Canned sausage with human flesh

A serial killer who, according to rumors, sold canned sausage with human flesh at the Silesian railway station in Berlin was the peddler Carl Großmann. This ruthless serial killer, who allegedly slaughtered 23 women in cold blood on his wooden bench, was born on December 13, 1863, in Neuruppin. Großmann’s childhood was marked by his alcoholic and violent father, the rag-and-bone man Carl Friedrich Großmann. Großmann left school after the third grade and began an apprenticeship at the Ferdinand Kliefoth butcher’s shop in 1876. He was dismissed in 1879 for making sexual advances toward the butcher Kliefoth’s wife. Großmann moved to Berlin, where he worked at the Naujocks butcher shop from 1880 to 1895, until he decided to roam southern Germany as a peddler, beggar, and petty criminal. Großmann committed various crimes. After brutally raping a 4-year-old girl, he was sent to prison. After his release, however, he was not reformed, not only committing sodomy with a goat, but also sexually abusing a 4-year-old and a 10-year-old girl again. For this, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual offenses on October 4, 1899, in Bayreuth, where he was feared by his fellow inmates because he regularly beat them up. After serving his sentence, Großmann lived from 1913 onwards at Lange Straße 88 in a third-floor apartment in the area around Schlesischer Bahnhof. This area of Berlin was plagued by constant murder and manslaughter, which is why it was also known as the “Chicago of Berlin.” From 1918 onwards, body parts of women repeatedly appeared in the Engelbecken pond, which was hardly used by ships anymore. A serial killer was on the loose there. At that time, 57-year-old Carl Friedrich Großmann was a regular visitor to the 50th police station on Kleine Andreastraße, which was not far from his apartment. He regularly filed reports there, claiming that he had been repeatedly robbed by his housekeeper, who then suddenly disappeared without a trace. Großmann filed a total of 40 to 50 reports, none of which were taken seriously by the police officers at the station. Großmann, who had previously worked as a butcher, ran a sausage stand at the Schlesischer Bahnhof, where he sold his canned meat, which presumably had macabre contents. One day after Großmann had once again filed a report about his thieving housekeeper, his neighbor Robert Iglitzki arrived at the 50th police station at around 9:30 p.m. on August 21, 1921, completely distraught. He had heard a woman’s cries for help coming from Großmann’s apartment. The police immediately drove there and hammered on Großmann’s door. But he refused to open the door, so the police broke it down. Großmann staggered towards them with a cup in his hand. It later turned out that it contained a half-dissolved capsule of cyanide. Großmann had intended to take his own life with it. On Großmann’s bed, the police discovered a naked, bound woman bleeding from her abdomen, who was already dead. Großmann claimed that he had paid her for bondage sex. In fact, 300 marks were found in one of the woman’s socks, which was smeared with blood. It was therefore clear that Großmann had placed them there. During a search of the house, police officers found two severed women’s hands, women’s clothing, and bloody bags in the kitchen oven. Großmann had obviously used the blood-stained wooden bench as a slaughtering block. He had dismembered the women there and disposed of body parts in the Engelbecken and Luisenstädtischer Canal, which kept turning up from time to time. Further items that could be linked to the bodies found were also discovered on the grounds of an arbor near Alt-Landsberg that had once belonged to Großmann. Großmann was remanded in custody. The interrogation was conducted by Detective Superintendent Ernst Gennat, the head of the homicide department himself. Großmann confessed to only three murders of women. Großmann’s hunting ground was the Schlesischer Bahnhof, where he approached women who came from the deepest provinces. He offered them a job as a housekeeper and lured them to his apartment with the prospect of a glass of milk and a bread roll with lard, where he sexually assaulted them and then killed them. He is said to have then processed them into his canned meat. Großmann was assigned star lawyer Dr. Dr. Erich Frey as his defense attorney. However, the numerous women who had survived Großmann were enough to secure a conviction. In addition, he had confessed to three murders. This meant that he was certain to receive the death penalty. Although the police had evidence that Großmann had at least 23 women on his conscience, these cases were not pursued further due to the impending death sentence. However, Großmann escaped the death penalty because he hanged himself in his cell on July 5, 1922, before his sentencing. Thus died one of the most terrible serial killers of the Weimar Republic.