When I covered the case of Carl Panzram not too long ago, I never anticipated encountering another killer quite like him. And then I was introduced to his German counterpart.
Peter Kürten was born on May 26th, 1883, to an abusive, poverty-stricken family in Mülheim am Rhein, in the German Empire. The area is now known as Köln-Mullheim, which is a suburb of Cologne, Germany. Kürten was the oldest of 13 children, and suffered much of his father’s abuse from the time he was born into his adolescence. The abuse also got much worse for him when two of his siblings died at a young age.
Kürten’s parents were known alcoholics who emotionally and physically abused their children repeatedly. His father was also known for gathering the family into the main room of their 1-bedroom apartment, forcing his wife to remove her clothing, and forcing his children to watch him rape their mother. These displays would have a profound effect on Kürten as he grew older.
At the age of five, Kürten attempted to drown one of his friends. It’s unknown whether any consequences came of this, but the boy did survive his encounter with Kürten.
Four years later, in 1892, Kürten befriended a man who lived in the same apartment building as his family. The man worked as a dog catcher, and often brought Kürten along on his routes. He also showed Kürten what he did after he’d catch rogue strays of any kind. He taught Kürten how to torture and kill the animals they caught together. Kürten was fascinated by this, and participated in these activities with enthusiasm and gusto.
Kürten was known as a good student, who had a bright and studious future ahead of him. However, his academics suffered greatly. Kürten was prone to missing school in order to recover from his father’s attacks and beatings.
Kürten couldn’t stand being at home. From the time he was young – some say as young as five or six – he would run away for days to weeks at a time. While living on the streets, he was befriended by petty criminals who taught him for various forms of petty crime. Kürten often committed small acts of theft and robbery in order to keep himself fed and clothed. His stints on the streets also did his academic aspirations no favours.
When Kürten was nine, he pushed a friend he knew could not swim off a log raft in order to drown him. When another friend attempted to save him, Kürten held the second boy’s head underwater. Both boys drowned. While Kürten alleges he intentionally murdered the boys, the local authorities ruled the drownings an accident.
A few years later, Kürten’s behaviour turned from boys his age, to girls. At the age of 13, Kürten was courting a girl his age. He grew frustrated with her when she would deny him sex, but would allow him to undress and touch her. In order to release his sexual frustration, Kürten steered towards a very different path.
Kürten lived near many farms, stables, and barns that kept animals such as sheep, pigs, and goats. Kürten engaged in sexual intercourse with these animals. In his mind, he was avoiding doing to his young paramore what his father was known for doing to his mother. Later in life, Kürten went on to explain that he obtained the ‘greatest sense of pleasure’ when he would stab the animals just as he as able to reach his climax.
Kürten continued this behaviour for while, slashing and stabbing animals with more ferocity each and every time. He grew fascinated by the sound, look, and feel of the blood rushing from the animals’ wounds. Kürten lost all pleasure in the activity when he was caught stabbing a pig, and ceased to find sexual release in animals at this point.
In 1897, Kürten left school, and obtained employment as an apprentice molder, just like his father. For two years, Kürten worked diligently. But he’d been planning. He stole as much money as he could find around his household. He also stole approximately 300 marks from his employer. Then, Kürten ran away from home.
Kürten ran to Koblenz. There, he met a sex worker who was two years older than he was. Kürten claimed that he enjoyed his time with this girl, as she would submit to any and all sexual acts that he demanded of her.
Four weeks after running to Koblenz, Kürten was apprehended and charged with breaking and entering, and theft. He was sentenced to one month in prison.
Right around this time, Kürten’s mother was finally able to obtain a separation order from her husband. She took her remaining children, relocated to Düsseldorf, and got remarried there.
The events that led to the separation also led Kürten’s father to a prison sentence. The man was imprisoned for sexually abusing his eldest daughter, who was only 13 at the time.
When Kürten himself was released from prison in August of 1899 – earning himself longer sentences while imprisoned – he moved to Düsseldorf, and reverted to petty crime in order to get by. This would prompt a long string of stints in prison, and an exploration of various criminal avenues.
In November of 1899, Kürten stated that he ‘picked up’ and 18-year-old girl at the Alleestraße. From there, he convinced her to go with him to the Hofgarten, in Düsseldorf. Next, he had sexual relations with the girl. After he’d finished, he strangled her with his bare hands. He left her for dead when she fell unconscious. Kürten claims this was the first murder he committed as an adult, though there are no known records that corroborate this account.
A few months later, in 1900, Kürten was arrested for fraud, but was seemingly released. In the same year, he was arrested on the same charge, however, he was also charged with thefts he’d committed around Düsseldorf in 1988, as well as the attempted murder of a girl with a firearm. In October of 1900, he was sentenced to four years in prison for the charges. He served his sentence in Derendorf. While in prison, Kürten continued to suffer the abuse of guards and other prisoners alike, cultivating his philosophy of righteousness against his own perceived slights and injustices done to him.
In the summer of 1904, Kürten was released from prison, and immediately drafted into the Imperial German Army. He was immediately deployed to the city of Metz, in Lorraine. There, he served in the 98th Infantry Regiment. Army life really did not seem to suit him. Before long, Kürten deserted from the army, and fled.
That autumn, Kürten partook in committed various acts of arson. He later claimed that he particularly liked watching, discreetly, from a distance, wondering if there had been any people or animals inside the buildings he set fire. He also enjoyed watching as emergency services would attempt valiantly to extinguish the flames.
Kürten was arrested on New Year’s Eve of 1904, where he admitted freely to police that he had committed approximately 24 acts of arson. He also admitted that he relished in the idea of burning sleeping homeless people or animals alive in the barns and haylofts that he frequently targeted.
After he was arrested, Kürten was tried by the military courts as a result of his desertion from the army. He was convicted of multiple counts or arson, robbery, and attempted robbery. He was sentenced to prison, where he served from 1905 to 1913.
Kürten was often subjected to solitary confinement for repeated acts of insubordination while incarcerated. He was also subjected to what he referred to as severe forms of discipline.
It was during these episodes of discipline that Kürten’s mind began to form ideas. He began to develop graphic, erotic fantasies of harming others upon his release. He wanted to strike back at a society that had so struck him. He fantasized about murdering masses of people. Later, in discussing this period of his life with psychologists and law enforcement authorities, he freely admitted that these fantasies would sometimes cause him to spontaneously ejaculate.
On May 25th, 1913, after he was released from prison, Peter Kürten committed his first murder of which there exists documentation and a record.
After he was released, Kürten returned to Mülheim am Rhein. There, he burgled a tavern while the owners and their family slept in the living quarters above. While in the midst of the burglary, Kürten encountered Christine Klein, the nine-year-old daughter of the tavern owner, while she was asleep in her bed.
Kürten strangled the young girl, and then slashed her throat twice with a pocket knife. He was aroused by the sound of the blood dripping to the floor, and proceeded to ejaculate as a result.
The following day, May 26th, Kürten’s 30th birthday, he drank at a tavern that was located directly opposite where he’d murdered Christine. He relished in the outrage of the locals, and wanted to listen in to their gossip and reactions.
Two months later, Kürten obtained a skeleton key, and proceeded to burgle a home in Düsseldorf. There, he found seventeen-year-old Gertrud Franken, sleeping in her bed. He strangled Gertrud, becoming aroused from the action. He then ejaculated as he watched blood pour from her mouth. Kürten managed to escape the scene, just as he’d escaped the scene of Christine’s murder.
On July 14th, 1913, Kürten was arrested on suspicion for a series of arsons, and burglaries. Upon being found guilty, be was sentenced to six years in prison. This sentence was lengthened by two years for repeated instances of insubordination.
Kürten was released from prison in April of 1921, where he relocated to Altenburg. At first, Kürten moved in with his sister. However, he soon made the acquaintance of a woman three years older than him named Auguste Scharf. Auguste was the proprietor of a sweets shop, who had previously been under suspicion for shooting her former fiancé, thus resulting in his death. Kürten presented himself to Auguste as a prisoner of war.
Two years later, Kürten and Auguste were married. For the first time, Kürten obtained regular, steady employment in order to help support his wife.
In 1925, Kürten and his wife relocated to Düsseldorf. There, Kürten engaged in two affairs, one with a servant girl named Tiede, and one with a housemaid named Mech. Kürten often partially strangled the women when he engaged in sexual relations with them. Tiede would later tell the authorities that Kürten had told her “That’s what love means” while in the course of strangling her.
When Auguste discovered the affairs, she put an end to them immediately. She encouraged Tiede to report Kürten to the police, and Mech reported that Kürten had raped her.
Kürten spent eight months in prison upon Tiede’s allegations that Kürten had seduced her, but Mech’s charges of rape were later dropped. Six months into his sentence, Kürten was released on the condition that he be exiled from Düsseldorf. He as successfully able to appeal this ruling, and remained in Düsseldorf.
This ruling would go on to haunt the city of Düsseldorf between the years of 1929, and 1930.
Stay tuned for part two.
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Sources:
Peter Kürten Biography – Biography.com Editors – biography.com
Peter Kürten: The Sadistic Crimes of the Vampire of Düsseldorf – Katie Serena and Jaclyn Anglis – All That’s Interesting
Peter Kürten: The Vampire of Düsseldorf – Crime and Investigation
The Sickest of the Sick: Peter Kürten, A Cannibal, Sexual Sadist, and Necrophiliac – Harrison Tenpas – Ranker
True Crime All The Time podcast – Peter Kürten
Peter Kürten Wikipedia page