Hans-Georg Neumann (born 14 September 1936) is a German murderer who was sentenced to life in prison in 1963 for murdering a pair of lovers on 13 January 1962. He is currently the longest-serving prisoner in Germany.

Early life and murder

Neumann was born the son of a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

and grew up in an urban

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

as well as in a

foster family Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family memb ...

. On 29 December 1951 he was admitted to the Jugendhof Schlachtensee by a juvenile judge for various thefts. In the discharge report, the boy was described a year later as "calm and kind, open-minded and in need of love". In 1953, his foster mother died. He found a connection in the family of a master craftsman, where he made an apprenticeship to

precision mechanic Precision mechanics (also "fine mechanics") is an engineering discipline that deals with the design and construction of smaller precision machines, often including measuring and control mechanisms of different kinds. The study may be further defin ...

. In 1956 he embarked for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

but was deported to Germany in 1961 after being convicted of armed robbery. On 13 January 1962 he kidnapped a pair of lovers sitting in a parked car in Berlin and shot them, after the woman had resisted, with a Smith & Wesson

.38 .38 caliber is a frequently used name for the caliber of firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). Th ...

-caliber revolver, which he always carried with him. He was arrested six days later. The man had survived badly injured and was able to identify Neumann, but died shortly thereafter.

Imprisonment

Neumann was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

on 30 May 1963 for the double murder he committed. The trial attracted national attention. The painter

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German ...

based one of his paintings on photos of the trial. Neumann first served his sentence at

Tegel Prison Tegel Prison is a penal facility in the borough of Reinickendorf in the north of the German state of Berlin. The prison is one of the Germany's largest prisons. Structure and numbers Tegel Prison is a closed prison. It is currently divided into ...

, then from 1991 at Bruchsal Prison. In Bruchsal he was considered a quiet prisoner; a first version took place in 1993. In March 1994, the District Court of

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

found that even life imprisonment no longer required further serving. However, applications for suspended probation (§ 57a StGB) have since been rejected on a regular basis because experts have certified it a negative social forecast. He was also denied a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

. In a report dated 5 June 2012, chief physician of the psychiatric-center Nordbaden wrote: "All in all, it can be said that after 50 years in prison, Mr. Neumann seems as unbounded as when he was arrested." Since the death of the serial killer

Heinrich Pommerenke Heinrich Max Pommerenke (6 July 1937 – 27 December 2008) was a German serial killer. Detained since 1959, he was the longest-serving prisoner in Germany at the time of his death. Origins and first offenses Pommerenke came from Bentwisch, Meckle ...

in 2008, Neumann has been the longest-serving prisoner in Germany with more than 56 years in prison. On 28 March 2014 the Oberlandesgericht Karlsruhe on the immediate appeal of the then defender, the decision of Penal Enforcement Division at District Court of Karlsruhe confirmed, with which his application for parole was again rejected. Neumann's new defense lawyer filed an appeal against this decision on 28 April 2014 in the Federal Constitutional Court

constitutional complaint The constitutional complaint (german: Verfassungsbeschwerde) is a remedy found in Germany for protection of constitutional rights. It derives from Article 93 Sec. 1 Nr. 4a of the Basic Law. It resembles in certain respects the '' amparo'' reme ...

. This was rejected as unfounded. Neumann filed another application for parole in 2016, but then withdrew it. On 17 March 2021 the

Oberlandesgericht An ''Oberlandesgericht'' (plural – ''Oberlandesgerichte''; OLG, en, Higher Regional Court, or in Berlin ''Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 OLGs in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They ar ...

Karlsruhe ordered his release on parole at an undisclosed future date, with preparations for reintegration to begin immediately.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Hans-Georg 1936 births Living people People from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 20th-century German criminals German people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Germany German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany Criminals from Berlin