Peter K端rten: Serial Killers

Description of Background
Biological Background
Peter Kürten was believed to have a “different” brain according to Charlie Hintz, a writer who viewed the decapitated head of Kürten at a museum in Wisconsin, United States (2017). In fact, the doctor assigned to observe Kürten before his execution, Dr. Karl Berg, believed Kürten had an altered brain chemistry (Ramsland, 2014). He believed his brain was composed of “’90 [percent] sadism’” and “’10 [percent]’” evil, stemming from the injustices done to him in his early years (Ramsland, 2014). Berg would later go on to write Sadist, a book detailing Kürten and his atrocities which was known as one of the first psychological studies of a serial killer based on sexual deviancy (Origjanska, 2018).

After his decapitation, his brain was examined (Townsend, 2017). However, the brain was deemed to be completely normal (Townsend, 2017). I think that this indicates that his traumatic childhood served as the main reason for him to be the way he was. According to Rachel Tompkins, a writer focusing on serial killers, doctors “still struggle” to figure out what made Kürten commit the crimes he did (2017).
I found no sources indicating any gender dysphoria, nor did I find any sources indicating any homosexual attraction or intent. Kürten did not discriminate based on sex when it came to his victims, having attacked both men and women. Kürten was a white male, and he was 48 years old when he was executed (Gilligan).
Situational Background
Kürten was born into a small outskirt of Colonge-Mulheim, Germany on May 26, 1883 (Jenkins, 2007). His family was very poor, with him and his entire family residing in a one-bedroom apartment (Townsend, 2017). It is also important to note that, at this time, Germany was a newly formed nation with a slew of problems (Schleunes et al., 2018). I think the biggest situational impact was his socioeconomic status, however. Being poor, Kürten did not have access to a lot of resources and had no escape from his parents. Moreover, he had to see the violence firsthand that his alcoholic father would inflict. Towards the end of the attacks, the Great Depression settled in across Germany, causing people to look for work (Blanco).
Developmental Factors
Kürten’s family had a large impact on him when growing up. He was born to an abusive home, where his father would not only hit Kürten and his 12 other siblings, but also his wife (Duncan, 2018). In fact, many sources cite that Kürten received some of the harshest beatings from his father (Duncan, 2018).
Moreover, Kürten’s father would often not only beat Kürten’s mother, but also sexually assault her (Duncan, 2018). This happened in front of Kürten and his other siblings often (Tompkins, 2017). This likely caused Kürten to associate sex with violence at a young age. Seeing this violence made Kürten believe that sex and violence went together and were supposed to coexist. Kürten’s father was so twisted that he was accused of attempting to sexually assault one of Kürten’s sisters who was 13 years old at the time (Jenkins, 2007). This led him to receiving some jail time, setting Kürten free from his father (Jenkins, 2007).
With Kürten associating intercourse and violence with one another, Kürten was already on a dark path.

By happenstance, Kürten met a dog catcher who lived in the same building who taught him how to catch animals (Duncan, 2018). However, the dog catcher served as a conduit between Kürten and his transition into violent sex. The dog catcher educated Kürten on not only how to catch animals but also torture them (Duncan, 2018). To make matters worse, Kürten would then practice bestiality on the animals, originally starting with dogs (Duncan, 2018). This all occurred before Kürten would have his tenth birthday.
With time, Kürten learned how to capture other animals, and he began to practice his sexual misconduct with these animals including goats, sheep, and pigs (Duncan, 2018). As he matured, he began to stab the animals or cut them in some way. He did this so he could see the blood, serving as his signature (Duncan, 2018). Katie Serena, writer for the website allthatsinteresting, cites that Kürten “formed” a partnership with a lady when he was around 13 (Serena). However, she refused to have sex with him, leading him to continue his bestiality practices until he was discovered mutilating a hog (Serena).
Description of

Crimes
First & Second Murders (Unconfirmed; Confessed by Kürten)
Kürten, after being captured, told the detectives about his first murders. These occurred when he was only nine years old according to many sources (Duncan, 2018) (Tompkins, 2017). The story, as Kürten tells it, occurred when Kürten went to play on the Rhine River with two boys from school around his age (Duncan, 2018). As the boys were on a raft on the river, Kürten pushed one off into the water (Origjanska, 2018). The other boy who was next to Kürten at the time, dove in to save the boy (Origjanska, 2018). However, Kürten kept both of their heads under water, successfully drowning and killing them (Origjanska, 2018). Fortunately for Kürten, he was cleared of any foul play as it was dismissed as a tragic accident (Duncan, 2018). This murder was never officially confirmed because there was no corroborating evidence.
Other Crimes Before Third Murder
After a while of staying at home, Kürten eventually ran away when he was 16 (Blanco). He had to live on the streets, doing what he could to get food and shelter, however many of these landed him in and out of prison (Blanco). Over the course of his life, Kürten would be imprisoned almost 30 different times (Jenkins, 2007). With each imprisonment, he grew more twisted and sadistic (Duncan, 2018). He even requested or acted in manners to get him solitary confinement (Duncan, 2018).
Third Murder
The next murder, one that was confirmed and attributed to Kürten, was that of Christine Klein, a nine-year old girl (Townsend, 2017).

Her murder occurred on May 25th, 1913 (Townsend, 2017). Originally, Kürten went into the home of Klein after believing that the property was vacant (Blanco). The home was situated above a pub that Klein’s parents ran, but Kürten went in through a window to rob the area (Blanco).
When Kürten saw the young girl asleep, he strangled her then used the knife he carried in his pocket to slice her throat twice across (Townsend, 2017). After seeing her blood drop to the floor and the sounds that it made, Kürten claimed to have orgasmed (Townsend, 2017). Kürten then left the scene (Blanco).
However, Kürten was never suspected for the murder of the girl (Duncan, 2018). Instead, Otto Klein was suspected (Blanco). He was suspected to be the killer because he had gotten into a large fight with the family prior (Blanco). Eventually, the uncle was acquitted thanks to the evidence not being enough (Duncan, 2018). However, Kürten followed the case closely and was sure to gain his sadistic satisfaction of hearing the remarks of locals (Duncan, 2018). Soon after, Kürten began to commit a string of attacks in Düsseldorf by method of strangulation and axe, however these were not well documented (Blanco).
World War I & Random

Attack
Kürten left the German Army during World War I because of a lack of interest in following orders, leading to his imprisonment until 1921 (Blanco). After his release, Kürten stabbed Maria Kuhn 24 times (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). However, Kuhn luckily survived this attack in 1929 (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016).
Fourth Murder & Fifth Murder
His fourth murder occurred on February 9th, 1929 when he attacked and killed an eight-year-old girl, Rosa Ohliger (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). After stabbing her multiple times and ejaculating at the sight of her blood, Kürten then dumped the body at a hedge where he planned to burn the body (Blanco). Gasoline was poured over her body in an attempt to burn her, and Kürten had mutated her vagina by stabbing it (Wetsch, 2005).
After this murder, Scheer, a male mechanic, was murdered by Kürten after being stabbed around twenty times (Wetsch, 2005). As seen with the murder of Klein, Kürten went back to the scene to hear the fruits of his labor (Wetsch, 2005). Scheer was killed only five days after Rosa (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). This murder was important to note because it was one of the few male assaults that Kürten committed and was documented.
Sixth & Seventh Murders
On August 23rd, 1929, after a man named Stausberg was imprisoned for the crimes of Kürten, Kürten killed Louise Lenzen who was fourteen years old and Gertrude Hamacher who was five years old (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). They were foster sisters (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). The two met Kürten at a fair in Flehe, Germany, where he lured Hamacher away from her sister and cut her throat using a pocketknife (Blanco). When Lenzen arrived back after being sent away from Kürten, she too was killed (Blanco). These crimes illuminated that Strausberg was actually innocent, and that The Vampire of Düsseldorf was still on the loose (Blanco).
Assault & Eighth & Ninth Murders
The next attack was on Gertrude Schulte, a woman who survived and gave a conflicting description of what Kürten looked like to the police (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). This assault was important because it was the start of Kürten changing his type of attack. After this attack, Kürten began to bludgeon as opposed to slash or cut.
Ida Reuter was the eighth murder victim that was raped and killed by Kürten (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). Then, Kürten killed Elizabeth Dorrier on October 12, 1929 by “batter[ing] her to death” (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). Not much was stated about these murders, other than both were workers (Blanco).
Tenth Murder
The murder of Gertrude Albermann occurred in 1929 as well, on November 7th (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). She was only five years old (Blanco). Kürten stabbed the girl over 30 times after she was strangled (Blanco). However, to get his fix of attention and notoriety, Kürten contacted the local police department and detailed the location of the girl’s body by sending in a map (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). Thankfully, this would the final fatal attack of Kürten (Blanco) (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016).
Final Attack
Maria Budlick was the final victim of Kürten and his ruthless attacks (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). He attempted to sleep with her, but when she did not comply, he assaulted her and left her (Peter Kürten Biography, 2016). However, the police managed to convince Budlick to go forward with her case after they intercepted a letter she sent to a friend detailing the attack (Blanco).
Oddly enough, Kürten, realizing that his reign of evil was coming to a close, convinced his wife, who happened to be a convicted murderer for killing her fiancé, to turn himself in (Blanco). This was done so that way she could receive some form of restitution (Townsend, 2017). The police found and arrested Kürten, who apparently surrendered without resistance (Blanco).
Analysis of Murders
When analyzing the crimes committed by Kürten, some parallels can be drawn. For example, many of the victims that Kürten killed and attacked were female. However, Kürten’s victims included both sexes (Dain, 2018). Interestingly, most of the murdered victims were younger and under fifteen years old. This might have been because Kürten wanted to kill victims who were not only helpless, but also struggling because he enjoyed the sight of blood. Some of the victims also shared first names. Kürten attacked two Gertrude’s and two Maria’s. However, this could be happenstance as opposed to something planned.
After many of the murders Kürten would return to the scene or do something to stir trouble afterwards. He called the newspaper with Albermann and provided details about her location, he followed the case of Klein, and probably did similar things with the other victims. Many of the attacks drew blood in some way, as that was Kürten’s favorite thing. Despite the similarities, there was no one linking factor between all of the victims other than their location in Germany.
Aliases