Johann Justus Dietz

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Johann Justus Dietz , commonly known as Lumpen Jost or "Han-Jost" (* 1789 in Asslar ; † March 24, 1813 in Gießen ) was a robber , thief and "one of the main members of the Wetterau crooks society" .

origin

His father Heinrich Dietz was a basket maker and shepherd. This infected the family home and two young children died. Johann Justus Dietz was called Lumpen Jost because he collected rags in the area around Gießen and Wetzlar . Such outpatient professions were typical of the crooks, as they offered the opportunity to scout out favorable opportunities for break-ins, robberies, etc. There was even Anton Röttcher's gang of rag collectors in Hesse, known as Anton Röttcher.

Johann Justus Dietz's sister, Catharine, also came into conflict with the law. She was the "Beyschläferin" of Johann Heinrich Becker from Eckartsborn , called "Weiskopf", a member of the Vogelsberg gang. She was imprisoned with him in Gießen in 1811, but was released again. The brother Caspar Dietz is also counted among the robbers of the 19th century. He was a Nassau soldier in 1813.

Criminal offenses

  • Johann Justus Dietz carried out his first attack at the age of 19 in Nonnenroth , where he stole a kettle and laundry. He now joined Schoden-Heinrich. Together they committed break-ins and robberies.
  • In 1809 Johann Justus Dietz vulgo Lumpen Jost tried with the Wetterau gang to steal a brewing kettle in Ober-Widdersheim . His cronies Ludwig Funk from Sellnrod , commonly known as Selnröder Ludwig, Peter Görzel, commonly known as Heiden-Peter, Conrad Anschuh , actually Unschick, from Rodheim and Schoden-Heinrich took part. Conrad Anschuh came from Rodheim (Hungen) near Ober-Widdersheim and probably knew the area. They wanted to rob a brew kettle, but failed because of a watchful dog and the thickness of the wall that they had to break through.
  • The most spectacular was the great street robbery near Kleinrechtebach in June 1809, in which the victims were severely mistreated by the eleven robbers involved. The value of the booty was 2,500 guilders. It was shared in a thief's hostel near Munzenberg.
  • At the beginning of 1809 Johann Justus and Schoden Heinrich broke into the rectory in Muschenheim , stole 18 pewter plates and spoons and several bowls. The loot they sold to a Münzenberger Jews.
  • In Heldenbergen they failed to break into a shopkeeper, but they broke into an inn with a distillery in the same place and stole the copper liquor dishes .
  • He and Konrad Anschuh captured a washing pot and twenty shirts in Gambach .
  • In Dorf-Güll he stole a washing kettle and some cloths,
  • some brandy hats in Rabertshausen ,
  • in Göbelnrod he captured with the Harbacher Hannes a copper wash boiler and 105 yards of cloth.
  • In 1809 Johann Justus Dietz stole “some sheep skins” from the Grund-Schwalheimer Hof.

Capture and End

After an intensive search also with profiles, Dietz was caught in Bellersheim . He was brought to the Stockhaus in Giessen on January 7, 1812 . At first he stubbornly denied being the wanted Johann Justus Dietz. But in the end he confessed to 32 crimes. The interrogating judge described him as "raw, stupid, cruel."

On March 24, 1813 Johann Justus Dietz, Ludwig Funk and their fellow robbers Johann Adam Frank, Johann Georg Gottschalk, Conrad Anschuh, der Heidenpeter and Johannes Borgener were sentenced to death by the sword and executed in Giessen. Dietz was around 28 years old at the time.

Web links

literature

  • Otto Runkel, Der Lumpenjost von Asslar. In: Nassovia 33, 1933, pp. 63f

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CPT Schwencken, records of the crooks = and vagabonds = rabble, as well as of individual professional thieves, in the countries between the Rhine and the Elbe, together with a precise description of their person. From a Kurhessischen Criminal = officials, Cassel 1822. S. 553.
  2. ^ Hermann Bettenhäuser, robber and crook gangs in Hesse. A contribution to the attempt at a historical criminology of Hesse. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies. Volume 75/67, 1964, pp. 275-348, p. 334.
  3. ↑ Schwenken, Nachrichten von dem Gauner = und Vagabundengesindel, p. 553.
  4. ↑ Friedrich Ludwig Adolph Grolman: Actual history of the Vogelsberg and Wetterau robber gangs and several criminals associated with them. In addition to personal description of many thieves and robbers scattered throughout the German dialect ; With a copper plaque, which shows the faithful portraits of 16 main criminals. Giessen 1813, p. 332, p. 365 f.
  5. ↑ Carl Friedrich Brill: Acting news of the rabble in the Maingegenden, the Odenwald and the neighboring countries, especially with regard to the members of the same under investigation in Darmstadt , part 1, page 95, no.15. Grolman, Acting history, p. 279.
  6. ↑ Grolman, History of the Wetterauer Gangs in files, p. 336.
  7. ↑ Grolman, Description of the files, pp. 66, 563.
personal data
SURNAME Dietz, Johann Justus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rags Jost
BRIEF DESCRIPTION robber
DATE OF BIRTH 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Asslar
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1813
Place of death to water