Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
The greatest addiction of the Saxon pastor Johann Georg Tinius was his books, which ultimately led to his downfall. For in order to satisfy his addiction to books, he did not even shy away from committing murder. Johann Georg Tinius was born on October 22, 1764, in Staakow, the son of a shepherd. He was an intelligent boy who, thanks to his exceptional talent, found a patron after attending school in Luckau; this patron enabled him to study theology at the renowned University of Wittenberg beginning in 1789, from which he graduated with a Master’s degree in theology. Tinius then served as a Tertius at the high school in Schleusingen from 1795 to 1798, until he was appointed pastor of Heinrichs near Suhl in 1798. Tinius was extremely popular among the townspeople, which led to his provisional appointment in 1801 by the Dresden High Consistory to the office of the late pastor of the Kreuzkirche. This displeased the mayor and the city council, as they feared a political division among the citizens. To get rid of Tinius, they spread a series of rumors. They accused him not only of leading an unsavory lifestyle but also of deviating from the pure doctrine of Christianity in his sermons. Furthermore, he had baptized his child only after five days, expanded the parish meadow at the expense of church-owned land, and sold a gravestone. Any means were deemed acceptable to have Tinius removed from office. The allegations had to be investigated. The Schleusingen consistory conducted the investigation at the behest of the Higher Consistory. The latter rendered a verdict against Tinius, resulting in the revocation of his appointment as pastor of the Kreuzkirche in October 1802. Tinius vehemently contested this decision and accused the consistory of bias in favor of the mayor and the city council of Suhl. Tinius demanded financial compensation for the resulting financial loss, which he needed to provide for his children. However, the investigation into this matter proved to be protracted; it was not even concluded when Tinius moved to Poserna as pastor in 1810. It was not until after Tinius was removed from office as pastor of Poserna that the case was settled in the spring of 1814. But let us take things in order. During the investigation, Tinius did everything in his power to restore his good reputation. Even after the pastor of Goldlauter had died and the position was being held open for his son, Ernst Anschütz, Tinius accepted the vicariate of that parish from October 1806 to April 1807, although the journey there on foot was very long and arduous. But the effort paid off. On December 12, 1806, the Schleusingen consistory certified that he had “administered his pastoral office with skill, loyalty, and integrity” and had increased the church treasury by 300 guilders during his tenure. Yet Tinius had one vice, and that was books. Ever since his time in Schleusingen, he had become obsessed with collecting books. This collecting mania had been supported by both Tinius’s first and second wives, both of whom possessed considerable wealth. By the time he reached Poserna, he had amassed between 50,000 and 60,000 books. He was a bibliomaniac; his family lived on the ground floor, while he preferred to dwell in the attic, surrounded by his beloved books. To ensure his collection continued to grow, he often traveled to Leipzig, the city of books, to buy books or even entire libraries. This was a rather costly hobby, which is why Tinius fell deeply into debt. For Tinius was simply obsessed with books, which is why he was constantly in need of money. Then, on January 28, 1812, the elderly merchant Schmidt was attacked in his home on Grimmaische Straße in Leipzig, robbed, and brutally beaten; he died on April 6 of that same year as a result of the robbery. A year later, on February 8, 1813, the 75-year-old widow of the mail carrier Kunhardt was attacked in her apartment on Neumarkt in Leipzig, struck with a hammer used for adjusting bookshelves, and robbed. The widow died during the night of February 10 from her severe head injuries. Based on the maid’s description, Tinius came under strong suspicion; he was arrested on March 4, 1813, and taken to Leipzig for questioning. There, Tinius maintained his innocence. To make matters worse, on March 31, 1814, he was removed from office at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, thus sealing his fate. The trial for the murders of the merchant Schmidt and the widow Kunhardt dragged on for years due to the partition of Saxony. In 1820, the trial finally began. Although the evidence was insufficient to prove Tinius’s guilt in the murder of the merchant Schmidt, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of the widow Kunhardt. Even while the trial was still underway, his second wife filed for divorce. Tinius’s valuable book collection was auctioned off in 1821 at Weigel’s in Leipzig, where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also purchased books for the library in Jena. In 1823, Tinius filed an appeal. His total sentence was reduced due to his long pretrial detention and his advanced age. In 1835, Tinius was released at the age of 71. He was completely destitute and initially found shelter in the poorhouse in Zeitz until he moved to Gräbendorf to live with his relatives in 1840, where he remained until his death on September 24, 1846.
