Elisabeth Wiese

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elisabeth-Wiese.jpg

Elisabeth Wiese , née Berkefeld (born July 1, 1859 in Bilshausen , † February 2, 1905 in Hamburg ), was convicted of five child murder and executed by the executioner Alwin Engelhardt .

Early years and marriage

Elisabeth Berkefeld was a midwife . Although unmarried, she gave birth to her daughter Paula Berkefeld, which stigmatized her socially. She married the tinker Heinrich Wiese in 1888 , but soon began to poison his food and also tried to kill him with a razor blade in his sleep, which failed. She was sentenced to prison for various minor offenses.

The serial murders

Once again at large, Elisabeth Wiese came up with the idea of offering her services as a foster mother for a one-off payment through newspaper advertisements from unmarried, slightly better-earning mothers . She told the women who entrusted her with their children that the toddlers were adopted by wealthy families in distant cities. In fact, however, she killed the children and burned their bodies in a stove or threw them into the Elbe . If a mother wanted to take her child back, she strongly advised against, as the child is much better off now. However, suspicion soon arose, and public tenders sought to find out about the fate of the missing children.

Her own daughter forced Elisabeth Wiese into prostitution . However, Paula was able to flee to London. She became pregnant there and returned to her mother in 1902. After giving birth, Wiese drowned her grandchild and burned it in the hearth as well.

The investigation started when a maid wanted to bring her little son Wilhelm back to her after her material living conditions had improved significantly. She asked Elisabeth Wiese about the whereabouts of the child and finally went to the police after hearing only excuses and contradictions. During a house search of Elisabeth Wiese's apartment, large amounts of morphine and other poisons were found. In the interrogations, it was above all her clumsy lies that weighed on Elisabeth Wiese. She stuck to the fact that she had placed the children with distinguished families abroad. She also tried to persuade a neighbor and a fellow prisoner in custody to make false statements: They had seen couples pick up the children.

At the beginning of October 1904 the trial against Wiese took place in Hamburg. On October 10, 1904 Elisabeth Wiese was before the Hamburg trial by jury because of enforced prostitution, fraud and fivefold child murder sentenced to death and 1,905 from the executioner Alwin Engelhardt by the guillotine executed .

The free word wrote in 1908: "A murderer like the angel maker Wiese, who was convicted a few years ago in Hamburg , is not much better than a great dog, even if she had acted not only out of greed but out of insanity."

Murder victim

  • Peter Berkefeld, newborn child of their illegitimate daughter Paula (1902)
  • Wilhelm Karl Klotsche (born October 19, 1902, † after January 26, 1903)
  • Franz Sommer (* December 23, 1902; † after April 1, 1903), son of Henriette Sommer
  • Bertha Blanck (born February 26, 1903; † after April 16, 1904), daughter of Martha Blanck
  • Peter Schultheiss (1903)

media

In 2010 the life of Elisabeth Wiese was filmed for an episode in the NDR series “Das!” Under the title “That was once” (first broadcast on March 7th).

literature

  • Hugo Friedländer : A dehumanized woman. The angel maker Wiese . (Friedländer: Criminal Trials, p. 250) ISBN 3-89853-151-1
  • Michael Kirchschlager (Ed.): Historical serial killers. Human monsters from the late Middle Ages to the late 19th century. 2007 ISBN 978-3-934277-13-7
  • The free word: Frankfurt bi-monthly publication for progress in all areas of intellectual life , vol. 7. Neuer Frankfurter Verlag, 1908, p. 194
  • Baby Farmer Must Die. - Notorious German Woman Receives Five Capital Sentences . Syndicated (Bulletin Press Association), Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, Wisconsin (USA), Nov. 1, 1904, p. 4
  • Journal for experimental pathology and therapy , Vol. 2, A. Hirschwald 1906, p. 495
  • Journal for Child Research with Special Consideration of Educational Pathology , Vol. 17, ed. v. Johannes Trüper in association with Dr. G. Anton, Dr. med. Martinak, Chr. Ufer, Dr. Karl Wilker, Langensalza 1908, p. 171
  • Matthias Blazek: "Elisabeth Wiese - the angel maker from St. Pauli - allegedly 16 small children and infants killed in Hamburg out of greed", Sachsenspiegel 45, Cellesche Zeitung of November 10, 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birth and baptismal register of the (Catholic) Parish of Bilshausen for the period from January 1st, 1853 to December 31st. 1882, page 60, no. 24/1859
  2. ^ "Two murderers - two cases for the executioner", Hamburger Abendblatt June 3, 1989.
  3. ↑ Death under the guillotine: the angel maker from St. Pauli .
  4. ^ Elisabeth Wiese: St. Pauli's most mysterious murderer .
  5. ↑ Berliner Lokalanzeiger v. October 8, 1904, Archive for Criminology, Volumes 18-19, Verlag für Polizeiliches Fachschrifttum Georg Schmidt-Römhild, 1905, p. 290.
  6. ↑ www.chroniknet.de . The information corresponds to the information in the German daily newspapers of the time.
  7. ^ The Free Word, 1908, p. 194.
  8. ^ First name after: Schweder, Paul: The great criminal trials of the century, Berlin 1961, p. 94.
  9. ↑ Historical serial killers , accessed June 13, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Wiese, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berkefeld, Elisabeth (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Bilshausen
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1905
Place of death Hamburg