Johann Eichhorn (murderer)

Johann Eichhorn (born October 8, 1906 in Aubing , † December 1, 1939 in Munich ) was a German serial killer . He was sentenced to death by the guillotine and executed for five murders and ninety rapes .

Life

Origin and youth

Johann Eichhorn was born in Aubing as the oldest of eight children. His parents Johann and Magdalena Eichhorn earned little money as day laborers , but they looked after their families as best they could. After graduating from elementary school, he did an apprenticeship as a fitter and then got a job at the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a shunter. There he was considered helpful and reliable.

First murder

Eichhorn knew early on that his relationship with women was disturbed. For example, it didn't excite him when women kissed ("cuddled") him. His sex life only developed when violence was involved. His first two sisters were likely to be raped. In 1931 he met 16-year-old Katharina Schätzl at the Oktoberfest . A few days later he took her on a bike ride. On this he tore his victim off the bike, then raped her and then threw the strangled Schätzl into the Isar .

More murders

Katharina Schätzl was his first murder victim, previously he had left it with rape. Eichhorn saw himself as a “wild animal” and preferred to hunt down cyclists in the twilight. In the spring of 1934 he dragged the newly married Anna Geltl off her bike and shot her in the back of the head with a pistol because she resisted. Then he dragged her into a bush and cut off various parts of her body with an eighteen centimeter knife. Just a few months later in the fall, Berta Sauerbeck was shot in the back of the head by him. But Sauerbeck survived. He then buried the seriously injured woman in a rubbish pit under garbage, where she later died.

Eichhorn married Josefa in 1935. With this he had two children in the next few years. But this didn't end the rape series either, but all of the victims got away with their lives. According to Johann Eichhorn, his wife loved violence in bed, so that married life was more or less stable.

In the summer of 1937, Rosa Eglein became his fourth murder victim. Again, he mutilated the victim after shooting her in the head. Another year later in autumn, 23-year-old Maria Jörg was his last murder victim. Here, too, he followed the same pattern.

Final crime and conviction

On January 29, 1939, Eichhorn wanted to assault and abuse a twelve-year-old girl. He was watched by passers-by who were able to overwhelm the 1.73 meter tall, strong man. During his pre-trial detention, he confessed to individual murders over the course of several months during interrogations. Eichhorn was then examined by doctors and psychologists. According to their report, Eichhorn is an "intellectually not below average incapacitated" person, but he is an "ethically and morally profound, unfounded, weak-willed, sexually unusually instinctual psychopath (...)" who "prepares his crimes according to plan" and "carry out appropriately". When asked why five of his numerous rape victims had to die, he replied: "If the girls resisted vigorously, I took up arms because I didn't know what to do". Then when they lay dead in front of him, he could have taken full possession of them. The special court Munich Eichhorn for five murders and ninety rape was sentenced to death by guillotine. His wife Josefa divorced, changed her family name and moved to another town. At the end of November 1939 Eichhorn wrote a farewell letter to his former wife and two children from prison: “After I have committed grave injustice, I have to reckon with terrible consequences. (...) I myself expressed the wish not to see you anymore. ”The sentence on the“ Beast of Aubing ”was carried out on December 1, 1939 in the penal execution prison in Munich-Stadelheim.

Even today, Eichhorn is considered one of the cruelest murderers in German criminal history. Still, his name remained relatively unknown. One explanation for this is that Eichhorn was a member of the NSDAP . At the time, censorship tried to cover up the story.

Web links

• Sven Rieber: Johann Eichhorn: The Beast from Aubing - Münchner Merkur , October 11, 2010
• Historical lexicon of Bavaria, criminal cases (19th / 20th century)