Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Butcher of Hanover” Pt. 2 - Fritz Haarmann

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

Sent to his first mental institution at the age of 17, Fritz Haarmann had a troubled childhood full of trauma. He went on to murder close to 30 people between 1918 and 1924. His massive killing spree left a lasting legacy on both his hometown and the entire country of Germany.  Sponsors! Proven Innocent - Proven Innocent Premieres Friday, February 15th at 9/8c, only on Fox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It leaves behind a single traveler, a young boy, who was forced to wait until the next day to depart. As the boy prepares to huddle behind a low wall to sleep, a man approaches. He introduces himself as a policeman and takes pity on the traveler. He offers a place to stay for the night. The boy is eager to get out of the cold. He follows the man to a dingy one-room apartment.

The man cooks the traveler a meal and makes pleasant conversation. The boy eats heartily and grows drowsy. He thanks the man and starts to make his bed on the floor. As soon as his back has turned, the man lunges. He pins his victim to the floor and jerks the boy's head upward, exposing his bare neck. The man bears his razor sharp. teeth. Then, like a wolf, he bites straight through the boy's throat, silencing him. For the wolfman, this was just the beginning. Tomorrow night, he will return to the dark,

damp train station, ready to hunt again. Hi, I'm Greg Polson, and this is serial killers on the Parkast Network. Every Monday, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we continue our deep dive into the life of Fritz Harmon, the notorious werewolf, vampire, and butcher of Hanover, Germany. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing. Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. And if you enjoy today's episode, the best way to help us is to leave a five-star review, wherever you're listening. It really does help us. We also now have merch. Head to

parkast.com slash merch for more information. Fritz Harmon was born in 1879 in Hanover, Germany. He had a troubled childhood. His father abused him for the feminine tendencies he exhibited as a boy, and he had trouble keeping up intellectually in school. Harmon dealt with his repressed rage toward his father by assaulting dozens of teenage boys. He was repeatedly imprisoned and psychologically evaluated. Psychologists gave him four wildly different diagnoses during his life, from mild anxiety to epilepsy to schizophrenia. One doctor simply called him incurably deranged.

Either way, Harmon was sent to a mental institution at the age of 17. After escaping the institution, his sexual violence escalated until he committed his first lust murder. Last week, we examined Fritz Harmon's youth and the series of events that led him to his first two confirmed murder victims, Friedel Rota, who he killed in 1918, and Fritz Franca, who he killed in 1923. This week will probe further into the horrific killing spree of Fritz Harmon

and analyze his lasting legacy on both his hometown and the entire country of Germany. In March of 1923, 44-year-old Fritz Harmon was euphoric. He was living in his hometown of Hanover, Germany, in a rundown apartment, his 22-year-old on-again-off-again lover and accomplice. Less than a month prior, he had committed his second murder by brutally biting through the throat of a teenager named Fritz Franca. Harmon didn't feel a trace of guilt over the murder of Franca.

In fact, he never felt guilt for any. of his actions. Instead, he justified them by claiming that he never intended to kill his victims, but was overcome by a violent, uncontrollable urge in the midst of the sexual assault. This type of justification is fairly common in serial killers. They're unable to feel empathy for their victims, and instead focus only on their own feelings and struggles. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here. Please note that Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg.

Harmon's description of his violent urges fits with that of a psychopathic erotophonophile or lust murderer. Dr. J. Maloy, author of The Psychopathic Mind, Origins, Dynamics, and Treatment, writes, quote, Psychopathic serial killers are emotionally disconnected from their actions, their ability to dissociate themselves emotionally from their actions, and their denial of responsibility effectively neutralizes any guilt, end quote. Harmon knew he would kill again, but was afraid of being caught.

He took great pains to cover his tracks, dismembering Frank's body and dumping it in the river. Luckily for him, he also worked as a police informant, so police hardly ever knocked on his door without warning him. Law enforcement in Hanover was stretched thin, even if the police had focused their efforts on tracking down missing young boys, it's doubtful they would have suspected Harmon. In 1923 alone, 600 teenage boys were reported missing in the city. Harmon wasn't the only one praying on the young. Vulnerable boys regularly ran away in search of work or were abducted and sold to shady organizations, such as the Foreign Legion, which was known to purchase young men to serve in the French army. After getting away clean for the second time, new confidence fueled.

Harman's bloodlust. So when he met 17-year-old Wilhelm Schulze at Hanover Station in 1923, four weeks after killing Fritz Franca, he couldn't help but approach the boy. By now, Harmon had a practice routine for finding suitable victims. He often patrolled Hanover Station under the guise of a police officer searching for vulnerable boys. Schultza was a young writer who had just run away from home, and this made him an easy target for Harmon. Harmon had impersonated a police officer and pretended to lend a sympathetic ear to the boy's troubles. He offered Schultzah a place to stay and a warm meal. Schultzah eagerly accepted the offers and followed Harmon to his apartment.

The room was small, but spotless. After nearly getting caught for the murder of Franca just weeks prior, Harmon had scrubbed every inch. In fact, he had been scrubbing the place with harsh chemicals so often that other tenants in the house had complained to the landlord. a widow named Elizabeth Engel. But Harmon had long ago explained to Engel that he was very particular about his cleaning habits,

and she saw no reason to bother a tenant for keeping his room tidy. Besides, Harmon was charming. Engel liked him. His charm also allowed him to urge young boys like Schulze into his bed. Given his pleasant, friendly manner, Harmon was always able to get close to his victims without making them uncomfortable.

In these situations, Harmon especially like to ask his victims about their families. This line of questioning seemed reasonable coming from a police officer, but Harmon's true goal was anything but noble. He needed to know if anyone would come looking for the boy. According to Harmon, he didn't always feel a violent urge to kill the boys he brought back to his apartment. In some cases, Harmon kept young men around as errand boys for several days.

He gave them small jobs or meals until they stopped coming around. Other times he raped the boys but did not kill them. But unfortunately for Schulza, his answers made Harmon confident that no one would question his disappearance. Harmon pounced. He grabbed Schultza by the throat and held him down. He raped him and in the midst of the attack sunk his teeth into Schultz's Adam's apple. Schultz's remains were never found. Harmon claimed he dumped pieces of the body in the Lina River as he did with.

with most victims. Harmon had now begun to see the killings as part of his daily life, like his trade in secondhand clothing. In fact, in exchange for a rent reduction, he gave his landlady most of Schultz's clothes. Harmon was now so experienced in killing that he was profiting off of it.

During this time, Harmon's 22-year-old lover, Hans Granz, lived with him intermittently. If Granz was living with him on nights that Harmon searched for victims, he made sure ahead. of time that Granz stayed away from the apartment. Grans had other lovers and would stay with them on nights that Harmon was busy. Despite this, Harmon claimed Granz knew about the murders and didn't mind them. He just didn't want to witness them. Likewise, Harmon preferred to do the deeds alone,

and so the strange living arrangement with Granz was born. After the murder of Shiltsa, Harmon grew insatiable. In the following eight weeks, he killed at least two other young boys, Roland Hooke and Hans Sondentfeld. He was confident that his crimes would not be discovered, thanks to his close relationship with the police. Dr. Scott A. Bonn, a criminology professor, explains why a serial killer might escalate the pace of their crimes to such a degree. He writes, quote,

serial killers get better and better at the business of murder with experience. As they continue to operate and avoid capture, serial killers become increasingly emboldened and may come to believe they will never be apprehended, end quote. Harmon found a young man known as Hooke at Hanover Station. The boy was running away from home to join the Marines, but unfortunately, Harmon had other plans. The two left the station together, and Hooke was never seen again.

His last words were to his friend, Alwyn. Alwyn, give my parents my love. I'm going away. Hooke's parents made a report and pleaded for help, but police brushed them off. The missing persons report was never touched. Harmon's next victim was a young factory worker named Hans Sonnenfeld. Harmon met the boy around Hanover Station and courted him,

giving him gifts and taking him out for meals. Before he disappeared, Sanenfeld told his younger sister, I have a boyfriend and I'm his bride. One night, after an intense argument with his parents, Sonnenfeld left his house and never returned. It's likely he fled to Harmon's apartment straight into a trap. Soon after he killed Sondonfeld, Harmon attempted to prey on yet another very young runaway. But this boy was wary of Harmon from the start, and less compliant than most of Fritz's other victims.

Harmon introduced himself as a police officer, and after a lengthy conversation, convinced the boy to go back to his apartment by threatening him with arrest for loitering. After getting him to the apartment, Harmon lunged at the boy almost immediately. He held the boy down and tried to bite into his throat. But the boy thrashed wildly and managed to flee the apartment. Harmon didn't dare chase him down a public street. He spent days terrified that the boy would go to the police. Luckily for Harmon, the boy was never found and is not known to have reported the crime.

This highlights the vulnerability of the boy's Harmon preyed on. He attacked runaways and others he could take advantage of because they had little recourse to fight back. It was a way of dominating his victims. By June 1923, Harmon had killed three boys in his ground floor apartment in a matter of months. His neighbors were getting suspicious of the odd hours he kept and the young boys that regularly entered and left his apartment. They were also disturbed by Hans Granz's constant presence, who they felt was sullen and sinister. His neighbors formed varying theories about Harmon's strange comings and goings. One tenant thought he sold children to the Foreign Legion,

but none of them imagined the true nature of his activities. Harmon's late hours weren't their only causes for concern. While he had long traded in clothing and other stolen property, more recently, Harmon had also begun to sell low-grade contraband meat. The meat was always cut into small bits and boneless. It was processed using a meat grinder and sold as mints. Germany struggled with poverty and hyperinflation following World War I, so a cheap source of protein was at first seen as a godsend.

Harmon's fellow tenants did notice that he rarely arrived home with packages of meat, yet often left with them. Then Harmon's landlady became ill from eating sausages. Harmon claimed were sheep intestines. On other occasions, Harmon told customers, the meat was pork. A store owner who worked across the street from Harmon became suspicious and asked where Harmon procured the meat.

Harmon claimed he bought it cheap from a butcher named Carl based in the Rieklingen district of Hanover. The owner had previously heard Harmon state, Carl operated in Ronenberg. On still another occasion, Harmon claimed he traded with Carl in the Hanover Market Hall. The store owner persisted and asked Harmon more probing questions.

That's when Harmon pointed randomly to a passing woman. He claimed the woman was a friend and he needed to talk to her. Then he walked away, passed the woman without saying a word. He never returned to the owner's store. But the owner wasn't done. He secretly followed Harmon one night. Harmon was lugging a large sack to the liner river. The store owner couldn't make out its contents, but he watched as Harmon dumped it in the river

in the dead of night. The following day, the owner went to the police. Officers were skeptical of his story, but performed a quick search of Harmon's apartment. They found nothing, and Harmon had avoided arrest once again. But feeling the heat of his neighbor's suspicions, 44-year-old Harmon decided to move, this time to an attic apartment along with Hans Granz in June of 1923. While the move through any suspicious neighbor's office trail, it did little to delay his killing spree. That, it would seem, was only getting started.

We'll see how Harmon's bloodlust grows in a minute. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice.

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44-year-old Fritz Harmon met his new neighbor's 13-year-old son, Ernst Ehrenberg. Fritz decided it was time to christen his new place. He nabbed the boy while Aaronberg was outrunning an errand for his father. He took the boy back to the room and fed him a meal before killing him. sinking his teeth into Aaronberg's throat. Criminologist Eric Hickey states in the book, Serial Killers and Their Victims, that serial killers, especially those who are sexually motivated,

like Harmon, can get addicted to sexually satisfying behavior. Harmon took a big risk by attacking his neighbor's child, but much like any addict, would at times find it impossible to control himself? By now, Harmon was referring to his murder method as, his love bite. What had started as an occasional urge, now dominated his life. There had been years between his first and second known victims,

but now Harmon began killing at least once a month. He lived in constant anticipation of his next victim. Every passing young boy was a target. To misdirect police, he snitched on his fellow thieves and fed information about criminals to his contact, Detective Mueller. Sometimes Gras' contributed to Fritz's alibis. The longer Harmon helped the police,

the more they believe that he was a good man caught in bad circumstances. Harmon felt invincible. According to the Crime Classification Manual published by the FBI, serial killers can become overconfident as a result of evading capture for their first few murders.

This overconfidence can even cause a previously meticulous killer who plans crimes carefully to become impulsive and disorganized. In the two months following his murder of Arenberg, Harmon picked up three youths from Hanover Station. Heinrich's Truce, Paul Braneshevsky, and Richard Grafe were all promised housing and work.

Charmed by Harmon and wanting to escape turbulent home lives, they followed him back to his apartment. Harmon raped and murdered all three boys and kept their possessions, including a violin case, a coat, and a hand-tailored suit. Two months later, in October of 1923, Harmon stopped Wilhelm Erdner

while the boy was on his way to work. Harmon pretended to be a police officer named Detective Honorbrook and arrested Erdner on charges of traveling with forged documents. But instead of taking him to the station, Harmon forced the boy into his apartment where he killed him.

A local man witnessed the arrest and told Erdner's parents about it. They went to the police station where they were told there was no detective Hanarbrach, and they were sent away, never to see their son again. Two weeks later, 13-year-old Heinz Brinkman was on his way to visit his brother in the German army. He arrived at Hanover Station late, and Harmon offered the boy a place to stay for the night, then killed him. Throughout 1923, Hans Granz stayed with Fritz Harmon.

Granz claimed he knew nothing about the boys. murdered during that time, which totaled 12 victims before November. But he and Harmon were together constantly. In November of 1923, Granz and Harmon were seen at Hanover Station. The pair chatted with a 17-year-old apprentice carpenter named Adolf Hanapel. They took him to a nearby cafe. The next day, Harmon said he arrived home to find Hans Granz and his friend Hugo Wittkowski standing over Hanapel's dead body. Granz had laid the corpse in Harmon's bed. Granz didn't explain what had happened, but said to Harmon, one of yours.

He asked Harmon to dispose of the body as if the victim was Harmon's own. It would seem as though Fritz Harmon was not the only murderer living in the attic apartment. The early 1920s were difficult years for Germany. The country suffered the after-effects of World War I and was increasingly impoverished. The city of Hanover struggled with homelessness, black market smuggling, and violent crime. After hundreds of residents, particularly young boys, went missing in 1923, rumors began to circulate. There was a werewolf praying on young men. The rumors weren't just fantasy.

And as 1923 gave way to 1924, the werewolf only claimed more victims. On January 5, 1924, Fritz Harmon, 924.000. Al 45 killed his first victim of the year and his 15th total, a 17-year-old named Ernst Speaker. By this time, Harmon had begun to lose track of his victim's names, but he remembered the clothes they wore, which he always kept as trophies. In the encyclopedia of murder and violent crime, researcher Nicole Mott notes, quote, a trophy represents power over that individual. When the offender keeps this kind of souvenir, it serves as a way to preserve the memory of the victim, end quote.

The desire for power over an individual, seen in keeping trophies, echoes the desire for power that motivated Harmon to sexually assault defenseless young boys. It was thanks to one trophy that Harmon always recalled his next victim, Fritz Wittig. Harmon killed Wittig because Hans Granz liked the man's suit. and Harmon wanted to gift it to Granz. Harmon's addiction was intensifying. On May 26, 1924, the same day he killed Whittig, Harmon also claimed a second victim.

His second victim was also his youngest. Ten-year-old Friedrich Obling was skipping school when he encountered Harmon in the streets of Hanover. His remains were later found in the river. Meanwhile, the residents of Hanover were growing more terrified. Local newspapers ran headlines about the masses of missing children and pressure on law enforcement mounted. In May 1924, two children playing by the Lina River found a human skull. The skull was turned into police who determined it belonged to a male between the ages of 18 and 24.

The skull also bore evidence of knife wounds, but incredibly, police didn't take it seriously. The find was at first attributed to some grave robbers who had recently been. chased out of a cemetery nearby. Some officers thought it could be a prank by some students at Godding and medical school, where there had just been an outbreak of typhoid. Two weeks later, two boys playing in a field found a sack filled with fragments of human bones. Still, police were focused on other matters and did little to address the situation. Altogether, Harmon is known to have murdered 13 boys over the course of 1924, bringing his total count to 24, On June 14, Harmon abducted 17-year-old Eric DeVries

after the boy had gone for his daily swim in the Oja River. Vries's sister reported that she had seen Harmon watching Vries as he swam a few days beforehand. On the day Harmon murdered Vries, he lured the boy to his apartment by promising him cigarettes. After he convinced Vries to lay back onto his bed, he strangled and bit into the boy. Harmon disposed of Reese at the entrance to Heronhausen Gardens, a large formal garden near Hanover's palace.

It took him four trips to completely dispose of the dismembered body. Meanwhile, the lack of police response to the disappearing boys frustrated Hanover residents. In June of 1924, more than a hundred people scoured the banks of the Lina River, searching for evidence that would convince the police to act. They found hundreds of human bone fragments, which had been violently cut or broken and angrily handed them over to police. At last convinced the bones were connected to violent crimes. The police dragged the liner and found an additional 500 human bone fragments. Many of the fragments were determined to belong to young males.

Initially, police had few leads. They looked for known criminals in the area. Harmon had long lived near the liner river and, had a history of sexual assault and child molestation. As officers poured over case files, they noticed that Harmon also had direct connections to a number of missing persons cases from the last two years. But some officers, especially Harmon's police contact, Detective Mueller, were slow to suspect Harmon. They couldn't believe such an amiable and, as they saw it, simple man could have pulled off crimes like these undetected. Nevertheless, police decided to

him. Since Harmon knew most of the local officers from his work as a police informant, two young policemen were brought in from Berlin in the summer of 1924. The Berliners posed as homeless vagrants around Hanover Station and eventually spotted Harmon there late at night in the company of a 15-year-old boy. The boy was Carl Fromm, a runaway who Harmon had taken in a few days prior. Fromm and Harmon began arguing at the station. Harmon grabbed Fromm, but the wrist and took him to some local police officers patrolling the station in uniform. He accused Fromm of traveling on forged identification papers. The uniform officers arrested Fromm and Harmon left the station alone.

It seemed that efforts to catch Harmon and the act had failed for the night. But once Fromm was taken to the station, he had a lot to say. Fromm told officers he had been staying with Harmon for four days. initially offered Fromm work. But once they were in the apartment, he instead abused and raped Fram repeatedly. On the morning of his arrest, Fromm claimed Harman held a knife to his throat and asked, Are you afraid to die? Fromm started crying. Harman walked the threat back and pretended it was a joke. But from that moment on, he wouldn't let Fromm out of his sight. The story proved enough for police to act. They arrested Harmon the next morning.

At long last, the werewolf had been unmasked. We'll follow the downfall of Fritz Harmon in a moment. You tell yourself, no one wants your college-era band tease, but on Deep Hop, people are searching for exactly what you've got. You once paid a small fortune for them at merch stands. Now, a teenager who calls them vintage will offer that same small fortune back. Sell them easily on Deepop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest.

Who knew your questionable music? taste will be a money-making machine. Your style can make you cash. Start selling on Deepop, where taste recognizes taste. Now back to the story. In the summer of 1924, Fritz Harmon had been taken into police custody on suspicion of having committed a string of murders starting in 1918. In the interrogation room, Harmon was blustery and more dismissive than he usually was during police questioning. He had been interrogated many times. before and was not easily intimidated. Police finally did a thorough search of Harmon's apartment

and found the bed and floor had been extensively soaked in blood. Though Harmon had cleaned the surfaces thoroughly, traces of blood that had soaked into his floors and mattress was found with careful inspection. Harmon brushed it off by saying the blood was a result of his contraband meat trade with the mystery butcher, Carl. Police knew better.

better. Harmon was held in jail for a week, where he was interrogated and deprived of sleep and food. Meanwhile, police found his collection of trophies and publicly displayed them at the police station. Relatives of missing persons traveled to the station to view the items, and many identified the clothing as belonging to their missing loved ones. But when confronted with the mounting evidence against him, Harmon remained composed. He explained that he came upon the clothing through his black market.

trading. Then on June 29th, 1924, police found the suit that had belonged to Fritz Whittig, the one that Harmon had given to Kranz. It was a huge break in the case. Unbeknownst to Harmon, police had found a skull forensically identified as belonging to Whittig the month previous. Police could now prove that Harmon had clothing belonging to a murder victim. In addition, a friend of Whittig saw Harmon talking with Whittig a few days before his disappearance. But Harmon didn't budge until his landlady turned over Wittig's overcoat. The landlady told police she had witnessed Harmon destroying identifying markers on the jacket before he gave it to her in lieu of rent money. Apparently, Grann's wasn't the only one to get

Whittig's possessions. Harmon broke down. He confessed to raping, murdering, and dismembering a multitude of young men. Harmon spent much of his lengthy confession supplying cobbled together excuses. and explanations for his motives. He stressed repeatedly that he had not meant to kill anyone, but in the heat of rabid sexual passion, as he called it, had been unable to control himself. Harmon was careful to only name victims that police had already linked to him, which weren't many.

The only evidence police could find were the clothes in Harmon's apartment. Only a quarter of the nearly 400 articles of clothing found were connected to missing persons. Because the identification process required relatives and friends to physically come to the police station, it's possible some victims were never identified, especially considering Harmon's predilection for abducting travelers from other cities. At one point during his confession, Harmon said, There are some victims you don't know about, but it's not those you think.

And when asked for the total number of people he had killed, Harmon said, somewhere between 50 and 70. But he also claimed he couldn't remember some killings, and it's not uncommon for serial killers to inflate the numbers of their victims. Dr. Catherine Ramsland writes that the most significant reasons some serial killers lie about victim count is simply the enjoyment they take in deception. Harmon, for example, loved tricking victims into following him to his apartment and was proud of his ability to fool authorities. During his confession, he took obvious glee in pointing out to police. that his crimes had been committed right under their noses. Special Agent Mary Ellen O'Toole, a behavioral analyst for the FBI,

brings up another reason killers may lie about victim count, notoriety. She writes, quote, many of these people have an egotistical need to control and manipulate, and some like to be badder than the other guy, end quote. Whether or not this contributed to harm its claims about his victims, he did become notorious. It's possible this is why he confessed to so many killings, despite police having concrete evidence linking him to only a few.

Harmon also confessed that Hans Granz knew about the murders and had assisted or encouraged him on several occasions. Granz was arrested as an accessory on July 8th, about a month after Harmon. Six weeks after his confession, Harmon was examined by a psychologist at Goddingan Medical School. Harmon had been sent to a mental institution when he was 17, and the prospect of being sent back terrified him. Thanks to his admissions of guilt, the psychologist judged Harmon sane enough to stand trial. In July of 1924, at the age of 45, Fritz Harmon was charged with the murders of 27 young men and boys.

The trial was a media sensation and made international headlines. The Ludington Daily News, a small Michigan, newspaper ran the headline, Trial of Fritz Harmon, Wholesale Slayer, has stirred all Germany. News coverage was also responsible for Harmon's enduring nicknames, including the werewolf of Hanover and the vampire of Hanover. There was such a public frenzy surrounding the case that extra policemen had to be employed to push through the crowds of citizens and journalists around the courthouse. Harmon enjoyed the attention immensely. The trial was originally open to the public, but after two days of frenzied Hanover residents fighting to get courtroom seats,

the trial was closed. One of the most publicized aspects of the case was Harmon's meat business. Customers who purchased his meat testified as to its questionable contents. Harmon strenuously denied he had ever sold or consumed meat from his victims, but it didn't curb public suspicion. Harmon pled guilty to 14 of the 27 murders. He claimed he could not recall definitively whether he had murdered the remaining 13. When presented with photos of these victims during the proceedings, he became dismissive and

hardly glanced at them. He waved his hands at the photos and said things like, I don't remember, but you can go ahead and charge me. I don't mind. Harmon appeared relaxed during the trial and smoked cigars incessantly. He lodged only one complaint, that there were too many women in the courtroom. He suggested they'd be removed. although that went ignored.

Despite his nonchalance, or perhaps because of it, Harmon made a positive impression on the jury and the journalists, who were fascinated by his casual, aloof manner. On a few occasions, Harmon even elicited laughter from the room when a medical expert yawned during his testimony, and Harmon asked, Are you all right to go on, Professor? Later, he interrupted the prosecution by shouting that they were all liars.

For their part, the prosecution was not amused. They presented the hundreds of bone fragments recovered from the liner river, Harmon's bloody mattress, and the bucket he used to store human remains. When it came to the accusations about his illicit meat trade, medical testimony supported Harmon. Doctors confirmed that the meat found in Harmon's apartment at the time of his arrest was not human. Still, police never located Carl, the enigmatic source of the meat. The rumors persisted. we still don't know for sure whether Harmon ate or sold human meat. While Harmon was candid about some aspects of his crimes,

it's also clear he wanted to be seen as someone who acted in the heat of passion and wasn't malicious. He took care to cultivate this idea in the minds of the media and those present at the trial. He denied committing murders that were clearly premeditated and talked mournfully of his efforts to control his urge to kill. He also tried to portray himself as helpful to the homeless runaways in Hanover by focusing on the few times he gave money or day jobs to his errand boys. He didn't mention he often raped or abused those same boys. He insisted he never tore his victims' throats out entirely during the murders

to avoid being charged with cannibalism. The trial ended after only two weeks. Harmon was convicted of 24 out of the 27 murders, he was charged with. This included all of the murders to which Harmon pled guilty or agreed that he had probably committed. It excluded three murders that Harmon denied perpetrating, either because he blamed Hans Granz for them or because they contradicted his crimes of passion narrative. Harmon's willingness to admit to so many of his murders lent credibility to the few he denied. Either way, they had no bearing on his sentencing. He would be executed for murder either way.

But they were crucial to the case of Hans Granz, who was being tried at the same time as Harmon. While Harmon's relaxed demeanor won over some onlookers, Granz came off as erratic during his trial. He vehemently denied involvement in Harmon's killings and showed little emotion other than anxiety during the proceedings. Both Harmon and Granz were sentenced to death by beheading. Harmon calmly received the verdict, but Granz became hysterical. He collapsed after returning to his cell. Four months after the trial on April 15, 1925, Fritz Harmon was set to be executed. He walked up to the guillotine with a brave face.

His last words were, quote, I am guilty, gentlemen, but hard though it may be, I want to die as a man. I repent, but I do not fear death, end quote. After Harmon was executed, His brain was dissected. Traces of meningitis were found in sections of the removed brain. Menigitis is the inflammation of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. According to Dr. D. Vandebeak, when left untreated, menigitis can cause inflammation of the brain itself and lead to brain damage.

This could provide a glimmer of insight into Harmon's deviant behavior and could even explain some of his symptoms, like the blackouts he experienced during his military days. In the same article by Dr. D. Van de Beek, he writes that swelling of the brain caused by meningitis can lead to decreasing levels of consciousness. In Harmon's case, if he did have meningitis and presented unusually, it would explain why doctors were unable to come up with a diagnosis at the time. According to the Centers for Disease Control, viral meningitis usually resolves without treatment, but any lasting damage caused to the brain would have remained.

This makes it possible that the disease is a problem. The seeds of Harmon's horrendous crimes were planted during his first stint in the army. Unfortunately, we don't know more, as Harmon's brain was not preserved and discarded shortly thereafter. His head was kept in formaldehyde at the Godingian Medical School from 1925 until 2014, when it was at last cremated. But even after the guillotine fell, the story of Fritz Harmon did not end. The night before his execution, Harmon wrote a little. letter retracting statements he made about Granz's involvement in the murders. With this new evidence, Granz, now 25, got a second trial the following year in 1926. He was charged with aiding and abetting

Harmon for the two murders he was implicated in during his previous trial. Granz was convicted once again. He was spared the death penalty and served 12 years in prison until 1939. Unfortunately, by then, the Nazi party was in power. and transferred Granz to the Zaxenhausen concentration camp, where he endured forced labor in appalling conditions. He returned to Hanover after World War II, where he lived until his death in 1975, aged 74. Harmon's trial and death also had consequences for Germany itself.

Newspapers at the time referred to Harmon as a gay man, rather than a pedophile. It led to a new wave of homophobia in Germany in the early 1930s, which fed off growing public hatred. In the words of author Richard Plant, quote, it split the movement irreparably, fed every prejudice against homosexuality, and provided new fodder

for conservative adversaries of legal sex reform, end quote. Fritz Harmon was one of the most terrifying and prolific serial killers of the 20th century. His legacy played a part in shaping Germany and the atrocity of his crimes shocked the world. the horror of the werewolf of Hanover might never be forgotten.

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the best way to help us is to live. leave a five-star review. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler is a production of Cutler media and is part of the Parcast Network. It is produced by Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Kenny Hobbs, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro and Paul Mahler. Additional production assistance by Carly Madden and Maggie Admeyer. Serial Killers is written by Terrell Wells and stars Greg Poulson and Vanessa Richardson. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite

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