Düsseldorf/Cologne (NRW) – During the Weimar Republic, Peter Kürten (1883–1931) murdered in the Rhineland, leaving fear and terror in his wake. A hundred years after the horrific deeds of the Düsseldorf vampire, a new reference file on Kürten has now surfaced that provides new insights into the serial killer’s facade.
BILD spoke to forensic scientist and criminalist Dr. Mark Benecke on the murder series.
Peter Kürten after his arrest in 1930
The 52-year-old, who studied biology with a minor in psychology at the University of Cologne and did his doctorate summa cum laude on genetic fingerprints, dealt with the murders during his studies: “The case happened in the Rhineland, and I found it strange that his wife, who is also a criminal, not only noticed that something was going very wrong, but even warned one of the victims about her husband.”
Kürten is said to have committed at least nine murders between 1913 and 1929. While his wife Auguste was working in a café on Mettmanner Strasse in Düsseldorf, he went in search of new victims.
for dr Mark Benecke makes several details of this series of murders so special: “First, one of his weapons, the scissors. I have the exact same model in my mini crime cabinet and I find it creepy as hell that the victims were harmed with such a commonplace and beautifully crafted object.”
dr Mark Benecke with the same model of vampire scissors
And he goes on to say: “Secondly, that the victims let themselves be spoken to by Kürten and I can only vaguely see what they actually expected from him. Third, that he was looking forward to his execution by guillotine in hopes of hearing his own blood rush — with his head severed.”
Kürten is said to have murdered with these scissors
Kürten is said to have drunk the blood of his victims
► Speaking of blood: Peter Kürten is accused of drinking the lifeblood of his victims. But why did he do that?
“Who knows if he really did that on a regular basis. If so, it was a bonding thing that was probably shifted into the sexual: The physical connection with another person, taken quite literally, like with cannibals. He probably also enjoyed killing, which has nothing to do with drinking blood,” explains forensic biologist Bennecke.
Insights into the court hearing in Kürten in 1931
Kürten was the son of an alcoholic metal founder. His father was violent, hitting his wife and children and raping his eldest daughter. Can such childhood events shape a murderer? After all, Peter Kürten admitted that he loved torturing animals even as a child.
To this says Dr. Mark Bennecke: “It increased his tendencies. Anyone who experiences as a child that he or she can rely on and feel secure in attachments to others is more protected from wanting and living out non-compliant ‘types of attachment’ such as killing and incorporating the other. “
Bennecke: Kürten a “very well adjusted person”
And although the forensic biologist did not get to know the so-called vampire of Düsseldorf personally, he can deduce a lot about Kürten’s personality from earlier photos alone.
Bennecke says: “He is a very well adjusted person who – from his point of view, not from mine – was ‘successful’ because he fulfilled the expectations of the environment, for example in terms of proper clothing and manners, in such a way that he did not like a fairy-tale foaming monster looked like. The proven best cover for serial killers is overfitting.”
This photo shows the living room of the Kürten couple
It was not possible for Bennecke himself to subsequently examine the serial killer’s brain. But that wouldn’t have appealed to him as much as a personal meeting, as the criminalist admits.
“I would rather speak to the living Kürten and his wife. There is a lot to see in the brain, but the subtleties really only emerge in a personal conversation. Because sometimes what one person has copied from the other about a perpetrator is not entirely true. That’s why I prefer to talk to the perpetrators,” says the 52-year-old.
