Casefile True Crime - Case 218: The Blackout Killers (Part 2)

Episode Date: July 16, 2022

[Part 2 of 2] In Berlin, Germany at the height of World War Two, a man took advantage of the Blackout orders at night to frighten and assault women in an isolated garden colony. Soon, he progressed to attacking and killing women on the S-Bahn train by throwing them from the carriage door while the train was in motion. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Jess Forsayeth Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn This episode's sponsors: SimpliSafe – Claim a FREE indoor security camera and 20% off with interactive monitoring DashPass by DoorDash – Save money, access members-only offers, and get 50% off your first order up to $15 value with promo code ‘CASEFILE2022’ when you spend $12 or more Best Fiends – Download Best Fiends for free Allbirds – Discover your perfect pair of sneakers For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-218-the-blackout-killers-part-2

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local Crisis Centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. The S-Bahn commuter train rattled along in the darkness towards the eastern side of Berlin. Slowly, the cityscape gave way to the sprawling suburbia of Friedrichsfelder. It was here, in the early hours of August 13, 1939, that Lena Budzinski disembarked. Walking alone, she headed towards the nearby Allotment Garden.

Located throughout Berlin, Allotment Gardens allowed city dwellers to embrace a quasi-rural lifestyle. They could purchase or rent a modest plot of land on garden grounds to cultivate their own crops or raise small livestock. During the day, the gardens were peaceful. Narrow paths wove through the ornamental fruit trees and fields of homegrown vegetables. Gardeners tended to their little patch of countryside to the ambient sounds of the resident chickens, pigs and goats.

The Friedrichsfelder gardens also provided a direct route from the train station to the nearby Tenemann housing, servicing local residents like Lena Budzinski. As night fell, streetlights, lanterns and wood fire stoves bashed the gardens in a warm glow. Yet, the atmosphere within the grounds had changed in recent times. The Nazi Party had issued regulations that prevented the illumination of public spaces at night. It wasn't an official blackout, but more of a preparation for things to come.

To help navigate the darkness and avoid collisions, citizens pinned phosphorescent badges that absorbed sunlight to the front of their clothing, making the badges glow green at night. As Lena Budzinski wandered alone through the Friedrichsfelder Allotment Garden, her movements were highlighted by the pale green glow of her badge. Lena was almost home when she heard footsteps approaching from behind. They started gaining pace. Lena panicked and started running towards her house, prompting the person behind her to speed up.

As Lena pushed through her front gate, she was hit hard over the head, causing her to crumble to the ground. Momentarily concussed, Lena could only watch as a manly figure appeared over her. He was breathing quickly and heavily, trying to catch his breath. The man didn't utter a word before shoving a knife into Lena's back. He pulled it out and stabbed Lena three more times before fleeing. A knife-wielding assailant was active in Friedrichsfelder and local women needed to be warned. Yet, his actions didn't make the papers, and would soon be superseded altogether by

an even bigger story that broke weeks later, on Friday, September 1, 1939. Hitler visits the besieging army during his tour in conquered Poland, which is subjugated and partitioned. The defending army shattered by the lightning strokes of the Blitzkrieg, the Nazi fear has the air of a conqueror, as he surveys the artillery bombardment of Warsaw, which still resists, but cannot resist much longer, a capital city wrapped in flame and horror. Danzig, Hitler in the city, the dispute over which led to the European War. This Nazi demonstration was staged the day before Hitler flew back to Berlin and made

his latest speech suggesting peace, which Great Britain and France reject. Hitler faced with the prospect of a long, relentless war. Unbeknownst to Lena, she was not the first one to be attacked in the Friedrichsfelder Garden. In recent times, a lone perpetrator had been lurking around at night, using the pre-war blackout preparation to his advantage. Hiding in the shadows of the looming trees or makeshift sheds, he'd wait until he saw the familiar green glow of a phosphorescent badge.

If it was pinned to a lone woman, the man would leap out from his hiding place and shine a torch directly into the woman's eyes, rendering her momentarily blinded and disorientated. He'd then loudly bombard her with vulgar sexual remarks or threats. His behaviour escalated over time, and the verbal abuse soon turned physical. He would grab, grope and punch his victims, sometimes even choking them to prevent them from calling out for help. In one instance, a woman managed to let out a scream before the perpetrator gripped his hands around her throat.

He was unaware that the woman's husband and one of his friends were waiting nearby and overheard the commotion. They rushed over and managed to tackle the assailant to the ground while yelling for the police. Fueled by fear, the man managed to overpower them and break free, fleeing into the surrounding bushes. Seemingly learning from this mistake, the man took to disabling his victims first by striking them over the head with a heavy object so that they couldn't call out for help.

He also began carrying a knife. So far, around 30 other women had been targeted, but none had been able to get a good look at the perpetrator. As he hadn't yet seriously harmed anyone, the case wasn't treated as a high priority, and with the news dominated by the ongoing actions of the German armed forces, most local residents remained unaware of the looming threat. It wasn't until Lena Budzinski was stabbed outside her home that police realised that they were dealing with a serious offender.

He laid low for a while, which kept the police at bay. But unable to resist his urges, the assailant eventually continued his spree, reverting back to scaring women with his flashlight and verbal taunts to avoid an immediate reaction from police. It took four months before his desire to kill returned. News of the serial attacker spread slowly through word of mouth, but those who were aware of the lurking danger weren't able to do much about it. With the war underway, the output needed from Germany's factories was more demanding than

ever. Women were forced to continue working well into the late hours, producing industrial materials or the weaponry necessary to sustain the Nazi war machine. There was little they could do except hope they wouldn't cross paths with the attacker on their way home. On Thursday, December 14, 19-year-old factory worker Herta Jablinski finished her late shift and boarded the S-Bahn headed for her home in Friedrichsfelder. It was around 1.13am by the time she disembarked outside of the local allotment gardens and

began on her path home. As she made her way through the dark, she heard footsteps closing in behind her. Herta paused and looked over her shoulder. While she couldn't see anything but darkness, she could feel someone else's presence. Panic washed over her. Herta broke out in a sprint, desperate to get to the safety of home. But the footsteps started up again, increasing in speed until she could feel the person right behind her.

All of a sudden, Herta felt a heavy thud to her head. She fell over and was immediately overcome by a stabbing pain. A man stood over her, silently forcing a knife into her neck over and over. Using all her strength, Herta managed to let out a scream. It worked to spook the man, and he quickly fled the scene. The Friedrichsfelder attacker had struck again. Just like he had done after stabbing Lena Budzinski, he kept a low profile for several weeks until the police investigations dissipated.

Once he felt like he was in the clear, he returned to his hunting ground and eased back into his spree with minor confrontations, getting a kick out of scaring the women who passed the by. Occasionally, he elevated into physical assaults, but nothing that would provoke police into an active manhunt. This time, it took eight months before his urge to kill returned. At around 1.30 a.m. on Saturday, July 27, 1940, 25-year-old Gertrude Nisvant walked quickly through the Friedrichsfelder Gardens.

It soon dawned on her that she was being followed. Gertrude didn't live in the area, but had taken the S-Bahn to visit her parents who lived nearby. Although she hadn't heard anything about the spade of attacks, her instincts immediately sensed danger. Gertrude picked up the pace. The person walking in the shadows behind did the same. Adrenaline soared through Gertrude's veins, and everything in her body told her to run.

She reassured herself it was likely just another train passenger making their way home and managed to remain calm. When she finally reached her parents' home, relief washed over her. But as Gertrude made her way to the front porch, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and came face-to-face with a man she didn't recognize, his face barely visible through the darkness. Although Gertrude realized the man had been following her, she assumed he had relatively innocuous intentions.

Yet he seemed genuinely taken aback by how calm Gertrude was. She stood there silently staring at him. Eventually, the man felt compelled to break the awkward silence. Are you going in there? he asked, indicating towards the house. Gertrude replied curtly, of course. She didn't think the man was dangerous, but wanted him to leave her alone. She warned, leave or else I will yell.

The man raised his arm, do not cry yet, he said. He then hit Gertrude hard, forcing her to the ground. As she lay there incapacitated, the man stood over her and stabbed her in the neck. He removed the knife and stabbed her again, this time near her groin. Despite the deep wound in Gertrude's neck, she managed to let out a scream. It took the man completely by surprise. Shocked, he fled into the darkness. Gertrude Nisvant was the first victim who sustained an injury that appeared to be sexually

motivated, adding a new layer of complexity to the crimes. This time, the perpetrator didn't wait months for the trail to go well and truly cold before striking again. Three weeks later, on the evening of Wednesday, August 21, 40-year-old Yuli Shumaha was walking home alone through the Friedrichsfelder Gardens. All of a sudden, a flash of light sparked in front of her. Yuli had become so accustomed to the darkness that the bright light caused her physical pain.

Realizing the light had come from a flashlight-wielding man, Yuli angrily yelled at him to stop. He didn't respond. Instead, he struck Yuli over the head with a heavy blunt object, rendering her unconscious. When Yuli came too, she realized she'd been raped. There was no sign of her attacker, and police believed he might have fled the scene after falsely believing Yuli was dead. She wasn't the only one who survived one of his more serious assaults. Lena Budzinski, Fjerta Jablinski and Gertrude Nisvant had all also miraculously survived

their ordeals. At the offender's best efforts, he hadn't managed to kill anyone. Having now carried out a rape, there was no doubt the attacks were sexually motivated. Police began to suspect the assailant might have intended to rape the other women too, but had been forced to flee mid-attack after some managed to scream out. Once again, the severity of the attacks diminished in the wake of Yuli's rape, but they didn't stop completely. At least a dozen more women reported being harassed by a flashlight-wielding man in the

Friedrichsfelder Gardens, with police believing there might have been more who chose not to come forward. On Sunday, August 25, 1940, an explosion rocked Berlin. Aircraft under the command of UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill dropped a bomb on the city in retaliation for a similar attack carried out by German planes over London. It was the first time bombs had ever fallen on Berlin, and while the only thing destroyed was a garden house, the impact on morale was immense. Up until this point, the people of Berlin believed their military leadership when they

said the British would never bomb Germany. Now, anything was possible. Fearing another more deadly attack, German citizens continued to live each night in perpetual darkness, hoping to prevent British aircraft from hitting their targets. Berlin's official war-induced blackout mimicked the one currently in place in London to discourage German attacks. Windows were painted black, streetlights were dimmed, and the few vehicles on the road had their headlights blocked.

Within days of initiating the official blackout, the Nazi party severely increased punishments for those who took advantage of the darkened conditions to commit crime. A few months in prison for a crime committed during the day became a death sentence if it were committed at night. This didn't deter the Friedrichsfelder garden attacker. With more areas now consumed by darkness, his hunting ground only increased. By Friday, September 20, 1940, one month had passed since the attempted murder of Uli Schumacher.

Gerter Kargel was riding the S-Bahn home after a long day. Due to the blackout measures, the S-Bahn was operating with only one quarter of its usual lighting, and all the windows were covered. The dim lights coupled with the motion of the train slowly lulled Gerter off to sleep. When she jolted awake, she realized she'd accidentally slept through her intended stop. Gerter quickly disembarked at the next station, where she waited in the dark for the next train to take her back in the opposite direction. With the train exterior's void of light, certain spots had been covered with phosphorus

paint so they'd emit a small glow at night. Eventually, Gerter saw the glow of the inbound train, followed by the clickety-clack sound of its wheels as it slowed to a stop. She boarded and took a seat, with the train continuing onwards until Gerter was the only one left in the compartment. With men away at war, the trains were often only populated by women. By nightfall, many women were at home looking after their families, leaving the local trains near empty, with only late shift workers and transportation staff on board.

It was around 11.30pm by the time the train departed Vulhider Station. As it barreled onwards towards Friedrichshagen, a man approached Gerter. Once he was within arm's reach, he suddenly launched himself at her, wrapping his hands at her throat. Gerter struggled against him, attempting to drag him away towards the sliding door on the side of the train. The door could be manually pulled open even when the train was in motion, so Gerter recognized this as an opportunity to save herself.

She managed to make it to the door, with the man's hands still wrapped around her throat, but she lost consciousness before she was able to slide it open. By this point, the train was only minutes from the next station. Fearing a boarding passenger would realize what he'd done, Gerter's attacker opened the sliding door. With the train still speeding along at roughly 40-50mph, he pushed Gerter out. Her body was swept up by the fierce wind, flying through the air for several moments before hitting the ground with a hard thud.

The following morning, a passer-by was walking near the train tracks beyond Vulhider Station when they heard screams for help. They went to investigate and found Gerter cargo lying in pain. Her attacker had mistaken her for dead when he pushed her unconscious body off the train, and as luck would have it, Gerter had landed on a soft pile of sand. Had she landed on the rocky surrounds, she would have most certainly died from impact. Instead, Gerter had only suffered a concussion and multiple abrasions. Gerter's personal belongings were discovered a little further up the track, indicating

her attacker had thrown them out the door immediately after pushing Gerter out. Yet, when Gerter reported her ordeal to the police, they were skeptical. Given there was no sign that Gerter had been sexually assaulted or robbed, police weren't convinced that a crime had taken place at all. They felt Gerter's story that a random stranger would strangle and push her out of a train for no reason was too far-fetched. When Gerter admitted she had had a few drinks before boarding the train and had fallen asleep during the trip, police believed the more likely scenario was that Gerter had been drunk and

accidentally fell off the moving train in the dark. She then made up the story about the assault to cover her own missteps. Train-related accidents and fatalities weren't uncommon during the blackout, with numerous passengers falling off of trains or platforms due to the lack of lighting. It was a price the Nazi party was willing to pay, as they were at the height of their power and enemy bombings continued in Berlin, prolonging the need for the blackouts. Two weeks later, 20-year-old Gertrude Ditter stood alone at the Rumsburg train station waiting for the S-Bahn.

A man soon approached and struck up a conversation. Gertrude was charmed by him and gave him her home address when asked. It faced the allotment gardens in the neighbouring suburb of Friedrichsfelder. At around midday the following day, a member of the Nazi party went to Gertrude's home to speak to her about some personal matters. He knocked on the front door, but there was no response. He tried the door handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. He pushed the door open slightly and looked inside.

Blackout drapes were drawn across the windows, making it difficult to see much through the darkness. The man lit a match and as the flicker of light cast across the small dark kitchen, he spotted Gertrude's body propped up against a table with one of her hands resting on a bench. Gertrude's eyes were bloodshot and her long black hair was tucked behind her badly bruised neck, which also bore a deep wound. A fractured hyoid bone revealed that she had been strangled with intense force before being stabbed and dying of blood loss.

Gertrude had no defensive wounds and her house wasn't in disarray, which indicated she likely knew her killer, and had willingly let him inside before he launched a swift and unexpected attack. Lying on the ground underneath Gertrude's right hand was a kitchen knife. It didn't contain any blood or foreign fingerprints, making it unlikely that it had been used against her. Instead, it had probably been knocked about during the scuffle, or Gertrude might have wielded it in defense.

The murder weapon was deemed to be a pocket knife, which was nowhere to be found. Gertrude hadn't been sexually assaulted and nothing was taken from her house. Gertrude's two infant children were found asleep and unharmed in the living room, oblivious to what had taken place. Given that most of Gertrude's neighbors had been asleep at the time of the attack, no one had seen or heard anything suspicious. The blackout ensured the man had moved through the area completely unnoticed. Gertrude's injuries matched the Fridrichsfeldergarten attacker's MO to a T, leaving no doubt for the

police that the same man was responsible. Given that this was his first successful murder, the efforts to identify him dramatically increased. Women who had survived the previous attacks were re-interviewed, and by piecing together their small recollections, police ascertained that the perpetrator was between 30 and 40 years old, around 170 cm tall, and with our quote, body facial expression. Some recalled he had been wearing a short leather jacket, sports shirt with an open collar, dark pants, and a blue visor cap. Some had seen him riding or pushing a bicycle.

Posters containing these details were displayed throughout the Fridrichsfelder allotment gardens and surrounds, along with the offer of a 1000 rucks-marks reward. The posters read, For a long time in Colony Gutland and the surrounding area, solitary women have been immorally harassed and some have also been wounded with a knife, especially in the dark, by an unknown offender. It is to be assumed that the murder of Gertrude Ditter concerns the same offender. It is the duty of every citizen to actively participate in identifying this demon.

By this point the Fridrichsfelder garden attacks had been going on for over a year, but most local women still weren't fully aware of the lingering danger. Even though the wanted posters mentioned Gertrude Ditter's murder, they significantly downplayed the threat and failed to detail the offender's history of sexually motivated violence and rape. One newspaper encouraged for known sex offenders to be looked into, but the newspaper was published for the Reich Criminal Investigation Department and was only read by law enforcement personnel. Given that police had disregarded Gertrude Cargel's account of being strangled and thrown

from the S-Bahn as fictitious, a connection hadn't been made to the train line. Similarly, no one knew that Gertrude Ditter had met her killer at the Rumorsporg train station hours before she was attacked. Therefore, the stops along the train line weren't highlighted as significant areas in the police investigation and women continued riding the S-Bahn alone at night with no additional sense of vigilance. On the evening of November 4, 1940, 30-year-old Elizabeth Bendorf finished her late shift selling train tickets.

It had been less than a month since Gertrude Ditter had been murdered just a short walk from where Elizabeth now stood at the S-Bahn station in Friedrichsfelder. She boarded the train just after 11pm and sat down across from a mail passenger. They were the only two in the compartment, and as the train moved away from the station, the man struck up some small talk. By the time the train reached Hirschgarten station, he stood at the door of the compartment and looked out to the platform. No one else boarded their compartment, and the train took off once more.

As soon as the train started moving, the man walked over to Elizabeth. He removed a thick piece of lead piping he had hidden up his jacket sleeve and brought it down hard on Elizabeth's head. She was temporarily concussed but regained consciousness relatively quickly and began screaming for help. Her cries were muted by the loud sounds of the train as it sped along the tracks, ensuring no other passengers could hear her. The man hit Elizabeth with the pipe over and over, until she eventually slumped down onto

the floor. The attacker then opened the compartment door with the intention of pushing Elizabeth's body into the rush of cold air outside. He turned around to grab her, but to his surprise, Elizabeth was still alive and had started inching away from him. Once again, he beat her repeatedly with the lead pipe. Elizabeth clung to consciousness but was no longer able to scream or fight back as her attacker dragged her towards the open door.

He continued pelting Elizabeth's back and kicking her body until the train descended towards the next station. He then started molesting her. Just before the train lost momentum, he pushed Elizabeth through the open door and out into the darkness. Like a ghetto cargo before her, Elizabeth Bendoff miraculously survived being thrown from the S-Bahn. She suffered a severe concussion and extensive injuries, and it took eight days of treatment

in the hospital before she had recovered enough to be questioned by police. While Elizabeth could describe her attack, she couldn't identify the man responsible. Regardless, police no longer doubted a ghetto cargo's story. Neither Gerta nor Elizabeth got a clear look of the offender's face and the small descriptions they could provide conflicted one another. Still, police now had a new crime scene to examine for clues. They searched the S-Bahn, and while it was difficult to single out the attacker's fingerprints in the compartments due to it being such a high traffic area, they did find something

of significance. Behind one of the seat cushions, police uncovered the lead pipe that had been used to beat Elizabeth Bendoff. The blood-stained pipe was two inches thick and 20 inches long, with telephone cable inside and numbers printed on the exterior. It was unclear why the perpetrator had left it behind, but he did have the foresight to wipe down the section he'd been holding onto to remove his fingerprints. While any old piece of lead pipe would be near impossible to trace, the numbers on this

pipe allowed police to identify it as having come from cable that was laid alongside the S-Bahn tracks around Ruhmersburg a year and a half prior. Police looked into the workers who had originally laid the cable and ruled them out as suspects one by one. There were only two other ways in which the piping could have been obtained. One of the workers could have haphazardly tossed it aside, with the attacker later stumbling upon it. The problem with this theory was that with Germany at war, scrap metal was valuable and

therefore unlikely to be willfully discarded. Alternatively, the piping could have been stolen from the warehouse where the scrap pieces of cable were taken after the job was done. Thousands of people had access to the warehouse, meaning anyone could have swiped it. It is determined that the same piece of pipe had been used against Yuli Shumaha, thus confirming the Friedrichsfeldergarten and S-Bahn attacks were carried out by the same offender. But they were quick to realise the weapon wasn't the smoking gun they had anticipated. Given that no one had been killed on the S-Bahn, news of the attacks didn't spread and no

increased safety measures were put in place. For the most part, life on the S-Bahn continued as normal. Just like he had with his attacks in the Friedrichsfeldergarten, the offender waited until police attention had waned and was focused elsewhere, before striking again. On the night of Tuesday, December 3, 1940, one month after the attack on Elizabeth Bendoff, the perpetrator rode the S-Bahn with a 15-inch iron rod concealed up his jacket sleeve. Given that Elizabeth had survived, he decided he would no longer engage his victims in small talk first.

The chance of them getting a good look at him was too risky. When he spotted 26-year-old nurse Elfrida Franca travelling alone in a compartment, he walked right up to her, pulled out his iron rod and struck her in the head without saying a word. Learning from his previous mistakes, this time he hit harder to ensure Elfrida would be completely incapacitated and unable to scream or try to escape. Elfrida was struck with such force that her skull was shattered and her brain damaged, killing her instantly.

Her killer then pushed her body out of the train before it reached the next station. Less than half an hour later, 19-year-old Imgarde Fraser was walking alone along a quiet street, halfway between the Karlshorst and Ruhmersburg train stations. On the nearby tracks, the S-Bahn came to a stop. In minutes it was off again, the sound of its motor fading into the distance. Imgarde didn't have a moment to acknowledge what came next. Suddenly, a dark figure silently launched from the shadows, raising an iron rod in the air before bringing it down on Imgarde's head, knocking her out instantly.

She was hit three more times in quick succession, the rod crushing her skull. Imgarde's body was left out in the open street, where it was found at 4.30am. The dishevelled state of her clothing confirmed she'd been raped. Shockingly, despite her extensive head injuries, Imgarde was still alive. She was rushed to hospital with the detective by her side in case she regained consciousness and revealed any key information about the attack. Unfortunately, that never happened. Imgarde Fraser died later that day from a brain hemorrhage due to her severely fractured

skull. In January 1933, the super salesman with the limp, Joseph Goebbels, helps catapulted off Hitler and the Nazis into power in Germany. His reward, the Ministry of Propaganda, is objective, the minds and souls of 80 million Germans. A hypnotic speaker, every word, every rehearsed gesture is coldly calculated to hit its mark. Imgarde is an art best achieved by genius, Goebbels has written. H.R.

Trevor Roper tells how he does it. He had absolute control over the organs of propaganda, the press, the radio, everything. So they were centralized and what he wanted to say could be put before the German people without contradiction. What he did was to create the image of the party, the image of the Fuhrer. When Goebbels speaks to the German people who are strictly forbidden to listen to foreign broadcasts, radio wardens see that they listen. Joseph Goebbels was well aware that a serial killer was active in eastern Berlin.

He knew that the Yes Barn murderer, as he'd come to be known, had an extensive history of offending with his actions escalating over time. Now that the perpetrator was striking multiple times in one night, local women were in greater danger and Goebbels understood that there was little the police could do. Their resources were already stretched due to the war and the blackout-induced crime wave. They were also vastly inexperienced to tackle a case of this magnitude. Regardless, as the Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels didn't want any word of it getting

out. As detailed in the book as serial killer in Nazi Berlin, Goebbels wanted German citizens to fear the Nazi regime and not think they could get away with committing violent crimes. He also didn't want the German men who were fighting in the war to think they'd be better off protecting their loved ones at home. Consequently, the Yes Barn murderer was kept out of the press. A few posters requesting information about Alfreda Franka's murder were dotted around train stations, but they implied it was a one-off crime, not the work of a serial killer.

Not only did this censorship put more women at risk, it also prevented anyone with information that could be helpful to the investigation from coming forward. Police did what they could within the limitations set by the government, offering a reward of 10,000 Reichsmarks for information pertaining to Alfreda's murder. This was a significant amount of money at the time, with a small home in the area costing around 150 Reichsmarks. Complicating matters was the unpredictability of the killer's behaviour. While he had a clear MO, his crimes weren't always carried out in the same manner or location.

Sometimes he struck in the expansive allotment gardens on the Yes Barn or along the surrounding streets. Sometimes he interacted with or taunted his victims. Other times he struck without any word or warning. Although the Yes Barn murderer had only committed a few sexual assaults, police believed all his crimes were sexually motivated. Whether or not he raped or molested his victims depended if he thought he could get away with it in time without getting caught.

Time was of the essence. With the attacks occurring more frequently, it signified that the thrill was wearing off quicker for the Yes Barn murderer. He would likely continue to strike more often to satisfy his desire. Eda Schmidt, not her real name, was dressed in her nicest clothes when she boarded the Yes Barn alone and entered an area known as the second class compartment. It was the same section where women had previously been attacked and thrown from the moving train. The compartment was empty when Eda took her seat, but her peaceful journey was soon interrupted

by a lone male passenger. Slowly he approached Eda. Although she couldn't see his face due to the poor lighting, she could tell that he was wearing a buttonless black jacket and a hat that together looked like some kind of uniform. Suddenly, the man stopped in his tracks. He could tell that Eda didn't appear afraid. Instead, her posture suggested she was on heightened alert as though prepared to defend

herself. Eda thought the man looked confused as to what to do next. Suddenly, he rushed to the side door. Before Eda could react, he yanked it open and launched himself out of the moving train into the darkness. He landed without causing significant injury. Eda watched as he ran towards the nearby Ruhmersburg train station before losing sight of him completely. Once the train came to a stop, Eda's compartment was swarmed by police.

She was an undercover officer posing as a civilian, hoping to lure out the Yes Barn murderer. Although it couldn't be confirmed with absolute certainty that the man who approached Eda was the killer, his behavior was suspicious enough for police to strongly believe it was. Additionally, while the garden attacker dressed in casual clothing, survivors of the Yes Barn attacks reported that the perpetrator wore some kind of uniform. Police scoured the tracks and nearby stations but found no sign of the man. No one who had crossed paths with the Yes Barn murderer was able to accurately identify

what kind of uniform it was. Their accounts differed, with some describing it as blue while others said black. Some said he wore a hat with an emblem on the front. Many civilian and military uniformed organizations existed within the Nazi regime, and some of their uniforms were very similar, making it difficult for police to narrow the suspect down to any particular group. They considered whether he could be wearing the uniform of the elite German paramilitary organization the Schutzstaffel, widely known as the SS.

While the latest iteration of their uniform was gray, there had been a black version at one stage. Members also wore a distinct peaked cap with an eagle and skull and crossbones insignia on it. The possibility that the Yes Barn murderer could be part of the SS had major implications. Police handled this theory discreetly while continuing with their efforts to catch the killer. More decoys rode on the Yes Barn, including male police officers dressed in feminine clothing.

It was hoped the killer wouldn't notice the ruse in the darkened conditions. They lingered on the trains at night, waiting for the killer to strike. The winter sun was yet to rise on the morning of Sunday December 22, 1940, when 30-year-old Elizabeth Bungenair boarded the second-class compartment of the Yes Barn at 6am. She was alone but excited. She was headed to see her military husband who was currently stationed outside of Berlin. But the two would never be reunited. Six hours later, Elizabeth's body was found lying on the railway tracks between Friedrichshaagen

and Randsdorf stations. She had been repeatedly struck in the head with a blunt instrument, likely an iron rod or lead pipe. Elizabeth survived the savage beating, but was killed when her body was pushed from the moving train. Elizabeth Bungenair was the fourth killing carried out by the Yes Barn murderer and the first to have been targeted in the morning. It was clear to police that whoever was responsible was changing tactics, as if they knew about

the decoys monitoring the Yes Barn at night. Police resources were far too stretched to have undercover officers manning the train round the clock. Late on the morning of Sunday December 29, just one week after the murder of Elizabeth Bungenair, another body was discovered on the side of the railroad tracks. 46-year-old Gertrude Zevaert had been travelling alone in the second-class compartment of the Yes Barn hours earlier, when she was struck to the head and thrown from the moving train between the Karlshorst and Rumersborg stations.

By the time she was found, Gertrude was barely clinging to life. She was rushed to hospital, but died later that day. 27-year-old Hedvig E-Bauer was targeted the following Sunday. This time, the Yes Barn murderer used an old tactic. He choked Hedvig until she fell unconscious, then threw her body from the train. Hedvig, who was three months pregnant, was found alive by the railroad tracks near Vulhider station, but later died from the injuries she sustained upon impact. Seven women had now been attacked on the train, five of whom were killed.

Despite the government's best efforts to keep news of the serial killer under wraps, rumours of his actions were spreading across Berlin. The police requested permission from Josef Goebbels to print an article in a city-wide newspaper to officially address the crimes and warn commuters. Goebbels reluctantly agreed, but on the condition that all it said was that a person was, quote, making trouble on the Yes Barn. The article did divulge that women had been thrown from the vehicle, but it didn't mention how many, or that they'd died as a result.

Goebbels also permitted matching flyers to be distributed to the public, but capped the amount at 2,000. He forbade an announcement from being broadcast on the radio, as he didn't want word to spread outside of Berlin. Goebbels had his own idea about how to ensure the safety of the city's female passengers. He requested that men volunteer to chaperone lone women travelling on the Yes Barn at night. The only men who could apply for this role were members of a paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, who enforced the regime through physical violence.

These men were referred to as brown shirts, named after the colour of their uniform. To be given the role of a brown shirt was considered an honour reserved for trustworthy men with no criminal record. The Minister of Propaganda's strategy appeared successful. As lone female passengers were escorted on the Yes Barn by brown shirts, the remainder of January passed with no further incidents. Mother of three, 39-year-old Johanna Voight stood alone at the Rumorsborg train station. It was 10pm on Tuesday, February 11, and Johanna was nervous.

She knew about the Yes Barn murderer, and given she was pregnant, Johanna feared for the safety of her unborn baby. Her worry must have been palpable, because an experienced brown shirt approached having spent the day assisting women on their travels. Typically, women had to check in as part of the programme, and a brown shirt would then be authorised by Joseph Goebbels himself to personally escort her. Johanna hadn't made any such arrangements, but she asked the brown shirt if he would be willing to accompany her to Karlshorst station.

Although he'd already clocked off, Karlshorst was only one station away, so the man agreed. The pair entered the empty second-class compartment and took a seat. As the train took off and gained momentum, the brown shirt suddenly pulled an iron rod out from his jacket sleeve and immediately struck Johanna in the head with it. He then dragged her unconscious body to the door of the train and pushed her out. Johanna survived the initial attack, but by the time she was found, she'd succumbed to her injuries. There was nothing amongst Johanna's belongings that hinted towards her killer's identity.

Rather, it was the absence of a certain item that gave investigators pause. Like several of the other victims, Johanna Voigt had been travelling on the S-Bahn without a ticket, an offence punishable by fine. While measures were in place to prevent people from riding the S-Bahn without a valid ticket, it was to be expected that the odd passenger would slip through without pain. However, it struck investigators as odd that so many of the murder victims were riding freely. Given it was highly unlikely that all of them had managed to avoid crossing paths with a

ticket inspector, investigators developed a theory. If the killer was a current or former S-Bahn employee or posing as one, he could approach his victims without causing alarm. Some of the victims could have been lured onto the train with the promise of a free and safe journey. Alternatively, the killer could have confronted the women under the guise of checking their tickets before launching an attack. Curiously, Geda Kagoe recalled that her attacker had approached her shortly before she boarded

the S-Bahn and directed her to the second-class compartment. Considering he was dressed in uniform, she assumed he was a railroad employee and obeyed his command without question. Elizabeth Bendoff had also been told to board the second-class compartment by a uniformed man shortly before her attack. Yet, both women clarified that he wasn't impersonating a ticket inspector. The S-Bahn was staffed by employees of the National Railroad, whose uniforms included a hat adorned with an eagle clutching a swastika.

Given that this matched witness descriptions of the killer, police had initially considered whether the offender could be a railroad worker. The problem was that there were over 5,000 uniformed employees of the National Railroad spread across 28 departments, so narrowing down the suspect list would be no easy feat. Roughly a quarter were eliminated immediately based on survivors' descriptions. The rest had to be questioned in addition to having their work schedules collated, checked and verified. Geda Kagoe and Elizabeth Bendoff were shown thousands of photos of men who worked for

the S-Bahn, but neither woman recognized their attacker. 8,000 people who lived around the Friedrichsfelder Gardens were also looked into. Under pressure from Josef Goebbels to solve the case, hundreds more undercover and uniformed police officers were tasked with riding the S-Bahn and manning the key train stations along the way. With no distinguishing features to be on the lookout for, they questioned every man they came across. Every train platform and compartment was diligently searched for any evidence of the killer's

presence, which sometimes required entire sections of the train line to be shut down. Police were finally able to publish a more detailed newspaper article about the case, this time revealing that multiple women had been killed. They further increased the reward on offer to 13,000 Reichsmarks for information pertaining to Johanna Voigt's murder or any of the previous attacks, while warning women against riding in the second class compartment. The article also detailed the possibility that the offender was wearing a national railway uniform or something similar.

Police were inundated with roughly 1,500 tips from the public. While none of the tip-offs led to the identification of the perpetrator, the heavy-handed investigation had seemingly brought an end to his killing spree. By Thursday, July 3, 1941, five months had passed since the S-Bahn murderer had a last strike. With the increased police presence and the public now on high alert, commuters were safer than ever before. In the early morning hours, 35-year-old Frieda Kotsio wrote the S-Bahn without incident.

She disembarked at Ruhmersburg station along with nine other women and one man. As they left the platform, the group scattered to take their different routes home. Frieda headed alone down a path towards the nearby allotment gardens. Once she reached the quiet and darkened grounds, she was struck in the back of the head with an iron bar. The beating continued once she was on the ground, resulting in Frieda's skull caving in. Her attacker then tore off her clothing below the waist and proceeded to rape her before

fleeing the scene. Frieda's bloodied and partially naked body was found shortly after, making her the eighth fatality at the hands of the S-Bahn murderer. Frieda's death was a blow to investigators. Having narrowed in on the S-Bahn, they'd overlooked the perpetrator's previous hunting grounds and hadn't thought to put safety measures in place in the allotment gardens. The police felt partially responsible for Frieda Kotsio's murder, as it was clear that the killer knew the police had taken over the train system.

Instead of changing tactics to flush him out, their defiant actions had forced the killer away from the very spot they might have otherwise caught him. Still, the gardens provided evidence that the S-Bahn did not. A set of fresh shoe prints were pressed in the dirt surrounding Frieda's body and led 50 meters beyond, indicating that someone had knelt down next to her body and inspected it before running from the scene. Plaster molds of the prints revealed the shoeing question was a size 39.5 with an extra thick rubber sole and distinctive tread pattern.

They matched shoes manufactured by a specialist podiatry company. As luck would have it, the company kept well-documented records of all their customers, including those who had purchased the size 39.5 shoe. Armed with this list, investigators began tracking down and interviewing each of the customers. Investors were fighting in the war or lived too far away and were promptly ruled out. But there was one man that caught investigators' interest. He lived near the Rumorspaw train station, right by the allotment gardens where dozens

of women had been attacked. He was a carpenter named V. Hyman. A check of his police records revealed that Hyman had a criminal conviction for voyeurism, having previously been caught spying on a couple having sex. It was the only blemish on an otherwise clean record. Hyman was taken in for questioning, during which he denied involvement in any of the Esban murderers' crimes. In the meantime, his home was searched for any evidence that could link him to the case.

Investigators found a pair of custom podiatry shoes, and compared them to the molds taken alongside Frida Kotziol's body. They were a match. When Hyman was informed of this discovery, he admitted that he'd stumbled across Frida's body and had knelt down to inspect it. Once he realized she was dead, he fled the scene. Hyman didn't admit to this earlier because he was scared of being used as a scapegoat. He was also mindful that the penalty for sex-based crimes were severely amplified during the

blackout. Given his history as a convicted sex offender, he feared that he'd be handed a death sentence despite his innocence, just so authorities could close the case. Police were forced to drop the Hyman lead when they discovered that he had solid alibis for a large percentage of the Esban murderers' attacks, thus ruling him out as the perpetrator. Whether he'd face any repercussions for failing to report Frida Kotziol's murder remained to be seen. Whatever the case, police were back to square one.

Following the murder of Frida Kotziol, police extended their covert surveillance to the Friedrichsfelder allotment gardens, while also observing the Esban more discreetly. Although these preventative measures had previously deterred the perpetrator temporarily, the police knew they were unsustainable in the long term. Once officers were forced to return to other duties, the Esban murderer would no doubt resume his spree. Meanwhile, investigators were still making their way through the long list of employees from the National Railroad, questioning everyone about the murders.

One so far had raised their suspicions and the ticket inspector lead was a dead end. Police considered the possibility that the killer wasn't a railroad employee at all, but had been wearing a fake or stolen uniform. Then, a week after the murder of Frida Kotziol, as they were wrapping up close to six months' worth of railroad employee interviews, there seemed to be a much needed breakthrough. Police concluded the interviews with a standard question. Have you noticed anything suspicious about any of your co-workers? One man had.

He'd spotted a colleague, 28-year-old Paul Ugozov, leaving work in the middle of his shift by jumping over a fence. When confronted, Ugozov said he was off to see a woman. He returned some time later without any of his superiors noticing his absence. Ugozov had worked for the railroad for six years, having worked his way up from a temporary role as a manual laborer to a permanent position as an auxiliary signalman. He was stationed in a tower near the Rumsburg station, where he worked mostly alone, monitoring signalling that ensured the trains ran efficiently and safely.

Despite having worked at the company for a long time, Ugozov wasn't close to his colleagues. Many didn't even know his name. Paul Ugozov had already been questioned in relation to the S-Bahn murders. Records showed he had been working at the time of the attacks, and his role had him positioned in a signal tower, a building along the railroad that was independent of the stations. He was not required to ride the S-Bahn as part of his duties or interact with passengers. Officers had found Ugozov assiduous and industrious, and he was praised by his superiors for his unblemished work history.

He was ultimately ruled out of the investigation. However, when his colleague reported Ugozov's history of disappearing mid-shift, his roster no longer provided him with an alibi. While Ugozov didn't have a violent criminal record or history of sexual deviancy, he had been arrested for burglary some years prior. Even with this conviction, there was nothing in Ugozov's background to suggest he was capable of the S-Bahn murderers' crimes. He was a hard-working German national and married father of two.

Most importantly, he was a long time and upstanding member of the Nazi Party. Ugozov relished being a Nazi Party member, and his loyalty was rewarded with the highly regarded position of Sergeant in one of the group's paramilitary offshoots, colloquially known as the Brownshirts. This role saw him tasked with safely escorting women to and from the S-Bahn during the height of the killings. Ugozov dismissed the allegations that he'd previously left his work post, saying whoever accused him of that was either lying or mistaken.

It took some time before he finally confessed that it was true. He explained that he was having an affair with a married woman who lived nearby. He'd initially lied to avoid getting into trouble with his wife or employers. The woman confirmed she and Ugozov were having an affair, and while this supported Ugozov's claims, it didn't clear him as a suspect. All it did was prove he had a habit of abandoning his work post on the sly. Upon re-examining Ugozov's work schedule for the nights of the murders, investigators discovered that the killings had occurred at times when no trains had been passing through.

As Ugozov worked alone, this meant he could have left his signal tower without anyone noticing his absence or lack of input. A search of Ugozov's home near the Friedrichsfelder Gardens uncovered several uniforms and matching caps, including those he wore while on the job. At first glance, the clothing appeared clean, but a microscopic examination of the fabric revealed blood stains, including a large amount around the crotch area of his pants. Ugozov claimed the blood had come from his wife, who had been sick three days earlier. She corroborated this story.

Ugozov added that he'd also recently cut his finger and had wiped the blood on his pants. Testing confirmed the blood was indeed human, but there wasn't enough to establish what type it was, and as DNA testing didn't exist at the time, nothing else could be ascertained. Blood stains were also found on Ugozov's work jacket. Forensics concluded that this blood spatter was consistent with a violent attack. Inside Ugozov's home, investigators also found a sports shirt, dark pants and a blue visor cap, similar to the outfit worn by the flashlight-wielding menace in the Friedrichsfelder Gardens.

It was an area Ugozov was familiar with as he had to pass through the gardens on his way home from work. Due to his shift work, this often took place late at night, and sometimes Ugozov was on his bike. Ugozov denied doing anything wrong, but after intense questioning, he eventually relented. He admitted to being the bike-riding flashlight-wielding man who had harassed women the year prior, but maintained the worst offense he'd committed was once grabbing a woman. Ugozov was taken to the Friedrichsfelder Gardens to pinpoint exactly where he had carried out

the minor offenses he had confessed to. It soon became clear that Ugozov had committed far more than he was willing to admit to. After the next three hours he struggled to keep track of where everything had taken place. At one stage he pointed out a railway underpass as the location where he'd scared a woman by shining his flashlight at her. This was actually the place where a felony assault had reportedly taken place. Ugozov pointed out two more spots that he claimed were the setting of minor altercations, and in fact, they were the sites of two attempted murders.

Out of all the survivors, only Gertrude Nisfant was able to positively identify Paul Ugozov as her attacker after seeing him in police custody. He'd confronted her on her parent's doorstep, and the pair had a brief interaction before he had attacked. Once the garden tour was over, Ugozov asked to speak with the officer in charge of the Serious Crimes Unit, Commissioner Wilhelm Lutka. Investigators suspected this was a tactic, and Ugozov was perhaps going to use his standing in the Nazi party to influence a senior member of police.

His request was granted, but when Ugozov was led into the interrogation room, he was confronted with five skulls belonging to the Esban murderers' victims. They were placed on the center of a table with a light shining directly on them, their hollow eyes aimed in Ugozov's direction. Ugozov looked at Commissioner Lutka and immediately remarked, You gotta help me. He began to insist that he was a loyal member of the Nazi party, and went on to describe the violent acts he had committed against the Jewish people in the hopes that would

endear him to Lutka. Commissioner Lutka had endured the highs and lows of the Esban murderer investigation, and wanted the case solved more than anyone. He would later remark, Rarely has the work of the Berlin criminal police, particularly homicide, been of such strong public interest. Lutka knew the longer citizens lived in fear of the threat, the more they would question the abilities of those tasked with protecting them. Pretending to be sympathetic, Commissioner Lutka told Paul Ugozov that if he wanted help,

he would need to tell the police exactly what he'd done. Ugozov's next move was unexpected. He admitted to committing the murders, but described them incorrectly, saying he had stabbed the women to death. He was trying to muddy the waters, so it would be difficult to convict him. Commissioner Lutka pressed Ugozov to reveal the truth by methodically going over all the evidence, including the skulls that were sitting before them. Large holes were clearly visible from where they had each been struck with a heavy blunt

object, injuries that couldn't have been inflicted with a knife. At this point, the blood drained from Ugozov's face. He said the injury must have occurred when the victim fell from the train, even though that possibility had already been excluded by forensic experts. Commissioner Lutka asked Ugozov point blank, what did you beat these women to death with? Reaching the end of the line, an ashen and trembling Ugozov replied, with a lead cable. The floodgates had opened, and Paul Ugozov confessed to everything in correct detail. He spoke of the attacks in the garden and how he'd adjusted his tactics with each mistake,

eventually committing his crimes on the S-Bahn, which he was innately familiar with. He knew the second class compartment had the fewest passengers and was empty more often, making it the ideal spot to strike. He approached alone female passengers while wearing his work or brown shirts uniform, as he knew they would trust his authority. After each murder, he returned home to his family, who were none the wiser. He also revealed that upon pushing one of his victims off the S-Bahn, he had tracked to the site where her body landed.

He thought it would give him a second rush, but instead he felt sickened upon seeing what he had done. He didn't revisit any of his crime scenes after that. In a written confession, Ugozov provided an insight into how his murderous urge developed, but it was really an attempt to use his political ties to sway public opinion. He wrote, A few years ago I had sex with a stripper and then went to a Jewish doctor. The Jew who knew I was a Nazi Party member has, out of hatred for the Nazis, mistreated

my gonorrhea, the consequence of which has affected my state of mind. I would like this considered for sentencing purposes. Therefore, I am not responsible for my actions. Also, please bear in mind that I am a Party member. He also tried to pin his behaviour on head injuries he sustained in his youth, though he showed no evidence of brain damage. In fact, in their report, the investigating police described Ugozov as having a, completely cold and calculating nature, without any nerves or inhibitions when it came to satisfying

his sexual urges. The report added that he had, willingly and consciously exploited the blackout, giving him greater opportunity for his attacks, and facilitated his escapes. Paul Ugozov's trial commenced just two weeks after his arrest. Any hope that he standing within the Nazi Party would absolve him of his crimes were short-lived, as he was found guilty for the murder of eight women and the attempted murder of six others. Calling Ugozov a beast in human form, deservedly eliminated from the national community, the

judge sentenced Ugozov to death. Seemingly accepting that his previous explanations had failed, when Ugozov was asked why he felt compelled to kill women, he finally revealed, because I hate them. There was no death row within the German criminal justice system, a death sentence was to be carried out within hours of being handed down. Paul Ugozov was executed by decapitation the following day. His remains were sent to the Institute of Anatomy and Biology to be used for research

purposes. A few weeks later, a letter was sent to Ugozov's wife. It was a bill from the prison. Ugozov's execution had caused wear and tear to the guillotine blade, and his wife would have to pay to service it. Two days after Ugozov's execution, Florida's Miami Herald newspaper printed an article that read, Strangely, a Berlin court sentenced a railway worker to death because he killed eight women.

Under the circumstances, it would seem that the man would have been placed in the army, or better yet, in a bomber. Then he could have bombed and killed women during blackouts in England. Instead of being executed, he would have been rewarded with medals, a monument might have been erected to him. It would punish one man because he murdered. It organizes armies and trains them to murder on a wholesale scale. Paul Ugozov is sentenced to death for killing eight women.

Adolf Hitler is saluted and cheered because he has killed thousands of men, women and children. Ugozov was sentenced to death for killing eight women.