List of German serial killers
{{Short description|none}}
{{incomplete list|date=January 2025}}
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them.{{cite book|author=Ronald M. Holmes |author2=Stephen T. Holmes |title = Contemporary Perspectives on Serial Murder | publisher = SAGE Publications | year = 1998 | page = 1 | access-date = June 15, 2016 |isbn = 0-7619-1421-8| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0yfoJz6jHwkC&pg=PA1|quote=Serial murder is the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the murders [...] The baseline number of three victims appears to be most common among those who are the academic authorities in the field. The time frame also appears to be an agreed-upon component of the definition.}}{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Burkhalter Chmelir |first=Sandra |editor=Robert Kastenbaum |encyclopedia=Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying |title=Serial Killers |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5214/is_2003/ai_n19132282?tag=content;col1 |year=2003 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA/Thomson/Gale |volume=2 |location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503121235/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5214/is_2003/ai_n19132282/?tag=content;col1 |archive-date=May 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |page=1}} The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone".{{sfn|Burkhalter Chmelir|2003|p=1}}{{Cite report|last=Morton|first=RJ|url=https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder/serial-murder-july-2008-pdf|format=PDF|title=Serial murder multi-disciplinary perspectives for investigators|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|year=2005|access-date=July 16, 2011|journal=|archive-date=June 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615114825/https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder/serial-murder-july-2008-pdf|url-status=live |pages=4, 9}}
Pre-reunification
| class="wikitable sortable"
!width="200px"|Name!!width="100px"|Years active!!data-sort-type="number"|Proven victims!!data-sort-type="number"|Possible victims!!Status!!Notes!!Ref | |
| Bartsch, Jürgen
| 1962–1966 | 4 | 4 | Died during castration surgery | Known as "The Carnival Killer"; killed boys aged 8–13 in Langenberg, with one managing to escape | {{cite web|url=http://www.daserste.de/kriminalfaelle/sendung_dyn~uid,uqkywjak0oqysllwnauba2q6~cm.asp |title=Der Kindermörder Jürgen Bartsch |date=May 18, 2000 |work=Das Erste |language=de |access-date=July 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716145509/http://www.daserste.de/kriminalfaelle/sendung_dyn~uid%2Cuqkywjak0oqysllwnauba2q6~cm.asp |archive-date=July 16, 2011 }} | |
| Beck, Ernst-Dieter
| 1961–1968 | 3 | 3 | Died while imprisoned | First murderer in German history on whom a chromosome test was applied | |
| Bingelhelm, Simon
| data-sort-value=1590 | 16th-century | 26 | 26 | Executed 1600 | Known as "The Thousand Devils of Halberstadt"; robber who confessed to multiple murders in the present-day area of Saxony-Anhalt | |
| Denke, Karl
| 1903–1924 | 30 | 42+ | Committed suicide in police custody | Cannibal who killed homeless vagrants and travellers in Prussia; allegedly sold his victims' flesh as meat to unsuspecting customers | |
| Eichhorn, Johann
| 1931–1939 | 5 | 5+ | Executed 1939 | Known as "The Beast of Aubing"; raped numerous women around western Munich, killing and mutilating at least five of them when they resisted him | |
| Fleischer, Simeon
| data-sort-value=1571 | 16th-century | 19 | 19 | Executed 1581 | Wool weaver who murdered 19 wives for money; existence is disputed | |
| Gatter, Arthur
| 1990 | 8 | 8 | Committed suicide before sentencing | Known as "The Hammer-Killer of Frankfurt"; killed people with a hammer in Frankfurt city parks | |
| Genipperteinga, Christman
| 1568–1581 | 964 | 964 | Executed 1581 | Possibly fictitious bandit who kept a registry of all the people he had killed, tallying up to 964 | |
| Gossmann, Klaus
| 1960–1965 | 7 | 7 | Released 2015 | Known as "The Midday Murderer"; committed robberies and murders at noon, hence his nickname | {{Cite news|title=Back in the future|newspaper=FAZ.net|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/kriminalitaet/mittagsmoerder-nach-fast-50-jahren-aus-haft-entlassen-13453569.html|access-date=28 February 2015|author=Karin Truscheit|date=27 February 2015|language=de}} | |
| Gottfried, Gesche
| 1813–1827 | 15 | 15 | Executed 1831 | Poisoned people with arsenic in Bremen and Hanover; last person to be publicly hanged in Bremen | |
| Großmann, Carl
| 1918–1921 | 26 | 100+ | Committed suicide while imprisoned | Known as "The Berlin Butcher"; killed women and later sold their flesh on the black market | |
| Haarmann, Fritz
| 1918–1924 | 24 | 27+ | Executed 1925 | Known as "The Butcher of Hanover"; murdered young men and boys before dismembering their bodies; allegedly sold some of the flesh as contraband meat | |
| Hagedorn, Erwin
| 1969–1971 | 3 | 3 | Executed 1972 | Killed three boys in Eberswalde; last civilian to be executed for ordinary crimes in East Germany | |
| Hanebuth, Jasper
| data-sort-value=1643 | 17th-century | 19 | 19 | Executed 1653 | Former mercenary and highwayman who killed people around the Eilenriede forest | Simone Benne: Hanover's robber killer Hanebuth and his legendary fame, HAZ from 19. | |
| Holst, Thomas
| 1987–1989 | 3 | 3 | Committed to a psychiatric clinic | Known as "The Heidemörder"; tortured and then killed women in south Hamburg | |
| Honka, Fritz
| 1970–1975 | 4 | 4 | Died 1998 | Murdered prostitutes in Hamburg's red light district | |
| Hopf, Karl
| 1902–1906 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1914 | Poisoned family members and attempted to kill others in the Frankfurt area | 1913, poisoner Karl Hopf, arsenic in champagne, FAZ from June 24, 2017 | |
| Imiela, Arwed
| 1968–1969 | 4 | 4 | Died in prison | Known as "The Bluebeard of Fehmarn"; fraudster who lured and killed women in Fehmarn after gaining access to their bank accounts | {{Cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/kein-blut-und-keine-tinte-a-9160b8e3-0002-0001-0000-000041986686?context=issue|title="Kein Blut und keine Tinte"|trans-title='No blood and no ink'|publisher=Der Spiegel|date=May 27, 1973|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210814140239/https://www.spiegel.de/politik/kein-blut-und-keine-tinte-a-9160b8e3-0002-0001-0000-000041986686?context=issue|archive-date=August 14, 2021|language=de}} | |
| Kimmritz, Willi
| 1946–1948 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1950 | Known as "The Horror of the Brandenburg Forest"; raped and robbed women in the forests around Berlin, killing some of his victims | {{Cite web|url=https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Oberhavel/Tatort-Berlin-des-RBB-ueber-den-Verbrecher-Willi-Kimmritz|title=Der "Schrecken der brandenburgischen Wälder"|trans-title='The Horror of the Brandenburg Forest'|publisher=Märkische Allgemeine|date=November 14, 2014|language=de|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210801083146/https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Oberhavel/Tatort-Berlin-des-RBB-ueber-den-Verbrecher-Willi-Kimmritz|archive-date=August 1, 2021}} | |
| Kroll, Joachim
| 1955–1976 | 14 | 14 | Died while imprisoned | Known as "The Ruhr Cannibal"; raped and killed mostly women in and around the Ruhr region, eating parts of their flesh afterwards | |
| Kürten, Peter
| 1913–1929 | 9 | 9+ | Executed 1931 | Known as "The Vampire of Düsseldorf"; responsible for numerous sexual assaults, murders and attempted murders in Düsseldorf | |
| Lehmann, Christa
| 1952–1954 | 3 | 3 | Released 1977 | Poisoned family members and the family dog; initially sentenced to life imprisonment but released after 23 years | | |
| Ludy, Franz Josef
| 1952–1968 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Serial child abuser who murdered two children and a couple | |
| Mayer, Johann
| 1918–1919 | 5 | 5 | Executed 1923 | Known as "Stumpfarm"; disabled man who shot and killed people with a carbine | zusatz=altes Gefängnis „Prison", „Bulles", „Büllesje", heute Heimatmuseum Kaisersesch|accessdate=0 August 2017}} |
| Niers, Peter
| data-sort-value=1571 | 16th-century | 544 | 544+ | Executed 1581 | Reputed bandit and gang leader who killed numerous people with his accomplices | | |
| Ogorzow, Paul
| 1940–1941 | 8 | 8+ | Executed 1941 | Known as "The S-Bahn Murderer"; SA sergeant who killed women in wartime Berlin | |
| Pinzner, Werner
|1984–1986 |13 |13 |Committed suicide to avoid apprehension |Known as "The St. Pauli Killer"; contract killer who murdered various people around Hamburg |{{Cite book |last=Höller |first=Gerd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8KHEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Werner+Pinzner%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA219 |title=Lexikon Deutscher Serienmörder |date=2022-09-07 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7543-8432-9 |language=de}}{{Cite book |last=Spitra |first=Helfried |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MaodbkiNMwC&dq=%22Werner+Pinzner%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA21 |title=Die grossen Kriminalfälle: der St. Pauli-Killer, der Ausbrecherkönig und neun weitere berühmte Verbrechen |date=2004 |publisher=Campus Verlag |isbn=978-3-593-37438-3 |language=de}} | |
| Pleil, Rudolf
| 1946–1947 | 10 | 25 | Committed suicide while imprisoned | Known as "The Deadmaker"; killed one salesman and nine women in the Harz mountain range, but confessed to killing more | |
| Poehlke, Norbert
| 1984–1985 | 6 | 6 | Committed suicide to avoid apprehension | Known as "The Hammer-Killer"; police officer and bank robber who killed people during his crimes in Baden-Württemberg; killed his wife, two sons and then himself in Italy to avoid capture | |
| Pommerenke, Heinrich
| 1959 | 4 | 4+ | Died while imprisoned | Killed women around Baden-Württemberg; longest-serving prisoner in Germany until his death | |
| Prigan, Bernhard
| 1947–1952 | 3 | 16 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Strangler"; killed women near controlled-access highways and major roads | |
| Schiffer, Egidius
| 1983–1990 | 5 | 5 | Died in prison | Known as "The Strangler of Aachen"; murdered girls and women, sexually abusing three of them | {{Cite web|title="The Strangler of Aachen": The bizarre death of a serial killer|publisher=Hamburger Abendblatt|url=https://www.abendblatt.de/nachrichten/article214918365/Wuerger-von-Aachen-Bizarrer-Tod-eines-Serienmoerders.html|access-date=24 July 2018|author=Michael Weeke|date=24 July 2018|language=de}} | |
| Schmidt, Ulrich
|1987–1989 |5 |5 |Sentenced to life imprisonment |Known as "The Holiday Killer"; Assaulted nine women in Essen, killing five. | |
| Schumann, Friedrich
| 1909–1920 | 9 | 25 | Executed 1921 | Known as "The Terror of Falkenhagen Lake"; criminal who killed people in the Berlin area | |
| Seefeldt, Adolf
| 1908–1935 | 12 | 12+ | Executed 1936 | Known as "The Sandman"; travelling watchmaker who poisoned and then sexually assaulted young boys in their sleep | |
| Steinwegs, Kurt-Friedhelm
| 1974–1983 | 6 | 6 | Committed to a psychiatric institution | Known as "The Monster from Lower Rhine"; juvenile delinquent who killed six people | |
| Sternickel, August
| 1905–1913 | 7 | 7 | Executed 1913 | Petty criminal who killed his employer in 1905; while on the run for authorities in the next years, proceeded to kill other people for profit | |
| Stiebitz, Mario
| 1983–1984 | 5 | 5 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Sadist who murdered a young man and four children around Neubrandenburg and the surrounding area | {{Cite news |last=Katrin Bischoff |date=July 2, 2023 |title=Er tötete kleine Jungs: Wie ein Feldwebel der NVA zum Serienmörder wurde |trans-title=He killed little boys: How an NVA sergeant became a serial killer |url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/ddr-mordserie-er-toetete-kleine-jungs-wie-ein-feldwebel-der-nva-zum-serienmoerder-wurde-li.364120 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230702151417/https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/ddr-mordserie-er-toetete-kleine-jungs-wie-ein-feldwebel-der-nva-zum-serienmoerder-wurde-li.364120 |archive-date=July 2, 2023 |work=Berliner Zeitung |language=German}} | |
| Stumpp, Peter
| data-sort-value=1564 | c. 1564–1589 | 18 | 18 | Executed 1589 | Known as "The Werewolf of Bedburg"; farmer and accused cannibal who killed people in the 16th-century | |
| Swinka, Irmgard
| 1947–1948 | 5 | 5+ | Died a year after release from prison | Together with two male accomplices, poisoned and robbed elderly women across Allied-occupied Germany; last person to be sentenced to death by a West German court outside of West Berlin | |
| Tessnow, Ludwig
| 1898–1901 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1904 | First criminal in history on whom a blood type test was performed | |
| Ursinus, Sophie
| 1796–1803 | 3 | 3 | Died 1836 | Poisoned her family members with arsenic; her trial led to a method of identifying said type of poisoning | |
| Velten, Maria
| 1963–1982 | 3 | 5 | Died 2008 | Known as "The Poison Witch from Lower Rhine"; poisoned her family members and partners with parathion; released from prison at 93 | |
| Wiese, Elisabeth
| 1902–1903 | 5 | 5 | Executed 1905 | Known as "The Angel Maker of St. Pauli"; poisoned her grandchild and other children with morphine, burning their bodies in the stove afterwards | |
| Wichmann, Kurt-Werner
| 1989 | 4 | 21+ | Committed suicide | Cemetery gardener thought to be responsible for the Göhrde Murders, and other ones as well | |
| Wittmann, Ferdinand
| 1860–1865 | 6 | 6 | Executed 1868 | Poisoned his relatives with arsenic | {{Cite web|title=Willibald Alexis: A collection of the most interesting crime stories of all countries of modern and modern times. Founded by the Criminal Director Dr. JE Hitzig and dr. W. Haring (W. Alexis). Continued by Dr. A. Vollert. New series. Fourth volume. Leipzig: FA Brockhaus. 1869. Chapter 3: The master bookbinder Ferdinand Wittmann (Wollin and Poznan, Sixfold poisoning) 1862-1868|publisher=Spiegel Online Kultur|url=http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/buch/4838/3|access-date=5 April 2014|language=de}} | |
| Wittmann, Manfred
| 1968–1969 | 3 | 3 | Released 2013 | Known as "The Staffelstein Killer"; sadist who killed underage girls in Coburg | |
| Zwanziger, Anna Maria
| 1801–1811 | 4 | 4 | Executed 1811 | Bavarian poisoner who killed people with arsenic; executed by decapitation in Kulmbach |
Post-reunification
| class="wikitable sortable"
!width="200px"|Name!!width="100px"|Years active!!data-sort-type="number"|Proven victims!!data-sort-type="number"|Possible victims!!Status!!Notes!!Ref |
| Becker, Irene
| 2005–2006 | 5 | 8 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Angel of Death from Charité" |
| Bodenfelde Black Widows
| 1983–2000 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment/12 years imprisonment | Lydia L. killed 4 older men with the help of Siggi S. in Bodenfelde. | {{cite magazine|title=Murder cases in Bodenfelde: Near Höxter: "Black Widow" lured victims into death trap by ads|magazine=Focus Online|url=http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/mordfaelle-in-hoexter-in-der-naehe-von-hoexter-schwarze-witwe-lockte-opfer-per-anzeige-in-die-todesfalle_id_5491975.html|access-date=12 May 2016|date=2 May 2016|language=de}} |
| Böhnhardt, Uwe
| 2000–2007 | 10 | 10 | Killed by partner | Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Beate Zschäpe and Uwe Mundlos |
| David, Horst
| 1975–1993 | 3 | 7+ | Died in prison | One of his murders proved to be a milestone in German criminal history, as it was the first 20-year-old crime to be solved with the help of the computer-assisted tracking system of AFIS | {{citation|title=Eher Sache der Philosophie?|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9247676.html|author=Gisela Friedrichsen|work=Der Spiegel|year=1995|issue=52|series=9 April|pages=62–63|author-link=Gisela Friedrichsen}} |
| Eckert, Volker
| 1974–2006 | 6 | 14+ | Committed suicide in police custody | Trucker who abducted, tortured and killed prostitutes in Germany, Spain and France; confessed to additional murders, including ones in Italy and the Czech Republic |
| Gust, Frank
| 1994–1998 | 4 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Rhine-Ruhr-Ripper"; sexual sadist who killed and subsequently mutilated women in the Rhine-Ruhr region |
| Högel, Niels
| 2000–2005 | 106 | 300 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Male nurse who killed patients in two hospitals in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst | {{cite web|url=https://www.thelocal.de/20140912/nurse-on-trial-for-lethal-injection-spree|title=Nurse 'killed patients because he was bored'|date=12 September 2014|website=The Local|access-date=28 August 2017}}{{cite news|last=Eddy|first=Melissa|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/world/europe/germany-serial-killer-nurse.html|title=Hundreds of Bodies, One Nurse: German Serial Killer Leaves as Many Questions as Victims|work=The New York Times|date=May 10, 2019|access-date=May 12, 2019}} |
| Lemke, Thomas
| 1995–1996 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Former mercenary and far-right extremist who killed political opponents | {{cite magazine|title=Refuge with the Nazis|magazine=Der Spiegel|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-8681143.html|access-date=19 December 2015|author=Gisela Friedrichsen|date=24 March 1997|language=de}} |
| Letter, Stephan
| 2003–2004 | 29 | 29+ | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Male nurse who poisoned patients in Sonthofen |
| Metzler, Marco
| 2003–2006 | 3 | 3 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Truck driver who attacked and killed women along highways |
| Mundlos, Uwe
| 2000–2007 | 10 | 10 | Committed suicide to avoid apprehension | Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Beate Zschäpe and Uwe Böhnhardt |
| Ney, Martin
| 1992–2004 | 3 | 4 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Known as "The Masked Man"; prolific pedophile who murdered children in school camps; additionally suspected of killing French boy Jonathan Coulom |
| Nölle, Marianne
| 1993 | 7 | 17 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Nurse who killed patients in Cologne |
| Rung, Thomas
| 1983–1995 | 7 | 7 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Raped and murdered six women in Berlin, as well as his stepbrother; another man falsely confessed to his first murder |
| S., Tuba
| 2016 | 3 | 3+ | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Murdered at least three people in robberies in Düsseldorf and Giessen | {{Cite news|last=Julia Jüttner|date=February 4, 2018|title=Why a woman murdered three people in five weeks|work=Der Spiegel|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/tuba-b-aus-giessen-ermordete-drei-menschen-mit-blossen-haenden-a-1191158.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210427132721/https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/tuba-b-aus-giessen-ermordete-drei-menschen-mit-blossen-haenden-a-1191158.html|archive-date=April 27, 2021}} |
| Schmidt, Beate
| 1989–1991 | 6 | 6 | Committed to a psychiatric hospital | Known as "The Beast of Beelitz"; trans woman who killed five women and an infant in Beelitz |
| Seel, Manfred
| 1971–2004 | 5 | 9 | Died before crimes were discovered | Known as "The Hesse Ripper"; suspected of killing women in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main and other places; died before crimes were discovered |
| Sprungk, Gabor
| 2007–2008 | 3 | 3 | Committed suicide in prison | Known as "The Mansfeld Double Murderer"; killed a Swiss woman, and later an elderly woman and her doctor in Mansfeld in order to rob them | {{Cite web|url=https://www.mz.de/mitteldeutschland/landkreis-mansfeld-suedharz/jva-burg-doppelmorder-von-mansfeld-gabor-s-ist-tot-1395106|title=JVA Burg: Doppelmörder von Mansfeld Gabor S. ist tot|work=Mitteldeutsche Zeitung|date=October 10, 2018|trans-title=JVA Burg: Mansfeld double murderer Gabor S. is dead|language=de|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230211130631/https://www.mz.de/mitteldeutschland/landkreis-mansfeld-suedharz/jva-burg-doppelmorder-von-mansfeld-gabor-s-ist-tot-1395106|archive-date=February 11, 2023}} |
| Zschäpe, Beate
| 2000–2007 | 10 | 10 | Sentenced to life imprisonment | Neo-Nazi who killed immigrants throughout Germany, with accomplices Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos |
Unidentified serial killers
| class="wikitable sortable"
!width="200px"|Name!!width="100px"|Years active!!data-sort-type="number"|Proven victims!!data-sort-type="number"|Possible victims!!Region where active!!Notes!!Ref |
| Hamburg rubble murderer
| 1947 | 4 | 4 | Hamburg | Killed 4 people during the cold winter in Hamburg; convicted serial killer Rudolf Pleil was questioned, but later cleared of these murders |
| Münsterland murders
| 1971–1974 | 4 | 4+ | North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony | Kidnapped and killed at least four hitchhikers in the Münster and Bentheim regions |
| Pirmasens child killer
| 1960–1967 | 3 | 3 | Suspected abductor and child killer responsible for the disappearance of three children from the town of Pirmasens | {{cite news|url=http://www.zeit.de/1976/11/keine-leichen-und-kein-gestaendnis|title=No bodies and no confession|newspaper=Die Zeit|date=11 March 1976|language=de}} |
| Saw-Killer of Hanover
| 1975–1977 | 6 | 6+ | Killed and dismembered at least four women and two men around Hanover, dumping their body parts at various places in the city |
| Sewer Murders
| 1976–1989 | 7 | 7 | Also called "The Sewage Plant Murders"; the bodies of several young boys and adolescents were discovered near sewage treatment plants in Frankfurt Rhine-Main, leading authorities to believe they were killed by a serial killer | [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns-aOQ_A_gs Film contribution, Kriminalreport Hessen.] |