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Hans Erwin Hagedorn (30 January 1952 – 15 September 1972) was an
More than two years later, on 7 October 1971, Hagedorn killed Ronald Winkler, a 12 -year-old boy, in the same area and in the same way he had killed his first two victims. Shortly afterwards the decisive clue came from a boy who reported to have been sexually harassed in the year before the first murders took place. Erwin Hagedorn was arrested on 12 November 1971 and immediately confessed to the murders. East Germany had abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders in 1952, meaning that Hagedorn could only face execution for murder he committed in 1971, when he was an adult.
In May 1972, Hagedorn convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances and sentenced to death. An appeal for clemency was denied by Head of State
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
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* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
who murdered three young boys from 1969 until 1971.
Murders
On 31 May 1969 Hagedorn killed two nine-year-old boys, Henry Specht and Mario Louis, in a forest in Eberswalde with a knife. The bodies were found two weeks later. Both victims died from deep cuts to the neck, one cut so severe that one of the children found two weeks later had his head severed as a result of the rotting of the corpse. Extensive investigations were commenced, with a psychological offender profile being assembled and the Ministry for State Security obtaining documents about the case of West German child murdererJürgen Bartsch
Jürgen Bartsch (born Karl-Heinz Sadrozinski; November 6, 1946 – April 28, 1976) was a West German serial killer who murdered four boys aged between 8 and 13 and attempted to kill a fifteen year old boy. The case of this sexual offender was the ...
. However, first investigations were not successful.
More than two years later, on 7 October 1971, Hagedorn killed Ronald Winkler, a 12 -year-old boy, in the same area and in the same way he had killed his first two victims. Shortly afterwards the decisive clue came from a boy who reported to have been sexually harassed in the year before the first murders took place. Erwin Hagedorn was arrested on 12 November 1971 and immediately confessed to the murders. East Germany had abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders in 1952, meaning that Hagedorn could only face execution for murder he committed in 1971, when he was an adult.
In May 1972, Hagedorn convicted of murder with aggravating circumstances and sentenced to death. An appeal for clemency was denied by Head of State Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
. The 20-year-old Hagedorn was executed by a single shot in the back of the neck on 15 September 1972. His body was cremated and buried in a secret place.
He was the last regular criminal executed in the German Democratic Republic, though executions for political-laden crimes continued until the abolition of capital punishment in the 1980s. The last execution is believed to be that of Werner Teske
Werner Teske (24 April 1942 – 26 June 1981) was an East German (Captain) of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Teske was a senior intelligence officer in the Stasi's economic espionage division when he was accused of plotting to d ...
in 1981.
Hagedorn was shot by Hermann Lorenz, a Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
officer who shot 29 people during his time as East Germany's executioner. During an interview, he said neither Hagedorn, nor any of the other 28 people he executed, cried out or resisted as they were escorted to the death chamber.
See also
*List of German serial killers
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. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killin ...
* Capital punishment in Germany
Capital punishment in Germany has been abolished for all crimes, and is now explicitly prohibited by constitution. It was abolished in West Germany in 1949, in the Saarland in 1956 (as part of the Saarland joining West Germany and becoming a stat ...
Documentary
''Die großen Kriminalfälle
''Die großen Kriminalfälle'' ("The Great Criminal Cases") is a German documentary television
Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries.
Television documentaries exist either as a television documenta ...
'': ''Tod einer Bestie – Der Fall Hagedorn'', 2001 (German)
Literature
* Werremeier, Friedhelm: ''Der Fall Heckenrose'', Bertelsmann, München / Gütersloh / Wien 1975, . * Brückweh, Kerstin: ''Mordlust. Serienmorde, Gewalt und Emotionen im 20. Jahrhundert''. : Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York, NY 2006, . * Mittmann, Wolfgang: „''Tatzeit. Große Fälle der deutschen Volkspolizei. Band 1 und 2''“, Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2000, S. 445–508, .References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagedorn, Erwin 1952 births 1972 deaths 20th-century German criminals Criminals from Brandenburg Executed East German people Executed German serial killers Executed people from Brandenburg German murderers of children German people convicted of child sexual abuse German rapists Male serial killers Murder committed by minors People convicted of murder by Germany People executed by East Germany by firearm People from Eberswalde Violence against men in Europe