List of German serial killers

A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.^[1][2] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".^[3][4]

Pre-reunification

Name	Years active	Proven victims	Possible victims	Status	Notes	Ref
Bartsch, Jürgen	1962–1966	4	4	Died during castration surgery	Known as "The Carnival Killer"; killed boys aged 8–13 in Langenberg, with one managing to escape	[5]
Beck, Ernst-Dieter	1961–1968	3	3	Died while imprisoned	First murderer in German history on whom a chromosome test was applied	[6]
Bingelhelm, Simon	16th-century	26	26	Executed 1600	Known as "The Thousand Devils of Halberstadt"; robber who confessed to multiple murders in the present-day area of Saxony-Anhalt	[7]
Denke, Karl	1903–1924	30	42+	Committed suicide in police custody	Cannibal who killed homeless vagrants and travellers in Prussia; allegedly sold his victims' flesh as meat to unsuspecting customers	[8]
Eichhorn, Johann	1931–1939	5	5+	Executed 1939	Known as "The Beast of Aubing"; raped numerous women around western Munich, killing and mutilating at least five of them when they resisted him	[9]
Fleischer, Simeon	16th-century	19	19	Executed 1581	Wool weaver who murdered 19 wives for money; existence is disputed	[10]
Gatter, Arthur	1990	8	8	Committed suicide before sentencing	Known as "The Hammer-Killer of Frankfurt"; killed people with a hammer in Frankfurt city parks	[11]
Genipperteinga, Christman	1568–1581	964	964	Executed 1581	Possibly fictitious bandit who kept a registry of all the people he had killed, tallying up to 964	[12][13]
Gossmann, Klaus	1960–1965	7	7	Released 2015	Known as "The Midday Murderer"; committed robberies and murders at noon, hence his nickname	[14]
Gottfried, Gesche	1813–1827	15	15	Executed 1831	Poisoned people with arsenic in Bremen and Hanover; last person to be publicly hanged in Bremen	[15]
Großmann, Carl	1918–1921	26	100+	Committed suicide while imprisoned	Known as "The Berlin Butcher"; killed women and later sold their flesh on the black market	[16]
Haarmann, Fritz	1918–1924	24	27+	Executed 1925	Known as "The Butcher of Hanover"; murdered young men and boys before dismembering their bodies; allegedly sold some of the flesh as contraband meat	[17]
Hagedorn, Erwin	1969–1971	3	3	Executed 1972	Killed three boys in Eberswalde; last civilian to be executed for ordinary crimes in East Germany	[18]
Hanebuth, Jasper	17th-century	19	19	Executed 1653	Former mercenary and highwayman who killed people around the Eilenriede forest	[19]
Holst, Thomas	1987–1989	3	3	Committed to a psychiatric clinic	Known as "The Heidemörder"; tortured and then killed women in south Hamburg	[20]
Honka, Fritz	1970–1975	4	4	Died 1998	Murdered prostitutes in Hamburg's red light district	[21]
Hopf, Karl	1902–1906	4	4	Executed 1914	Poisoned family members and attempted to kill others in the Frankfurt area	[22]
Imiela, Arwed	1968–1969	4	4	Died in prison	Known as "The Bluebeard of Fehmarn"; fraudster who lured and killed women in Fehmarn after gaining access to their bank accounts	[23]
Kimmritz, Willi	1946–1948	4	4	Executed 1950	Known as "The Horror of the Brandenburg Forest"; raped and robbed women in the forests around Berlin, killing some of his victims	[24]
Kroll, Joachim	1955–1976	14	14	Died while imprisoned	Known as "The Ruhr Cannibal"; raped and killed mostly women in and around the Ruhr region, eating parts of their flesh afterwards	[25]
Kürten, Peter	1913–1929	9	9+	Executed 1931	Known as "The Vampire of Düsseldorf"; responsible for numerous sexual assaults, murders and attempted murders in Düsseldorf	[26]
Lehmann, Christa	1952–1954	3	3	Released 1977	Poisoned family members and the family dog; initially sentenced to life imprisonment but released after 23 years
Ludy, Franz Josef	1952–1968	4	4	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Serial child abuser who murdered two children and a couple	[27]
Mayer, Johann	1918–1919	5	5	Executed 1923	Known as "Stumpfarm"; disabled man who shot and killed people with a carbine	[28]
Niers, Peter	16th-century	544	544+	Executed 1581	Reputed bandit and gang leader who killed numerous people with his accomplices
Ogorzow, Paul	1940–1941	8	8+	Executed 1941	Known as "The S-Bahn Murderer"; SA sergeant who killed women in wartime Berlin	[29]
Pinzner, Werner	1984–1986	13	13	Committed suicide to avoid apprehension	Known as "The St. Pauli Killer"; contract killer who murdered various people around Hamburg	[30][31]
Pleil, Rudolf	1946–1947	10	25	Committed suicide while imprisoned	Known as "The Deadmaker"; killed one salesman and nine women in the Harz mountain range, but confessed to killing more	[32]
Poehlke, Norbert	1984–1985	6	6	Committed suicide to avoid apprehension	Known as "The Hammer-Killer"; police officer and bank robber who killed people during his crimes in Baden-Württemberg; killed his wife, two sons and then himself in Italy to avoid capture	[33]
Pommerenke, Heinrich	1959	4	4+	Died while imprisoned	Killed women around Baden-Württemberg; longest-serving prisoner in Germany until his death	[34]
Prigan, Bernhard	1947–1952	3	16	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Known as "The Strangler"; killed women near controlled-access highways and major roads	[35]
Schiffer, Egidius	1983–1990	5	5	Died in prison	Known as "The Strangler of Aachen"; murdered girls and women, sexually abusing three of them	[36]
Schmidt, Ulrich	1987–1989	5	5	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Known as "The Holiday Killer"; Assaulted nine women in Essen, killing five.	[37]
Schumann, Friedrich	1909–1920	9	25	Executed 1921	Known as "The Terror of Falkenhagen Lake"; criminal who killed people in the Berlin area	[38]
Seefeldt, Adolf	1908–1935	12	12+	Executed 1936	Known as "The Sandman"; travelling watchmaker who poisoned and then sexually assaulted young boys in their sleep	[39]
Steinwegs, Kurt-Friedhelm	1974–1983	6	6	Committed to a psychiatric institution	Known as "The Monster from Lower Rhine"; juvenile delinquent who killed six people	[40]
Sternickel, August	1905–1913	7	7	Executed 1913	Petty criminal who killed his employer in 1905; while on the run for authorities in the next years, proceeded to kill other people for profit	[41]
Stiebitz, Mario	1983–1984	5	5	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Sadist who murdered a young man and four children around Neubrandenburg and the surrounding area	[42]
Stumpp, Peter	c. 1564–1589	18	18	Executed 1589	Known as "The Werewolf of Bedburg"; farmer and accused cannibal who killed people in the 16th-century	[43]
Swinka, Irmgard	1947–1948	5	5+	Died a year after release from prison	Together with two male accomplices, poisoned and robbed elderly women across Allied-occupied Germany; last person to be sentenced to death by a West German court outside of West Berlin	[44]
Tessnow, Ludwig	1898–1901	4	4	Executed 1904	First criminal in history on whom a blood type test was performed	[45]
Ursinus, Sophie	1796–1803	3	3	Died 1836	Poisoned her family members with arsenic; her trial led to a method of identifying said type of poisoning	[46]
Velten, Maria	1963–1982	3	5	Died 2008	Known as "The Poison Witch from Lower Rhine"; poisoned her family members and partners with parathion; released from prison at 93	[47]
Wiese, Elisabeth	1902–1903	5	5	Executed 1905	Known as "The Angel Maker of St. Pauli"; poisoned her grandchild and other children with morphine, burning their bodies in the stove afterwards	[48]
Wichmann, Kurt-Werner	1989	4	21+	Committed suicide	Cemetery gardener thought to be responsible for the Göhrde Murders, and other ones as well	[49]
Wittmann, Ferdinand	1860–1865	6	6	Executed 1868	Poisoned his relatives with arsenic	[50]
Wittmann, Manfred	1968–1969	3	3	Released 2013	Known as "The Staffelstein Killer"; sadist who killed underage girls in Coburg	[51]
Zwanziger, Anna Maria	1801–1811	4	4	Executed 1811	Bavarian poisoner who killed people with arsenic; executed by decapitation in Kulmbach	[52]

Post-reunification

Name	Years active	Proven victims	Possible victims	Status	Notes	Ref
Becker, Irene	2005–2006	5	8	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Known as "The Angel of Death from Charité"	[53]
Bodenfelde Black Widows	1983–2000	4	4	Sentenced to life imprisonment/12 years imprisonment	Lydia L. killed 4 older men with the help of Siggi S. in Bodenfelde.	[54]
Böhnhardt, Uwe	2000–2007	10	10	Killed by partner	Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Beate Zschäpe and Uwe Mundlos	[55]
David, Horst	1975–1993	3	7+	Died in prison	One of his murders proved to be a milestone in German criminal history, as it was the first 20-year-old crime to be solved with the help of the computer-assisted tracking system of AFIS	[56]
Eckert, Volker	1974–2006	6	14+	Committed suicide in police custody	Trucker who abducted, tortured and killed prostitutes in Germany, Spain and France; confessed to additional murders, including ones in Italy and the Czech Republic	[57]
Gust, Frank	1994–1998	4	4	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Known as "The Rhine-Ruhr-Ripper"; sexual sadist who killed and subsequently mutilated women in the Rhine-Ruhr region	[58]
Högel, Niels	2000–2005	106	300	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Male nurse who killed patients in two hospitals in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst	[59][60]
Lemke, Thomas	1995–1996	3	3	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Former mercenary and far-right extremist who killed political opponents	[61]
Letter, Stephan	2003–2004	29	29+	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Male nurse who poisoned patients in Sonthofen	[62]
Metzler, Marco	2003–2006	3	3	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Truck driver who attacked and killed women along highways	[63]
Mundlos, Uwe	2000–2007	10	10	Committed suicide to avoid apprehension	Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Beate Zschäpe and Uwe Böhnhardt	[64]
Ney, Martin	1992–2004	3	4	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Known as "The Masked Man"; prolific pedophile who murdered children in school camps; additionally suspected of killing French boy Jonathan Coulom	[65]
Nölle, Marianne	1993	7	17	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Nurse who killed patients in Cologne	[66]
Rung, Thomas	1983–1995	7	7	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Raped and murdered six women in Berlin, as well as his stepbrother; another man falsely confessed to his first murder	[67]
S., Tuba	2016	3	3+	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Murdered at least three people in robberies in Düsseldorf and Giessen	[68]
Schmidt, Beate	1989–1991	6	6	Committed to a psychiatric hospital	Known as "The Beast of Beelitz"; trans woman who killed five women and an infant in Beelitz	[69]
Seel, Manfred	1971–2004	5	9	Died before crimes were discovered	Known as "The Hesse Ripper"; suspected of killing women in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main and other places; died before crimes were discovered	[70]
Sprungk, Gabor	2007–2008	3	3	Committed suicide in prison	Known as "The Mansfeld Double Murderer"; killed a Swiss woman, and later an elderly woman and her doctor in Mansfeld in order to rob them	[71]
Zschäpe, Beate	2000–2007	10	10	Sentenced to life imprisonment	Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos	-

Unidentified serial killers

Name	Years active	Proven victims	Possible victims	Region where active	Notes	Ref
Hamburg rubble murderer	1947	4	4	Hamburg	Killed 4 people during the cold winter in Hamburg; convicted serial killer Rudolf Pleil was questioned, but later cleared of these murders	[73]
Münsterland murders	1971–1974	4	4+	North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony	Kidnapped and killed at least four hitchhikers in the Münster and Bentheim regions	[74]
Pirmasens child killer	1960–1967	3	3	Rhineland-Palatinate	Suspected abductor and child killer responsible for the disappearance of three children from the town of Pirmasens	[75]
Saw-Killer of Hanover	1975–1977	6	6+	Lower Saxony	Killed and dismembered at least four women and two men around Hanover, dumping their body parts at various places in the city	[76]
Sewer Murders	1976–1989	7	7	Frankfurt Rhine-Main	Also called "The Sewage Plant Murders"; the bodies of several young boys and adolescents were discovered near sewage treatment plants in Frankfurt Rhine-Main, leading authorities to believe they were killed by a serial killer	[77]

See also

• Lists of serial killers