Deubelbeiss and Schürmann

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Ernst Deubelbeiss (born June 13, 1921 in Belp ; † January 7, 2005 ) and Kurt Schürmann (* 1925 ; † allegedly 2006), known as Deubelbeiss and Schürmann , were Swiss felons whose deeds rocked Switzerland in the early 1950s . In Switzerland, the term “gangster” was introduced with them.

Life and deeds

Deubelbeiss came from an intact working-class family and worked as a mechanic in the arms industry in Geneva during the Second World War . Here he came into contact with the labor movement and Marxism . He started with petty theft, allegedly for the development of cultural encounters of German-speaking Swiss , and was to two years prison sentenced. In prison he met his future accomplice Kurt Schürmann (who allegedly died in 2006). He met him again in Zurich in 1950 .

On the night of June 23-24, 1951, the two broke into an armory in Zurich-Höngg and stole 15 submachine guns and 9,685 rounds of ammunition, which they buried in hiding in the woods. On the evening of December 4, 1951, they kidnapped the banker Armin Bannwart in front of his house because they hoped he had the safe key of the Winterstein private bank in Zurich, which they wanted to rob. The kidnapped man didn't have the key with him. Finally, the two gangsters brutally murdered the kidnapped man in a forest in a suburb. Only a few weeks later, on the night of January 24th to 25th, 1952, they tried to rob the Reinach Post Office in the canton of Aargau . This also failed, they were surprised while they were welding. There was the biggest shootout in Swiss criminal history, the police counted 108 projectiles at the scene.

The police called on the population to participate in the search with repeated radio reports, which caused widespread concern. The fugitives were arrested on February 11, 1952 and on February 18, 1953 Deubelbeiss and his accomplice were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder , robbery and other crimes . Schürmann had claimed in court that they wanted to build a revolutionary party and that they had committed their deeds for political reasons.

Deubelbeiss was not released until July 1, 1978 and then lived under the name Ernst Schmid as a neglected citizen on the outskirts of the city of Zurich, in Oerlikon , and worked for the municipal waste incineration. Contrary to the forecasts, he did not relapse.

Socio-historical significance

The acts of Deubelbeiss and Schürmann shook the self-image of the Swiss population after the Second World War that the country was a peaceful island. The gangsterism "of the Chicago type" - according to the contemporary press - found its way. A whole generation of children has experienced the threat from parents and educators, "If you are not good, the Deubelbeiss will come."

Impact history

The following folk song was in circulation for years; It tells of the attack by these two gangsters on the post office in Reinach AG and is rumored in different versions: “Z'Rynach uf em Poschtbüro, two robbers inecho, he Pischtole vöregno, gschosse hei si gruusig - gruusig. / The one who would have packed the Pöstler, the second one who would have sacked, the third would have made my pants, he would have gschtunke, gschtunke, gschtunke. "

The Deubelbeiss and Schürmann case is documented in the crime museum of the canton police in Zurich . The book author and historian Willi Wottreng wrote a non-fiction book about the two Swiss gangsters. In it he also reports on an unrealized film project by the Swiss filmmaker Samir on this subject. The Theater am Bahnhof in Reinach AG - one of the crime scenes of this criminalistic event - brought a play to the stage in 2010, based on Wottreng's book.

literature

  • Viktor Zwicky, Walter Kunz: What kind of people are they? Deubelbeiss and Schürmann in psychological lighting. Jean Frey, Zurich 1952.
  • Willi Wottreng : Deubelbeiss & Co. How a gangster duo terrified Switzerland . Orell-Füssli-Verlag, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-280-06095-7 . Completely revised new edition "Deubelbeiss", Elster-Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-906065-99-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Benno Gasser: When a gangster duo shook healthy Switzerland. In: Tages-Anzeiger of December 3, 2011
  2. ↑ When a gangster duo shook healthy Switzerland. In: Tages-Anzeiger of December 3, 2011
  3. ↑ Willi Wottreng : Deubelbeiss & Co. How a gangster duo terrified Switzerland . Orell-Füssli-Verlag, Zurich 2007
  4. ^ Wottreng, p. 195.
  5. ↑ The mailing Robbery ( Memento of 5 November 2012 at the Internet Archive ) on tab.ch. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  6. ↑ TaB Reinach Deubelbeiss & Schürmann. Video on ART-TV , 4 minutes