Series of bank robberies in North Baden / South Palatinate

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The series of bank robberies in North Baden and the South Palatinate is one of the most spectacular series of bank robberies in German criminal history. It began in April 1995. The perpetrators attacked a total of 21 banks and savings banks . The series ended on December 10, 2010 in Karlsruhe with the death of the perpetrators when they caused an exchange of fire with the police shortly after a bank robbery while on the run .

Robberies

The perpetrators proceeded professionally. They chose banks and savings banks with outdated or no video recording systems and spied out the property for days. In their actions, they were resolute but always polite. For example, when they stole the car key of a hostage held in a financial institution in order to use the car as an escape vehicle, they later sent it back. After another attack, they apologized by letter. Therefore, investigators and many press organs called them gentlemen robbers . At first there were three of them, from 2002 only two - a man and a woman. In total, they looted over two million euros.

The series began on April 13, 1995. First, they attacked the Sparkasse in the Wolfartsweier district of Karlsruhe . Half a year later, on October 27, 1995, the second robbery followed in the Sparkasse in the Philippsburg district of Rheinsheim . In February 1996 they attacked two financial institutions: on February 2 it was the Sparkasse in Altlußheim and on February 9 the Volksbank Speyer in Westheim . In the following month, on March 15, 1996, it affected the Sparkasse in Malschenberg and on July 4, 1996 the Sparkasse in Rot . Further acts followed at irregular intervals: on April 23, 1997 again the Sparkasse in Altlußheim, on August 12, 1998 the Sparkasse Lustadt , on January 4, 1999 the RV-Bank in Bobenheim- Roxheim , on October 22, 1999 for the third time the Sparkasse in Altlußheim and on December 7, 2000 the Volksbank in the Karlsruhe district of Knielingen .

The perpetrators paused in 2001. On June 13, 2002, they continued their series with the Sparkasse Karlsruhe-Rüppurr. Two raids on the Sparkasse in St. Leon followed, on October 24, 2002 and January 28, 2004. On March 22, 2005, the Sparkasse in Malsch near Wiesloch was affected. The perpetrators attacked some financial institutions several times, such as the Volksbank Karlsruhe-Nordweststadt on October 26, 2006 and October 24, 2007. The annual cycle continued with the Sparkasse Karlsruhe-Heidenstückersiedlung on November 24, 2008 and the Volksbank Mannheim -Käfertal on December 3 2009 continued. On July 13, 2010 they attacked the Sparkasse Grünwinkel. To do this, they stayed in a hotel in Pforzheim a few days earlier to prepare for the robbery.

The bank robbers were initially unmasked, then camouflaged themselves with woolen hats with slits until 1999, after which they only appeared in wigs and sunglasses. Their faces could be seen on the images from the surveillance cameras and the phantom images got better and better over time. Nevertheless, a TV manhunt in the program Aktenzeichen XY ... remained unsolved and fruitless.

In December 2010 the Karlsruhe criminal police published a new phantom image of the male perpetrator. At this point, a total of 50,000 euros was offered for information that would have led to the perpetrators being arrested.

Robbery on December 10, 2010

Karlsruhe city center: in the middle the Karlstor
Volksbank at Karlstor

On December 8, 2010, the two perpetrators drove to Pforzheim in their private vehicle to live in the same hotel as last July. On December 10, 2010, they drove from there to Karlsruhe by public transport. Shortly before close of business at around 4 p.m., they entered a downtown branch of Volksbank Karlsruhe at Karlstor and attacked it. After they had pocketed the money, they locked the five bank employees and four customers present in a separate room and took their cell phones from them. At this point, one of the employees had already triggered what is known as a " silent alarm ", which automatically alerts the police if no alarm can be heard or seen in the bank itself. Once again, the perpetrators demanded the car keys of those present in order to organize an escape vehicle. However, the request was unsuccessful, so they left the bank on foot. The alarm went off to the police shortly after 4 p.m. The moment the perpetrators were leaving the bank, the first police patrol car arrived. The perpetrators ran across the street and immediately opened fire on the police officers, firing at least ten shots. A 28-year-old policewoman was shot through the thigh. Passers-by were not met in the busy shopping street before Christmas. The two police officers returned fire by firing 19 shots themselves. They met both the perpetrator and the perpetrator multiple times, with the perpetrator being fatally shot in the chest. The murdered perpetrator killed herself in the course of this exchange of fire by holding the gun in her mouth and shooting herself in the head. The perpetrator died a few minutes later.

The perpetrator had two magazines with a total of 28 rounds. According to a police spokesman, the two perpetrators were "apparently ready" to "shoot their way free if necessary". A DNA comparison of the identification pattern of the perpetrators with traces of crime from past crime scenes on December 14, 2010 confirmed that the perpetrators were serial bank robbers.

The police officer, who was hit in the thigh, was operated on on the day of the incident, permanent damage is not expected.

Perpetrator

The perpetrators were 38-year-old Růžena B. and her 40-year-old husband Jaroslav B. Both came from the small Czech town of Dubenec in the Příbram district , about 120 kilometers southwest of Prague. Růžena B. had a 20-year-old son at the time of the crime, whose stepfather was Jaroslav B. They kept their deeds secret from him. How the two invested or spent their prey is unknown; they lived in a modest family house in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, based on the previous robberies, the criminal police estimated the monthly expenses of the two at around 10,000 euros and therefore expected the next robbery before Christmas 2010.

According to the public prosecutor's office in December 2011, investigations were underway against a third perpetrator, who is said to have been involved in eleven robberies up until 2002. The identity is therefore known, but an arrest warrant has not yet been obtained.

Others

In March 2016, the author Marianne Paschkewitz-Kloß published the novel The Gentlemen Robbers through Lauinger Verlag . The plot of the book is based on the bank robbery series Nordbaden / Südpfalz.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andreas Förster: The Karlsruhe bank robbers have never been noticed unpleasantly in their Czech homeland: The double life of gentlemen. In: berliner-zeitung.de . December 15, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b Dead couple: They were probably the "gentlemen robbers". In: Abendblatt.de . December 10, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Shootings in Karlsruhe: Bank robbers killed were apparently serial perpetrators. In: Spiegel Online . December 10, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c Confirmed: Bank robbers killed were the "gentleman robbers". In: Abendblatt.de. December 14, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  5. ^ A b c d Bank robbery in Karlsruhe: "Ready to shoot your way free". In: ka-news . December 14, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Janisch: Bank robbery from Karlsruhe: "Sorry, it wasn't meant badly". In: sueddeutsche.de . December 13, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  7. ↑ "Gentlemen Robbers": New phantom image. In: ka-news. December 3, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  8. ^ Two dead after a bank robbery in Karlsruhe. In: Zeit Online . December 10, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  9. ^ Thomas Kurtz: Pforzheimer hotel as the base of operations for bank robbers. In: PZ-news.de . December 13, 2010, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  10. ^ "Gentlemen robbers": One year after the bank robbery in Karlsruhe. In: ka-news.de. December 9, 2011, accessed April 13, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Die Gentlemen-Räuber: Book Description. Lauinger Verlag, accessed on April 13, 2020 .