Jack Unterweger

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Johann "Jack" Unterweger (born August 16, 1950 in Judenburg , Styria , † June 29, 1994 in Graz ) was an Austrian criminal convicted of murder who became known as a writer while in custody . He was sentenced to life imprisonment again in the first instance for nine other murders he is alleged to have committed after his early release. Due to his suicide , this judgment was no longer legally binding, but it may be permissible under media law to designate Unterweger post mortem as a multiple murderer or serial murderer (without the intent "presumed") without violating the presumption of innocence .

Life

Origin and youth

Jack Unterweger grew up in this house with his grandfather.

Jack Unterweger was born the illegitimate son of the Carinthian waitress Theresia Unterweger. He never got to know his father, a soldier in the United States Army in the American zone of occupation. He never confessed to his child. The statement that Unterweger's mother was a prostitute , which (also) goes back to the “autobiographical, often factual falsifying novel 'Purgatory'” (1983), in which he made this claim, has since been refuted. Unterweger grew up without his mother in the Carinthian Pisweg im Wimitzgraben with his maternal grandfather, Ferdinand Wieser, who is described as a "rough fellow" and who, together with his grandson, stole farm animals on regular predatory tours. Unterweger himself distinguished himself in Purgatory “as a victim of a brutal childhood under a drunk, bumbling grandfather”.

In 1966 Unterweger was sentenced in Sankt Veit an der Glan to a conditional prison sentence of three days for theft and was sent to the Federal Institute for the Needed in Kaiser-Ebersdorf for a year . After his release, he worked as a waiter. During this time he committed more thefts and break-ins and was noticed for some violent crimes against women and for pimping .

Murder, final conviction and imprisonment

On December 12, 1974, when he was visiting a friend in Hesse, the two met Margret Schäfer, who was on her way home from a Christmas party, and accompanied her. They handcuffed the victim in his parents' home, stole their money, and then escaped with the woman who was still handcuffed. Outside of Ewersbach in a forest, Unterweger said he hit the victim's neck and head several times with a steel rod . He then brutally strangled the woman with the wire from her bra and faked a sexual offense. On June 1, 1976, Unterweger was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Salzburg Regional Court for this murder and imprisoned in the Stein Prison because of its particular danger .

In April 1973 Unterweger was suspected of murdering a 23-year-old woman in Salzburg . This act was ultimately never proven - the investigation was closed after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Margret Schäfer.

"Port Literature"

Flyer published by Jack Unterweger in 1986 to promote the literary newspaper Wort-Brücke

Unterweger began to write while in custody. After his debut, the poetry collection Raging I, followed, among others, the autobiographical novels purgatory or travel to the penitentiary and prison, the stories Va Banque, Mare Adriatico and 99 hours, as well as numerous bedtime stories for the show The dream little man comes the ORF . He soon became known as the “port writer” and “Häf'n-Poet”, outside Austria as the “prison poet” and in the USA as “Jack the Writer”. Purgatory was filmed in 1988 under the direction of Wilhelm Hengstler , with Unterweger having worked on the script. Bobby Prem played Jack and Jürgen Goslar played the grandfather. Unterweger published the literary magazine Wort-Brücke from 1985 to 1989 , of which twelve issues appeared. Prominent contributors included Elfriede Jelinek , Franz Kabelka and Andrea Wolfmayr .

In 1989 he received the Ingeborg Drewitz Literature Prize for Prisoners .

Release from custody

Unterweger was then presented by the Austrian cultural scene at the time as a prime example of successful rehabilitation. Petitions from numerous intellectuals (including Ernest Borneman , Milo Dor , Erich Fried , Barbara Frischmuth , Ernst Jandl , Peter Huemer , Elfriede Jelinek , Günther Nenning , Günter Grass and Erika Pluhar ) followed for his early release.

After serving 16 years of his sentence, he was conditionally released from prison on May 23, 1990 with the consent of Justice Minister Egmont Foregger on the legal basis of Section 46 (5) StGB .

Afterwards Unterweger was passed around at parties and was part of the so-called Seitenblickegesellschaft .

Murder series and indictment

Six months after their release, a series of murders of prostitutes began (eight in Prague , Graz , Lustenau and Vienna , three in Los Angeles ). All victims were killed in the same way - the perpetrator tied their underwear in a hangman's knot and strangled them with it. Unterweger came under suspicion and fled with his underage girlfriend via Switzerland to the USA . On February 27, 1992, he was arrested by the FBI in Miami when he was trying to get an advance payment for an interview with Success magazine from later gambling lobbyist Gert Schmidt.

Unterweger denied the alleged acts to the last. However, there was serious evidence against him. For example, a hair was found on the car seat of his BMW that, according to a DNA report by the expert Dirnhofer , which was approved for the first time in court , could be assigned with a probability of 1 in 13 to the woman murdered in Prague. Textile fibers that were identical to the material used in Unterweger's scarf had been found on the clothing of another victim. It was also extremely stressful that he had been demonstrably staying in the respective region (e.g. for a reading) for all eleven, geographically widely spaced crimes on the days of the crime - which could hardly be explained by coincidence - but for the actual times of the crime in no case could she produce an alibi.

Unterweger showed himself to be well prepared for the trial before a jury court in Graz on April 20, 1994, which took place with great media coverage: “He stepped into the hall in a stylish suit, once again played the intellectual bon vivant. In his plea he said ":

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are together for the next two months and I don't want to be a sterile actor. I want you to be like in the coffee house. If you have any questions, please ask and I will answer anything, really anything. You see, I have the great advantage that I have nothing to hide since I'm not the killer. If you catch me telling a lie, judge me. "

- Jack Unterweger : Quoted from Vice.com , 2017.

Judgment and death

On June 29, 1994, Unterweger was again sentenced to life imprisonment by the jury for nine murders, this time without the possibility of parole. Since there were no usable traces on the corpses in two other cases and these two acts could therefore not be proven, he was acquitted in these cases.

On the night after the verdict he died in prison of Graz-Jakomini by suicide .

Unterweger's then criminal defense lawyer Georg Zanger expressed the opinion in 2015 in the magazine profil that “a prejudgment in the mainstream had already taken place” and went on to say: “The jury wasn't interested in weighing up the evidence, but saw Unterweger as someone who was already guilty, to whom they wanted to show it. ”The filmmaker Elisabeth Scharang , who also researched the court archives for her film Jack , explained to the profile in the same article that“ although you [can] inspect the file, a large part of it is missing Documents, as evidenced by a lot of yawning empty folders in the folder. ”In addition, Scharang explained the question of guilt:

“I am sticking to the statement made by Alfred Noll , who as a young trainee lawyer in the Georg Zanger law firm was entrusted with Unterweger's last trial. He said: 'It is very likely that it was, but it is also very likely that it was not.' In our legal system, however, should apply to the defendant in case of doubt. "

- Elisabeth Scharang : In: profil.at, 2015

Legal force of convictions and diction

The jury's verdict of June 1994 for the nine accused murders in Austria, Prague and Los Angeles did not become final , as the proceedings - as provided by Austrian criminal law for such a case - were discontinued with Unterweger's death. This is linked to the question of whether he can be called a “suspected serial killer ” or whether he can also be called a “serial killer” without violating his post-mortem personal rights . If one follows the current case law of the Supreme Court (based on the media proceedings in the case of Rachat Älijew , OGH 6 Ob 226/16 b, 2017), § 7b (1) MedienG does not protect against a postmortem violation of the presumption of innocence (with reference to OGH 4 Ob 184/97 f, 1997), the "perpetual presumption of innocence" rejected a decision. In the balancing of interests in the legal case, the Supreme Court also affirmed "a [...] need for information [of the general public], because the (serious) allegations due to the [...] context could be seen as a contribution to the social discourse about an event of public interest." On the other hand, “the Supreme Court […] assigns the burden of proof for the truthfulness of the allegations to the author. This corresponds to the burden of proof in the case of libel [...], but also results from the fact that criminal proceedings to clarify the allegations against the deceased can no longer be carried out. [...] Therefore it is also advisable to apply criminal court standards in civil proceedings so that a decision in particular [.] Must be made in dubio pro reo . Therefore, the allegations are only admissible if the existence of a criminal offense is proven in the civil process with the certainty of the criminal proceedings ([...]). "(Bernhard Burtscher, ÖJZ , 14/2018.)

Regardless of this, Unterweger is still legally considered a murderer, as he had been legally sentenced to life imprisonment for a previous homicide.

Works

  • 1982: Raging Me (poetry)
  • 1983: Words as a Bridge (poetry, prose) - with Grete Wassertheurer
  • 1983: Purgatory or the trip to prison (autobiographical novel)
  • 1984: Bagno (prose)
  • 1985: End of the line penitentiary (drama)
  • 1985: imprisonment (poetry)
  • 1985: When Children Live Love (Bedtime Stories)
  • 1986: Va Banque (novel)
  • 1987: reflections (poetry)
  • 1990: Scream of Fear (Drama)
  • 1990: Mare Adriatico (story)
  • 1990: Dungeon (prose)
  • 1992: Dangerous Criminal (poetry, prose)
  • 1994: 99 hours (documentary narration)

reception

Unterweger's life served as the template for the plays Black Jack by Franzobel and The Infernal Comedy , which premiered in 2008 with John Malkovich in Santa Monica, California. The Unterweger case was also featured in the documentary The Evil Next Door, which was first broadcast on VOX in 2010 - when people become beasts . As early as 1988, the Austrian writer and director Wilhelm Hengstler filmed Unterweger's autobiography under the title Purgatory . Unterweger wrote the script himself.

The Austrian horror punk music group Bloodsucking Zombies from Outer Space treats Unterweger ironically in their song Legendary Jack. The German underground author Franz Dobler also dedicates a chapter in his Last Stories to him.

The film Jack by Elisabeth Scharang tells the story of Unterweger as a feature film and had its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival in August 2015 . The ORF broadcast the film for the first time in December 2017, as well as in the series Der Österreichische Film in January 2018 on ORF III .

The Unterweger case is also represented by the Vienna Crime Museum with items of clothing, pictures and press releases .

literature

  • Gert Schmidt, Gerlinde Wambacher, Heinz Wernitznig: When the eighth is at its zenith ... Causa Jack Unterweger: The documentation. "Success" -Zeitschriften-Holding, Vienna 1993. ( Full text online on the website causa-jack-unterweger.com. Ed. Omnia Online Medien.)
    • 2nd edition as eBook , Omnia Communication-Centers, Vienna 2010. ( Full text online (PDF) on the website causa-jack-unterweger.com. Ed. Omnia Online Medien.)
  • Gisela Friedrichsen : Criminal Justice: "They got crooked" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 27 , 1994, pp. 86-89 ( online ).
  • Willi Winkler : The dream man: Jack Unterweger's journey into the world of writing. An obituary for the writer. In: Die Zeit , No. 28/1994, July 8, 1994 ( online )
  • Astrid Wagner : Jack Unterweger: a murderer for all cases. Militzke, Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-86189-232-4 . (Later editions under the title Murderer, Poet, Womanizer: The Jack Unterweger Case. )
  • Bianca Mrak: hiJACKed. My life with a murderer. Egoth, Vienna 2004, ISBN 978-3-902480-00-2 .
  • Ernst Geiger : There are still beautiful murders: The most exciting and bizarre criminal cases of the last 25 years. Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-218-00759-3 .
  • John Leake: Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-374-14845-4 (English).
  • John Leake: The Man from Purgatory: The Double Life of Jack Unterweger. Translated from American English by Clemens J. Setz. Residence, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-7017-3101-5 .
  • Andreas Binder: Jack Unterweger, man of letters. Analysis of the autobiographical prose texts "99 Hours" and "Purgatory or the Journey to the Prison", taking into account the historical reception and literary traditions. Univ. Master thesis, Graz 2013.
  • Astrid Wagner: Blinded. The real story of the lawyer who fell in love with the murderer Jack Unterweger. Seifert, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902924-50-6 .
  • Astrid Wagner: cannibal time. The Jack Unterweger case . Seifert Verlag, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902924-22-3 .
  • Thomas Diecks:  Unterweger, Jack (actually Johann). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 26, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-428-11207-5 , p. 656 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Angelika Hager , Florian Supé: Jack Unterweger: The party killer. Sadist, murderer, writer, seducer and rehabilitation darling: Jack Unterweger is still the pop star among Austria's criminals 21 years after his suicide. Now his life has been filmed again and is still a mystery. In: profil.at , August 29, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2020.
    For the cited film Jack (2015) by Elisabeth Scharang, see also: Stefan Grissemann: Elisabeth Scharang's “Jack”: Open for everything. In: profil.at , August 29, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  2. a b On Unterweger's mother as an alleged prostitute, see, for example, Carina Pachner: Jack Unterweger: The files of the women murderer. He was a writer, womanizer and murderer - the facts of the famous case. In: News.at , July 4, 2017, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  3. a b Video in the series Dark Traces: Bonus: Interview with Profiler Reinhard Haller. (Haller comments on Unterweger's mother starting at 2:04 p.m.) In: Kurier True Crime Podcast, October 4, 2019, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  4. The most spectacular criminal cases. Report on Kabel 1 , broadcast on August 9, 2015.
  5. Peter Pugganig: "Jack Unterweger was a child of Wimitz". The WOCHE follows the childhood traces of the murderer who died 20 years ago. In: mein district.at , June 24, 2014, accessed on January 16, 2020. Darin u. a .: “Ingrid Sabitzer-Vizthum has authentic reports about 'Hansi' Unterweger's first elementary school years (from 1956) in Pisweg: 'Max Vizthum, my father, was the director and my mother Ottilie Vizthum was his class teacher,' says the pedagogue. 'Unterweger's grandfather, Ferdinand Wieser, with whom the boy grew up in Wimitzgraben, was known as a drunkard and player. It was violent, even to the many women who moved in and soon moved out of the little chaste. The child was becoming increasingly neglected. My father taught him how to use toilet paper that he hadn't known before, 'says Sabitzer-Vizthum. "
  6. ^ Hans-Dieter Otto: The lexicon of legal errors. 2003, p. 309.
  7. 100 years of the republic. Series on: A country makes a success story. 100 years of the Republic of Austria: The "Salzburger Nachrichten" dedicated a focus to this anniversary at the beginning of 2018. In: SN.at , last updated on December 19, 2018. Therein: The purified "port literature" is presented in the "Seitenblicke"  - Society passed around, women lie at his feet. Shortly after his release, the series of murders begins - Karin Portenkirchner: 1992 - Jack Unterweger goes online with the FBI Murderer and womanizer: One of the most famous Austrian criminals is caught. In: SN Plus (subject to payment), September 20, 2018, accessed on January 16, 2020.
    See also: Unterweger was, for example, several times in the eponymous television magazine
    Seitenblicke of the ORF.
  8. a b Verena Bogner: Crimes: How an Austrian woman murderer became a pop star. From prison to the chic and back again - the grotesque story of Jack Unterweger. In: Vice.com , September 23, 2017, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  9. ^ Decision of the Supreme Court, 6 Ob 226/16 b, October 25, 2017 ( decision text online in the legal information system of the federal government ).
  10. Decision of the Supreme Court, 4 Ob 184/97 f, 23 September 2017 ( decision text online in the legal information system of the federal government ).
  11. Bernhard Burtscher: Note (in colored box). In: Christoph Brenn, Helge Hoch, Eckart Ratz , Ronald Rohrer, Martina Weixelbraun-Mohr: No protection of the presumption of innocence beyond death. In: Evidence sheet of the appeal decisions. Österreichische Juristen-Zeitung (ÖJZ) 2018, pp. 651–654; here in particular p. 654 ( full text online (PDF) on the website of the Chair of Civil Law and Civil Procedure Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business , accessed on January 16, 2020.)
  12. Legendary Jack Lyrics: Bloodsucking Zombies From Outer Space. (Track 9 of the album Clash of the Monsters. ) Lyrics of the song. In: Golyr.de. Reinhardt Internet Media (Ed.), Accessed without date on January 16, 2020.
  13. ^ Franz Dobler: Last Stories. 26 stories for the rest of life. Blumenbar , Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-936738-67-4 , p. 113: Unterwegs.
  14. Alexandra Zawia: Review 2015: A murderer from Austria. Elisabeth Scharang's “Jack” premiered in Locarno. Interview with the director. In: Wiener Zeitung , August 9, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  15. Peter Temel: "It is possible that it wasn't him". Locarno Film Festival: Elisabeth Scharang's “Jack” tells the story of the murderer and port literary writer Jack Unterweger as a feature film. In: Kurier , August 8, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  16. Bernd Melichar: Today on ORF: The Jack Unterweger case. In Elisabeth Scharang's film “Jack”, the focus is on a man who liked to be there: Jack Unterweger. In: Kleine Zeitung , December 10, 2017, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  17. ^ The Austrian film: Jack. Elisabeth Scharang shows the fast-paced and haunting psychogram of a port poet and possible serial killer named Jack Unterweger. ORF III, January 31, 2018. In: tv. ORF.at , accessed on January 16, 2020.
  18. When the figure eight is at its zenith. Documentation about the Unterweger case. In: Kurier , October 6, 1993 ( facsimile as PDF on the website causa-jack-unterweger.com. Ed .: Omnia Online Medien, accessed on January 16, 2020.)
  19. Anja from the small book room: Schmidt, Wambacher-Culik, Wernitznig ~ When the figure eight is at its zenith. In: My little book room. - Reviews from A to Z. Blog, October 29, 2014, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  20. 10 years after Unterweger's death: Bianca Mrak is settling accounts with the murderer of women! "HiJACKed": How the schoolgirl fell for the serial killer. In: News.at , November 20, 2004, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  21. "My life with Jack Unterweger". Bianca Mrak talks about her love affair with the nine-time serial killer. Interview with the district sheets. In: mein district.at , June 19, 2013, accessed on January 16, 2020.
  22. ^ Wilhelm Hengstler: Hunger and blood thirst. John Leake's meticulous documentary about Jack Unterweger, who murdered (at least) ten women, reads like an exciting fiction. From the model case of the social prison system to the classic of domestic sex criminals. Review. In: Die Presse , September 5, 2008, accessed on January 16, 2020.

Remarks

  1. Section 46 (5) of the Criminal Code as amended on March 1, 1988: “A lawbreaker who has been sentenced to life imprisonment may not be conditionally released before he has served fifteen years. If this condition is met, he is nevertheless only conditionally released if, based on his person, his past life, his prospects of honest advancement and his performance during the execution, it can be assumed that he will not commit any further criminal acts in freedom and will Despite the gravity of the act, no further enforcement is required in order to counteract the commission of criminal acts by others. "
  2. § 7b Media Act in the version July 1, 2005: "Protection of the presumption of innocence / § 7b. (1) If, in a medium, a person who is suspected of a judicial criminal act but has not been convicted of a final judgment is found convicted or guilty, or identified as the perpetrator of this criminal act and not just suspect, the person concerned has a claim against the media owner compensation for the hurt suffered. The amount of compensation may not exceed 20,000 euros; Otherwise, § 6 [= protection of personality: defamation, abuse, ridicule and defamation], Paragraph 1, second sentence is to be applied. "