Jürgen Bartsch (born Karl-Heinz Sadrozinski; 6 November 1946 – 28 April 1976) was a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

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 first in German jurisdiction history to include psycho-social factors of the defendant, who came from a violent early surrounding, to set down the sentence.

Early life

Bartsch was born an illegitimate child whose birth mother died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

five months after his birth, and so he spent the first months of his life being cared for by nurses. At 11 months, he was

adopt Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

ed by a butcher and his wife in Langenberg (today Velbert-Langenberg), who gave him the name Jürgen Bartsch. Bartsch's adoptive mother, who suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, was fixated on cleanliness. He was not permitted to play with other children, lest he become dirty. This continued into adulthood; his mother personally bathed him until he was 19. At the age of 10, Bartsch entered school. Because, in his parents' opinion, it was not sufficiently strict, he was moved to a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

boarding school. Bartsch was physically abused as a baby and was often discovered with visible scars and bruises. His mother also physically beat him, often in the same room where his father, the butcher, cut up carcasses. He was detained in an underground cellar for six years and was also sexually abused by his mother during bathing sessions. Bartsch was sexually abused by his thirteen-year-old cousin when he was eight years old and was also later abused by his teacher when he was thirteen years old.

Murders

Bartsch began killing at the age of fifteen. His first victim was Klaus Jung, who was murdered in 1962. His next victim was Peter Fuchs, who was killed three years later in 1965. He persuaded all of his victims to accompany him into an abandoned air-raid shelter, where he forced them to undress and then

sexually abused Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is r ...

them. He dismembered his first four victims. His intended fifth victim, 15-year-old Peter Frese, however, escaped by burning through his bindings with a candle that Bartsch had left burning after leaving the shelter that he had been keeping his victims in. Bartsch was arrested in 1966.

Sentence

Upon arrest, Bartsch openly confessed to his crimes. He was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

on 15 December 1967, by the

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

regional court (''Landgericht Wuppertal''). Initially, the sentence was upheld on

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

. However, in 1971, the

Federal Court of Justice of Germany The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of civil and criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, legally, a decision by the F ...

returned the case to the ''Landgericht'' Düsseldorf, which reduced the sentence to 10 years of juvenile detention and had Bartsch placed under psychiatric care in Eickelborn. There, he married Gisela Deike of

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

on 2 January 1974.

Death

The

forensic Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

psychiatrists considered various therapy concepts:

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

castration Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical cas ...

and even

psychosurgery Psychosurgery, also called neurosurgery for mental disorder (NMD), is the neurosurgical treatment of mental disorders. Psychosurgery has always been a controversial medical field. The modern history of psychosurgery begins in the 1880s under ...

. Bartsch initially refused any surgery but finally agreed to voluntary

on 28 April 1976, in order to avoid lifetime incarceration in a mental hospital. This was about ten years after his incarceration, two years after his marriage, and after his depressive condition did not improve. The doctors of Eickelborn State Hospital chose a castration methodology that accidentally resulted in Bartsch's death. An official

autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...

and investigation determined that Bartsch had been intoxicated with a

halothane Halothane, sold under the brand name Fluothane among others, is a general anaesthetic. It can be used to induce or maintain anaesthesia. One of its benefits is that it does not increase the production of saliva, which can be particularly useful ...

overdose (factor 10) due to a mistake during surgery.

Victims

* 31 March 1962: Klaus Jung, 8 * 6 August 1965: Peter Fuchs, 13 * 14 August 1965: Ulrich Kahlweiss, 12 * 6 May 1966: Manfred Grassmann, 12 * 18 June 1966: Peter Frese, 15 (escaped)

Influence

The 2002 film ''Ein Leben lang kurze Hosen tragen'' (released in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

in 2004 as ''The Child I Never Was'') depicts Bartsch's life and crimes. Bartsch is referenced in

Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors to write in German and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices ...

's novel ''Die Kinder der Toten'' as someone who had no difficulty dismembering his victims. German metal band

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

, whose bass player is also named Jürgen Bartsch, dedicated their album ''Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia'' to Bartsch.

References

* Alice Miller, Am Anfang war Erziehung (English title: For Your Own Good), Suhrkamp, 1983, * Paul Moor, Jürgen Bartsch: Opfer und Täter, Rowohlt, 1991, {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartsch, Jurgen 1946 births 1976 deaths Accidental deaths in Germany Drug-related deaths in Germany Criminals from North Rhine-Westphalia German adoptees German murderers of children German people convicted of murder German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment German rapists German serial killers Male juvenile murderers People convicted of murder by Germany Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany People from Essen Violence against men in Europe 20th-century German murderers