Group Ludwig

A terrorist group became known under the name Ludwig that carried out at least ten serious attacks in northern Italy and Germany between 1977 and 1984, mostly on people and buildings that, in the broadest sense, could be assigned to the entertainment and red light trade or the drug scene. Clergymen were also targets. Despite the investigation and several letters of confession, the motives of the perpetrators have not become completely clear. Content and presentation of some with swastikas and the slogan " God with us " be provided writing a diffuse right-wing and Catholic - fundamentalist recognize background. This is also indicated by the choice of goals.

The mathematician Wolfgang Abel (born January 3, 1959 in Düsseldorf ) and the chemist and doctoral student Marco Furlan (born April 1, 1960 in Padua , Italy) are - probably the only ones - members of the group . You were convicted of a series of murders by the "Group Ludwig". The series of attacks ended with the arrest of the two. Speculations about other group members were mainly based on the fact that Abel was just 18 and Furlan was only 17 at the time of the first attack assigned to the group. There were no specific indications of other involved parties.

Deeds

Murder of Guerrino Spinelli

The act took place on August 25, 1977 on the outskirts of Verona .

The car of the drug addict Sinto and suspected drug dealer Spinelli, which was parked in the “Dall'Oca Bianca” settlement on the outskirts of Verona and used as a bed, was set on fire with four Molotov cocktails . The 33-year-old died a week later from the burns he had suffered. Police investigations were unsuccessful.

Murder of Luciano Stefanato

The act was committed on December 19, 1978 in Padua with two kitchen knives.

Known as gay in Padua, the waiter was found stabbed twenty times in his car. The murder weapons, 25 cm long, were still in his neck. Police arrested a suspect who was released after a year and a half for lack of evidence.

Murder of Claudio Costa

The crime was committed on December 12, 1979 in Venice with a knife.

The 22-year-old, heroin addict , homosexual Costa was murdered with 34 stab wounds. At the scene of the crime, glasses remained that could later be assigned to Abel with high probability. Witnesses claimed to have seen two teenagers. The police arrested two suspects. They remained in custody until March 1984 and were only acquitted after being appealed several times.

Murder of Alice Maria Beretta

The act was committed on December 20, 1980 in Vicenza with a hammer and hatchet.

The 51-year-old prostitute was first beaten to death with a hammer, then the corpse was cut up with an ax. Police investigations were unsuccessful.

Murder of Luca Martinotti

The act took place on May 24, 1981 in Verona.

In the Austrian casemates in the fortress square , which are used as emergency quarters for drug addicts, three people were doused with gasoline and set on fire. The young, heroin-addicted student Martinotti died on the banks of the Adige . The police temporarily arrested three suspects.

Murder of Mario Lovato and Giovanni Pigato

The murders were committed with two hammers on July 20, 1982 in Vicenza.

The monks of the "Comunità del Santuario di Monte Berico", a progressive, Catholic denomination, 71 and 69 years old, were attacked by two assassins near their monastery on their usual evening stroll. They smashed the clergy's skulls with heavy hammers. One of the two had been investigated for the sexual abuse of children.

Armando Bison's murder

The deed was carried out on February 20, 1983 in Trento with a mason's chisel and crucifix.

The 71-year-old priest was slain with a mason's chisel, then a wooden wedge with a crucifix was driven into his neck. Bison had engaged in sexual acts inappropriate for Catholics in his youth. On March 26, 1983, 35-year-old Professor Silvano Romano was arrested in Padua, but released after a week because the suspicion could not be substantiated despite numerous anomalies.

Arson attack on "Eros" cinema, six dead

The attack took place in Milan on May 14, 1983 .

During the afternoon screening of the film Lyla, profuma di femmina in the porn cinema "Eros", which was attended by around 30 viewers, an explosive fire broke out in the last row of seats. The exit was blocked. Six men were killed in the flames and several people were injured. Police investigations revealed that two young men had poured out around twenty liters of gasoline and set it on fire.

Arson attack on the “Liverpool” nightclub, death of Corinna Tartarotti

The fire was started on January 7, 1984 in Munich .

At 11:26 p.m., two well-dressed young men entered the Liverpool discotheque on Munich's Schillerstrasse, which is believed to be part of the red-light district . Everyone threw incendiary devices consisting of a can of gasoline into the entrance. Eight of the thirty guests were injured, the 20-year-old Baran Asked Corinna Tartarotti, daughter of from Tyrol originating ZDF -Reporters, died in late April to the suffered severe burns. The perpetrators fled unrecognized. At the scene, they left a sports bag with various items and an alarm clock. The police suspected until the receipt of the letter of confession with the serial number of the alarm clock that the perpetrators could be found in pimp circles. In the letter of confession, the group also assumed responsibility for a fire in a sex club in Amsterdam , which, however, had been started by an employee of the establishment.

Arrested after a thwarted arson attack on the Melamare discotheque

On March 4, 1984, Abel and Furlan, disguised as Pierrots , attended a carnival event in the Melamare discotheque in Castiglione delle Stiviere . They were noticed as they were handing out a can of gasoline at a time in the room that was visited by 400 people. The fire was extinguished before any major damage occurred. Two people were slightly injured. Stewards overpowered Abel and Furlan and handed them over to the Carabinieri , who were only able to protect them with difficulty from attacks by the angry crowd.

Investigation and trial

Abel and Furlan

While Furlan claimed the arson attack on the Melamare was a joke to see how people would react, Abel revealed his hatred of nightclubs during police interrogation. They are "main places of drug distribution" and places of "mindless diversion". However, he only wanted to destroy the discotheque, not kill people. Both denied having any connection with other acts.

The German police found a lot of evidence in Munich that showed Abel's involvement in the attacks. A writing pad was found in his apartment on which there was still a printout of a letter of confession against the attack on the porn cinema in Milan on May 14, 1983 . Textiles, buttons and laces were also found in the apartment that matched the finds in the gym bag from the Liverpool disco . Abel's mother identified the Peter brand alarm clock as her son's property. The glasses found at the scene of the murder of Costa in Venice most likely came from Abel. Fragments and prints of letters of confession were also found at Furlan.

Abel was generally ready to talk to German investigators who had traveled to Germany, without giving any details of the attacks, which he still did not admit. He expressed his deep aversion to what he saw as depraved morals that endanger youth. He described Liverpool as a " brothel disco" that spoils young people: "I am fundamentally against such establishments." Furlan always protested his innocence: "I have nothing to blame, I am innocent."

From 1984 to December 1986 were Abel and Furlan in Mantua in custody . They fell apart and were placed in different cells. They refused to take blood and hair; they were only persuaded to take psychological tests. The psychiatric report attested them “reduced sanity”. Both made several suicide attempts while in custody. “Death is everyone's right in general. I want the death penalty! ”(Furlan during the trial).

The trial, in which investigative files from the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office were used, began in Verona in December 1986 and ended in January 1987 with the conviction of Abel and Furlan for 15 murder cases. You were sentenced to 30 years in prison. They were released on bail for the duration of the appeal hearing. The Venice Court of Appeal set the prison term for 27 years. In the meantime, Furlan fled the country. He was arrested in 1995 in Crete , where he had been living under an assumed name, and transferred to Italy.

Furlan was released from prison in 2009 and Abel was to remain in custody until 2013 because he was sentenced to three years in a psychiatric hospital. According to press reports, however, he was also said to have been released in mid-2009.

Silvano Romano

On March 26, 1983, the Italian police arrested the 35-year-old, single physicist Silvano Romano. The lecturer and specialist in fluid physics at the University of Pavia attracted attention because he had called several Jewish clergy in northern Italy and warned of further attacks by “Ludwig”. The Rabbi of Padua then notified the police. Romano found a large collection of press releases on the attacks as well as extensive literature on historical figures of Ludwig, medieval mysticism and Germanic mythology . Despite numerous other abnormalities, however, no suspicions against him could be substantiated. He had alibis for the attacks known at the time . Romano was released after nine days of pre-trial detention. However, his passport was confiscated.

Backgrounds and possible motifs

Confession letter

The letters of confession published after the attacks, often with runes , eagles and swastikas, were initially the only clues the police could use. They superficially indicated a right-wing extremist background, but the content of the letters spoke more for religious than for political extremism. The authors regularly accused the victims of moral depravity and apostasy from the true religion, while acting arrogant and cynical. They indicated that they felt called to wipe out inferior and degenerate life. Whoever disregards the “Law of Ludwig” must die. “The purpose of our life is the death of those who betray the true God.” - “Ludwig's power is limitless.” - “Our faith is Nazism. Our righteousness is death. Our democracy is extermination. "

Resumes

The Abel family had moved from Germany to Verona for professional reasons. Abel's father was the director of the Italian branch of a German insurance company. There was strict discipline in the Abel family. According to Abel, there weren't even adhesive plasters in the house; those who got injured had to see for themselves how they got along. Furlan's mother described Abel in the process as intelligent but very closed off.

Furlan's father was a respected doctor in a senior position in a hospital. Professional success was very important to the Furlan family.

Abel and Furlan already knew each other from school. They were considered to be highly intelligent eccentrics who were linked by an exclusive friendship to which others had no access. They avoided contact with schoolmates and peers and hardened themselves through sport and off-road marches. They demonstratively did not own cars, lavish clothing and luxury items, as common among young people from wealthy families. Your school degrees were good. Abel studied mathematics after school and received his doctorate “ summa cum laude ” (with the highest praise) . At the time of his arrest, he was visiting Furlan, but lived in Munich and worked for an insurance company. He was also considered a loner there. Furlan had completed his degree in chemistry and was also about to do his doctorate.

Abel and Furlan were obviously drawn to mysticism and fundamentalist Christian ideas. The frequent use of runes, swastikas and similar symbols also shows an affinity to the Germanic and Aryan cult. In their youth, they are said to have been associated with a Catholic right-wing extremist underground organization called "Christ-König". Investigations by the Federal Criminal Police Office had shown that Abel had been very concerned with Catholic mysticism and medieval sects such as the spirituals . The book "The Adventure of a Poor Christian" by Ignazio Silone , which Abel had read and underlined numerous times, mentions an ascetic and strict "Brother Ludwig" (Fra Ludovico) who is said to have particularly impressed Abel and who influenced the choice of the name Ludwig could have. BKA officials described Abel as tyrannical, solitary and sensitive. The group consists of "people with a high level of intelligence who have long since exceeded the limits of normality."

literature

• Erwin Brunner: The Merciless . In: Die Zeit , No. 50/1986, pp. 33–35

Web links

• Le stragi di Ludwig ( Memento from November 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• La storia di Marco Furlan . ANSA.it (Italian), October 12, 2010, with photo series, accessed on February 12, 2011

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Some he struck in two . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1984, pp. 62-69 ( online ).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Erwin Brunner: The merciless . In: Die Zeit , No. 50/1986, page 34 ff.
3. ^ ^{A b} Diego Decarli: La storia di Marco Furlan. ANSA.it, October 12, 2010, accessed February 12, 2011 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Guido Vergani: LA MADRE DI FURLAN SCEGLIE DI PARLARE MA NON RIESCE A DARE UN ALIBI A. In: La Repubblica. December 13, 1986, accessed August 19, 2017 (Italian). 
5. ↑ ^{a b} German neo-fascist Abel is released from prison. Der Standard , June 5, 2009, accessed February 6, 2014 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Paolo Coltro: BENZINA SU UN PAIO DI JEANS UNA PROVA CHE PORTA A LUDWIG. In: La Repubblica. October 19, 1984, accessed August 19, 2017 (Italian). 
7. ^ Beginning of the trial against the Ludwig group . In: taz , December 2, 1986. Werner Raith : “Group Ludwig” in Verona in court. 15 murders charged . In: taz , December 3, 1986, p. 6
8. ↑ Werner Raith: Who is actually "Ludwig"? In: taz , February 12, 1987, p. 3
9. ^ Alessandro Gatta: Il killer Furlan presto libero; Uccise 15 people in nome della Ludwig. (No longer available online.) La Voce, October 15, 2010, archived from the original on July 11, 2011 ; Retrieved February 12, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ 27 years for the "Group Ludwig" . In: taz , April 12, 1990, p. 7