Friederike "Luise" Christiane Delitz (c. 1791 – 28 May 1813) was a convicted

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

ist. With her accomplice and co-defendant, Johann Peter Horst (1783–1813), she was the last person in Germany to be executed by burning. Delitz had a relationship with Horst, with whom she was arrested after a fire in

Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Te ...

in 1810. In August 1812, she stood trial for having been a part of a gang of eleven arsonists who were suspected of having caused 45 fires with 30 casualties around

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. Delitz and Horst were judged guilty and sentenced to be executed by burning. The verdict was carried out in Berlin on 28 May 1813. The ''

cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...

'' has been the subject of research and exhibitions.

References

;General * * * * * ;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Delitz, Friederike Luise 1790s births 1813 deaths 19th-century Prussian people 19th-century executions by Germany Executed female serial killers Executed German serial killers Executed German women German arsonists German female serial killers People executed by Germany by burning People executed by Prussia