Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
One of the most ruthless poisoners in German criminal history was Anna Margaretha Zwanziger, who was born on August 7, 1760, in her parents’ inn “Zum schwarzen Kreuz” (The Black Cross) in Nuremberg. Anna was orphaned at a young age, which is why she was placed with various foster mothers until she was 10 years old, when she came into the care of a wealthy Nuremberg merchant. He attached great importance to education, which he provided for Anna from then on. When Anna was 15 years old, her guardian promised her hand to the 30-year-old sergeant and later notary Zwanziger. However, Anna did not marry him until October 15, 1778. At that time, Anna was 19 years old. The marriage was not a happy one, as her husband frequently turned to the bottle and squandered money in taverns. When Anna turned 21 and came of age, the guardianship court paid her the inheritance from her father. From then on, the couple, who had since had two children, lived a life of luxury. But after only two years, her father’s fortune was gone. The couple often argued about this, as Anna’s husband drank up to 10 bottles of alcohol a day, for which there was no money. Anna then decided to prostitute herself. After two years, she had the brilliant idea of starting a watch lottery, which led to renewed prosperity. The marriage was in constant crisis, with separations and reconciliations alternating until Anna’s husband died on January 21, 1796, after a short illness. At that time, Anna was 36 years old and traveled to Vienna with her last 400 guilders to work as a pastry chef. However, once there, she earned her living as a housekeeper. During this time, she met and fell in love with a clerk at the Hungarian State Chancellery, who got her pregnant. When he found out about Anna’s pregnancy, he immediately ended their relationship. After the child was born, Anna gave it up to a foundling hospital, where it died shortly afterwards. After a year and a half in the Danube metropolis of Vienna, Anna returned to Nuremberg, where she was financially supported by her former lover, the married Baron von W. After three months, she took a job as a housekeeper for the Minister Resident von K. in Frankfurt am Main. However, after only three weeks, he dismissed Anna because he was dissatisfied with her work. Anna now lived in a small room and received an offer from a merchant to work as a nanny. Out of desperation, Anna accepted the job, which she hated deeply because it was beneath her. Anna quickly lost this job again because she was reluctant to perform her duties. Anna had already suspected that her stay in Frankfurt would only be a brief interlude, which is why she had resumed contact with her lover, Baron von W. She returned to Nuremberg and rekindled her affair with him. To bind him to her, she pretended to be pregnant. However, he was not pleased about this and turned his attention to an actress, which led Anna to attempt suicide by slitting her wrists. Anna knew that her landlord would find her in time and immediately notify Baron von W. When he arrived at Anna’s apartment, he simply laughed at her. An argument ensued, in which Baron von W. finally ended their relationship. Anna sought revenge and sent his love letters to her to his wife. Then she faked a suicide attempt in the Regnitz River. When Baron von W. found out about this, he made it unmistakably clear to Anna that she should leave him alone for good. Anna traveled to Regensburg that same night. In the following years, Anna repeatedly took on new jobs in Vienna and Nuremberg. But Anna never stayed anywhere for long until 1804, when she took a job as a maid in the house of Chamberlain von S. in Weimar. After only six weeks, she quit, but took a valuable diamond ring with her. She sought refuge with her daughter and son-in-law in Mainbernheim. When her son-in-law learned from the newspaper three days later that Anna was wanted as a thief, he promptly threw her out of his house. Anna then traveled to Nuremberg, where she changed her surname back to her birth name, Schönleben. With her new identity, she took on various jobs until she came to Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate in 1805, where she taught young girls needlework. She enjoyed her work and, at least professionally, everything seemed to be going well. But then Anna, now 45 years old, met General N. from Munich. A passionate affair ensued and Anna already imagined a rosy future with him in Munich. In order for him to take her there, Anna again pretended to be pregnant. But Anna was disappointed again, as General N. broke off all contact with her. When she traveled to Munich to see him, he made it clear to her that there would be no future together. On March 25, 1808, Anna took a job as a housekeeper for the 50-year-old Glaser, a judicial officer living apart from his wife in Klasendorf. Anna quickly fell in love with the man. However, he did not respond to Anna’s advances, as he was still attached to his wife, with whom he reconciled on June 22, 1808. Now Glaser’s wife returned to the house and Anna was no longer the mistress of the house. This did not suit Anna at all, so she decided to poison Glaser’s wife. Every day, she put a teaspoon of mosquito stone, a gray arsenic, in her tea until she died just one month after her reconciliation with her husband. After the death of his wife, Glaser turned away from Anna’s advances, so she took a job with the judicial officer Grohmann from Sanspareil. The 38-year-old man suffered from gout and was unmarried. The older Anna quickly saw an opportunity with him. Since he often received visits from the court clerks Lorenz and Johann Dorsch, who liked to make fun of Anna, she simply poisoned their beer during her visits. However, when Anna learned that Grohmann wanted to marry, she was so enraged that she poisoned Grohmann, who died on May 8, 1809. Anna quickly found a new job with the heavily pregnant wife of chamberlain Gebhard, which she started on May 13, 1809. After the birth of the child, there were repeated disputes between Anna and her mistress, as the latter was dissatisfied with Anna’s work. Anna was so annoyed by this that she laced two jugs of beer with mosquito stone and rat poison, which she gave her mistress to drink, causing her to pass away on May 20, 1809. No one suspected anything, as the young mistress was still weakened from childbirth and also suffered from a tapeworm. Anna kept her job. But over time, more and more people in Gebhard’s house fell ill, which the master of the house found increasingly suspicious, so he fired Anna. He suspected that Anna was secretly responsible. After two maids and his youngest child fell ill, he had the family’s food examined at a pharmacy. When large quantities of salt were also found in his house, the police ordered the victims to be exhumed. All of the victims showed the characteristic external signs of arsenic poisoning. These were minimal decomposition of the corpse and hardening of the body like a mummy. In October 1809, Anna came under urgent suspicion of the crime, as she had three packets of poison with her when she was arrested. On April 16, 1810, the criminal trial against Anna Zwanziger took place in Bamberg. She admitted to all the poisonings but insisted that she had not acted with intent to kill. She also accused her former employer, the judicial officer Glaser, of being involved in the poisoning of his wife. In July 1811, Anna Margaretha Zwanziger was sentenced to death by the sword. On September 17, 1811, this sentence was carried out. Beforehand, the investigating judge had appealed to her conscience to withdraw the slanderous accusation against Glaser, but Anna did not do so. Anna maintained that Glaser was involved in the murder of his wife.
