Carl Großmann

Who was Carl Großmann?

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann, was a German serial killer who cannibalized his victims. He committed suicide while awaiting execution without giving a full confession leaving the extent of his crimes and motives largely unknown.

Little is known about Carl Großmann's early life, except that he had sadistic sexual tastes and had several convictions for child molestation. On 21 August in 1921 when he was in his mid fifties, Großmann was arrested at his apartment in Berlin after neighbours heard screams and banging noises, followed by silence. The police did burst into the apartment, finding on the bed the body of a young woman who had recently been murdered. Großmann was taken into custody and charged with first degree murder. Neighbours reported that he seemed to have had a steady supply of female companions, mostly destitute-looking young women, over the previous few years. Many went into the apartment, but few emerged from it.

During World War I, Großmann sold meat on the black market and even had a hotdog stand at a train station near his home. It is believed the meat contained the remains of his victims, their bones and other inedible parts having been thrown into the river.