin to that of Jack the Rippers "Autumn of Terror" in the 1880's.
Maria Budlies/Budlick (?)
Died circa May 1930
An extraordinary situation where
Kurten willingly released a victim. Kurten was apprehended soon after,
bearing almost striking similarities to the case of the Boston Strangler.
Modus Operandi
In can't be said that there was any efficient, systematic approach Peter Kurten used when targeting his victims. From various accounts of his life, it is suggested that the attacks came about due to an insatiable sexual-appetite which Kurten had, with them being the driving force behind his murders.
In terms of method of attack, he would use a variety of methods to kill his victims, which included strangulation on physically inferior targets (such as the numerous children he killed), and strangulation & bludgeoning when waiting in ambush for an opportunity to present itself.
Unusually, his victims were not all women since his motivation was not always for self-sexual gratification.
Peter Kurten's name entered the
annals of criminology through the fact that, after his conviction, he became
the first serial killer ever interviewed in-depth by a psychiatrist.
Motives
To be absolutely brutal in the classification
of his motive, it would be listed under those normally associated with
a "Sex-Maniac". However, his reasons for killing indiscriminately, and
not exclusively to one gender, was because the activity created sexual
pleasure for Kurten, rather than the victim themselves. Although molestation
occurred in some of his victims, it was only so that he may elevate the
experience to an even more euphoric state for himself.
Quotes
When questioned by the police psychiatrist,
Dr. Karl Berg (Later obtaining Professor status) whether he had any regrets
about his life of perpetual murder, his response came out almost like an
epitaph...
"I have no remorse. As to whether
recollection of my deeds makes me feel ashamed, I will tell you. Thinking
back to all the details is not at all unpleasant. I rather enjoy it."
Comments
The case of Peter Kurten gets even bigger the more times I read about it. For someone to be able to murder for so long, and so indiscriminately among his fellow human beings can only go to show that his perception of his victims, prior to being murdered, was one of absolute abstraction. Kurten was able to see a person, determine if they would be sexually stimulating (depending on the method of attack he employed upon them). All this in the time it takes for the victim to walk towards him. And yet, Peter Kurten is the kind of man who is able to marry, and still keep his activities a secret from his extremely tolerant wife, until he decided to confess to her. After he was called in by the police for routine enquiries regarding the Maria Budlies/Budlick incident, realising his capture was imminent, he suggested that his wife should turn him in to the police so that she may claim the (now substantial) reward for the murderer, setting her up comfortably for life.
One striking feature in this case is the ability for someone so young to be able to kill so easily (He was only 5 when he purported to have killed two schoolboy friends whilst rafting). This could be attributed to his childhood, as his violently drunken father would often force his wife to have sex in front of his children. Born from a family of 13 children, he often mimicked his father's actions, regardless of the moral implications. Such a case occurred when his father was arrested for attempting to molest his daughter. Kurten repeated the attack as he had seen it.
The seed of violence, as sown by his father actions into his mind, was further nurtured by a local dog-catcher who moved in as a lodger when his father was in jail. He taught young Kurten how to masturbate dogs, and torture them. This led up to his early experiences with bestiality which he regularly practiced.
One question which has remained unanswered, is his attitude to what would have been his final victim, Maria Budlies/Budlick. Why would he willingly allow her to escape, knowing that she would have been able to provide a near-perfect description of him?. What with the current media-enhanced atmosphere in the wake of his numerous atrocities, the police were sure to act on whatever tip-off they received. One possible reason was that he was so sure of his ability to continue without interference (given that he had been able to murder for nigh on 40 years) that he did not feel threatened by victims being released, alive.
To sum up such an individual, I quote the psychologist, Professor Karl Berg, who in conclusion of a lengthy study of his patient, described Kurten as being "A king of sexual perverts" and a "narcissistic psychopath".