00:00:04
-On July 17, 1975,
00:00:08
firefighters sifting through
the remains of a fire
00:00:11
in a Hamburg apartment block
made a gruesome discovery.
00:00:15
-[ Speaking German ]
00:00:17
-We found all different kinds
of body parts
00:00:20
and had to examine them.
00:00:21
We were asking ourselves
what was going on.
00:00:25
At first, nothing made sense.
00:00:28
-And as the police began
to search the small attic flat,
00:00:31
the true horror of the discovery
became apparent.
00:00:35
-[ Speaking German ]
00:00:36
-We found a corpse.
00:00:38
We found two corpses.
00:00:40
We found three corpses.
00:00:42
We have found four corpses.
00:00:44
It was a huge story
because things like this
00:00:46
don't exactly
happen often in Hamburg.
00:00:50
-A man named Fritz Honka
had been murdering women
00:00:54
and dismembering
their bodies in his home
00:00:56
for the past five years.
00:00:59
He claimed that Jack the Ripper
had told him to do it.
00:01:03
-I think it was simply
crimes of opportunity,
00:01:07
but with a horrible edge.
00:01:09
He showed no compassion
for the victims.
00:01:13
He didn't respect their bodies
or feel remorse, clearly.
00:01:17
He just cut them up.
00:01:19
-Fritz Honka had carved
his name in history
00:01:23
as one of the world's
most evil killers.
00:01:26
♪♪
00:01:35
♪♪
00:01:48
-The brutal murders of
39-year-old Fritz Honka
00:01:52
left the whole of
West Germany reeling.
00:01:55
When a fire ripped through
his apartment block
00:01:57
on the 17th of July, 1975,
out of the ashes,
00:02:02
the butchered remains
of four women were revealed,
00:02:05
hidden away in Honka's attic.
00:02:08
Nobody knew they'd been missing
from the streets of Hamburg.
00:02:12
It was a shocking crime scene
00:02:14
even for
the hardened murder squad.
00:02:17
The lead investigators
on the case
00:02:19
were Jurgen Vierle
and Karl Pries.
00:02:23
-[ Speaking German ]
00:02:26
-They told us where
the body parts where,
00:02:28
so inside the building,
we went up to the attic,
00:02:30
and there were two flats,
00:02:32
Mr. Honka's flat
and another one,
00:02:35
and then there was
a toilet and a loft,
00:02:37
and in this loft
were the body parts.
00:02:43
-[ Speaking German ]
00:02:48
-We were standing
outside the door
00:02:50
when a small man
walked up the stairs.
00:02:53
The flat he lived in was
completely filled with smoke.
00:02:56
It was right next to the attic
that had caught fire.
00:03:00
I just happened to be standing
right by the front door
00:03:03
of his flat, and he goes,
"What's going on here?"
00:03:07
"As you can see,
there's been a fire," I said.
00:03:10
"Oh," he said.
00:03:11
"That's really bad.
00:03:13
Looks like I won't be able
to live here anymore."
00:03:16
I then asked him,
"Who has the key
00:03:18
to this attic room,
and who owns it?"
00:03:21
To which he replied,
"This is my attic room,
00:03:24
and I am the only one
who's got access to it."
00:03:27
And in that moment, there were
reasonable grounds
00:03:30
to suspect him of a crime.
00:03:32
Consequently, we took him
to the offices
00:03:34
of the police headquarters
at Berliner Tor.
00:03:42
-The story of this elusive
serial killer
00:03:45
begins over 80 years ago.
00:03:49
Fritz Honka was born
into a working-class family
00:03:53
in Leipzig, East Germany,
on the 31st of July, 1935.
00:03:59
-[ Speaking German ]
00:04:02
-He had eight siblings.
00:04:05
The relationship with his father
was very difficult.
00:04:08
He mentions an incident
where his father
00:04:09
supposedly wanted to kill him,
00:04:12
and the connection to his mother
was also rather cold.
00:04:16
When he was 11 years old,
she left the family,
00:04:19
so he always had a rather
crushing relationship
00:04:22
with his parents.
00:04:28
-[ Speaking German ]
00:04:29
-All the children
were given away,
00:04:31
which will have had
quite an effect on him.
00:04:35
-After his father died in 1946,
11-year-old Honka was left
00:04:41
to grow up in an orphanage.
00:04:43
His childhood
was far from ideal.
00:04:46
-I think he had quite
a hard time growing up.
00:04:49
These were quite turbulent
times in Germany,
00:04:53
but for a young lad who was
considerably shorter
00:04:56
than his peers, he didn't always
fit in very well at school,
00:04:59
and that made him
a target for bullies,
00:05:01
so he was always the brunt
of someone else's joke,
00:05:06
so I don't think he had
a very easy time of it at all.
00:05:10
-After leaving school,
Honka began work
00:05:13
as a bricklayer's apprentice,
but it didn't last long.
00:05:17
In 1951, aged 16, he fled
from Communist East Germany
00:05:22
and headed west.
00:05:24
-[ Speaking German ]
00:05:27
-He then came over here
to West Germany
00:05:29
and worked in
the farming industry
00:05:31
before relocating to Hamburg,
and here in Hamburg,
00:05:35
he worked for a security service
company as a night watchman.
00:05:42
So this means he always had
a steady income,
00:05:45
which, of course,
gave him, socially,
00:05:46
an advantage with the crowds
he hung out with.
00:05:52
-Age 22, he meets his wife,
and they get married,
00:05:56
and things are quite normal
and quite regular,
00:05:59
but both of them have a bit
of an issue with alcohol.
00:06:03
Both of them tend to drink
to excess,
00:06:05
and their relationship
becomes quite volatile
00:06:08
and quite chaotic.
00:06:09
They attract the attention
of neighbors
00:06:11
and the authorities
when they're arguing
00:06:14
and they're overheard
having domestic disputes,
00:06:16
so it's not a particularly
nice household for very long.
00:06:22
-After separating from his wife
in 1967, 32-year-old Honka
00:06:27
was alone and working
the graveyard shift
00:06:30
as a night watchman.
00:06:32
-So he rented a small,
one-bedroom apartment,
00:06:34
which was very close to the
red-light district in Hamburg,
00:06:38
and in this apartment,
00:06:40
he created his own
little world, basically.
00:06:42
He wasn't subject to any kind
of informal surveillance
00:06:45
of other people
who would question, you know,
00:06:48
"What are you doing?"
00:06:50
So it was his own little zone,
essentially,
00:06:53
and this is the place
where he would live
00:06:55
in something of a little bubble,
to be honest,
00:06:58
so I think this is a recipe for
disaster for someone like him.
00:07:02
-Honka spent his free time
drinking in 24-hour bars
00:07:06
around the Reeperbahn
00:07:08
in the city's notorious
red-light district.
00:07:11
-There will be lots of reasons
why people turn to alcohol,
00:07:15
but I think in this case,
here is an individual
00:07:17
who didn't have a lot of control
over his life as a child.
00:07:20
There was a lot
going on around him
00:07:22
that he had very little power
over whatsoever,
00:07:25
and what can happen with people
who experience circumstances
00:07:28
like these
is that in adulthood,
00:07:30
they develop an intense
need to be in control
00:07:33
of what's going on around them,
and for some people,
00:07:35
that will manifest itself
in self-medication.
00:07:40
-[ Speaking German ]
00:07:43
-One of the bars was the famous
Goldenen Handschuh,
00:07:46
the Golden Glove.
00:07:47
It was named like that because
it belonged to a famous boxer,
00:07:51
and right across was
the Elbschlosskeller,
00:07:53
a bar where mainly
homeless alcoholics
00:07:56
or drifters hung out.
00:07:58
Well, they drank
plenty of alcohol.
00:08:00
The preferred drink was
grain schnapps with lemonade.
00:08:07
There was dancing, and it
didn't get cleaned very often.
00:08:10
It was open all hours,
around the clock,
00:08:13
and looked accordingly.
00:08:15
You had to be careful
not to stick to the floor,
00:08:18
and those were
the surroundings and conditions.
00:08:27
These people had
reached rock-bottom,
00:08:29
at least the women
who went there,
00:08:31
and now and then, the men
would take the women home
00:08:34
with them to play sex games.
00:08:39
-The Golden Glove soon became
one of Honka's favorite haunts.
00:08:43
He would regularly visit
after finishing his shift
00:08:46
as a night watchmen.
00:08:48
The owner of the bar,
Jorn Nurnberg,
00:08:51
became friendly with the man
his regulars knew as Fite.
00:08:55
-[ Speaking German ]
00:09:00
-When he came in
wearing his uniform,
00:09:01
you could see that he was
very proud of himself,
00:09:04
but he was never pushy.
00:09:06
People who didn't know him,
who just saw him briefly,
00:09:09
thought he looked a bit odd
00:09:11
because Fite wasn't
exactly a pinup.
00:09:14
At times, he looked
a bit creepy.
00:09:20
-A traffic accident in his 20s
had left Honka
00:09:23
with a crooked nose
and a pronounced squint.
00:09:26
-Well, he's an individual
who has never really had
00:09:29
a very positive relationship
when it comes to women.
00:09:32
So he was abandoned
by his mother.
00:09:34
The relationship that
he had with his wife
00:09:36
was quite chaotic
and quite unstable,
00:09:38
so there isn't a really
positive association
00:09:42
with women in his mind
at this point in time.
00:09:45
-Honka is a mentally unstable,
00:09:48
intellectually challenged
runt of a man
00:09:51
who has profound
sexual problems.
00:09:54
He finds sex with a women
almost impossible
00:09:56
and therefore
demands oral sex.
00:09:58
He is a drunk, a loner,
who has had almost no paternal,
00:10:04
maternal caring as a child.
00:10:07
He was no one's idea
of Mr. Universe,
00:10:11
but he was, clearly
or at least able,
00:10:15
could afford
to hire prostitutes.
00:10:19
-Honka had taken a liking
to older prostitutes
00:10:22
who could often be found in
the bars around the Reeperbahn.
00:10:26
-[ Speaking German ]
00:10:30
-These were homeless women
who had no income.
00:10:32
He had money.
00:10:34
He could offer alcohol.
00:10:36
He could offer a place to stay,
00:10:37
and that made it
quite easy for him.
00:10:39
I wouldn't say
to make friends,
00:10:40
but certainly to make
the acquaintance of people,
00:10:44
whether that would be
female or male,
00:10:46
and as a result,
he was well-known
00:10:47
in these circles he moved in.
00:10:49
The lowest class of society,
that was his world.
00:10:58
-And it was a world
that was about to implode.
00:11:01
On the 17th of July, 1975,
00:11:05
a fire in Honka's apartment
block would lead
00:11:08
to a startling revelation --
00:11:10
the dismembered bodies
of four women.
00:11:15
-[ Speaking German ]
00:11:19
-The fire service responded
to the fire incident,
00:11:21
and when they found
the bodies in the attic,
00:11:24
they called us,
the homicide squad, so myself
00:11:27
and the rest of the on-duty team
made our way to the crime scene.
00:11:32
-The police waited for Honka
to arrive home from his shift
00:11:36
as a night watchman.
00:11:37
He was immediately arrested
00:11:39
and taken to the police station
for questioning.
00:11:43
-[ Speaking German ]
00:11:48
-We set out to do our work
and walk through the crime scene
00:11:51
and during the crime-scene
investigation,
00:11:54
a mummified corpse was found,
00:11:56
and underneath
this mummified corpse
00:11:59
lay a partly decomposed torso.
00:12:13
We broke down walls, broke
through the floor and searched.
00:12:16
Throughout the whole flat,
00:12:18
we noticed
this very strong smell.
00:12:21
I'd say the typical smell
of decay
00:12:22
mixed with that of burning.
00:12:24
Very unpleasant.
00:12:26
And so this led us
to search more,
00:12:29
and we found a hatch
facing the side of the roof
00:12:32
that had been covered
with wallpaper,
00:12:34
and then we broke
into the side of the roof
00:12:36
and found a large object
00:12:37
wrapped in bed linen
with a corpse inside.
00:12:46
We took it out and announced
00:12:48
that we had discovered
another body.
00:12:53
-The press soon got wind
of this shocking discovery
00:12:57
and headed for the crime scene.
00:12:59
Lutz Jaffé was a newspaper
photographer at the time.
00:13:03
-[ Speaking German ]
00:13:07
-We always listened
to the police radio.
00:13:09
Back then, it was possible
to do that,
00:13:11
and you could hear
where things were happening.
00:13:14
That's how we found out
about the fire in Zeissstrasse.
00:13:18
We heard a residential building
was burning,
00:13:20
and, of course,
I headed right out.
00:13:29
The fire brigade
was already there.
00:13:31
You obviously wait a little
because you never know
00:13:34
what's going on
inside the house.
00:13:36
Is anyone hurt?
Did someone die?
00:13:40
Well, firefighters
have a good nose,
00:13:43
and they can, of course, pick up
the smell of decaying bodies.
00:13:49
And then I think
they found Honka's bags.
00:13:57
We were downstairs getting
information from the police.
00:14:00
"We have found a corpse.
We have found two corpses.
00:14:04
We have found three corpses.
We have found four corpses."
00:14:09
Well, of course, for us,
it was a huge story
00:14:12
because things like this don't
happen very often in Hamburg.
00:14:20
Up and down the street,
00:14:22
the news that this wasn't
just a fire spread quickly,
00:14:25
and a lot of people turned up.
00:14:28
You can see in the photo that
they looked into the police car,
00:14:31
this cluster of people
left and right.
00:14:34
It was just sensational.
00:14:36
Also, for the people
who lived there,
00:14:38
it was simply unbelievable.
00:14:40
They probably knew him.
00:14:42
They knew Honka.
00:14:44
The following day,
it was on the front page
00:14:46
of all of Hamburg's newspapers.
00:14:51
-As forensic experts work
tirelessly at the crime scene,
00:14:55
detectives at the police station
were beginning to question
00:14:58
Honka about
the gruesome discovery.
00:15:01
-[ Speaking German ]
00:15:06
-During the interrogation,
you have to try to get
00:15:09
a confession
or at least try to get clues
00:15:11
that explain the evidence
found at the crime scene.
00:15:15
Only this evidence
from the crime scene
00:15:16
can help to confront him
with allegations
00:15:18
that eventually
lead to charging him.
00:15:27
So I explained the situation.
00:15:30
We had found four bodies
in his living room
00:15:32
and the adjoining rooms
of his flat,
00:15:35
and I confronted him with that.
00:15:37
He had nothing to say about it.
00:15:42
Then he said, "I don't know.
00:15:44
I've got nothing
to say about this,
00:15:45
and I don't know
what you want from me."
00:15:47
Of course, in that moment,
you accuse him, and you say,
00:15:50
"How is it possible
that we found a wrapped-up body
00:15:53
behind the disguised wall
in your living room?
00:16:00
And what about
the two body parts we found
00:16:02
in the covered hole
behind your toilet,
00:16:05
the mummified corpse
and the torso?
00:16:07
You see?
00:16:12
And what about the fact that we
found loads of women's dresses,
00:16:15
and that initial examinations
of the wrapped-up body show
00:16:18
that it is a woman?
00:16:20
So is the mummified body,
just as the chopped-up body
00:16:23
we found under the coals
also belongs to a woman?"
00:16:26
When we confronted him
and asked him,
00:16:29
"What have you got
to say to that,"
00:16:30
he just shrugged his shoulders
and said, "No idea."
00:16:39
And there you are, the officer
leading the interrogation,
00:16:42
and you need to prove to him
00:16:44
that he does have something
to do with it.
00:16:51
-With Honka not giving them
any information,
00:16:54
the police began
the arduous task of
00:16:57
trying to identify the remains
of all four women,
00:17:00
and they got
a big break early on.
00:17:02
Missing parts of one
of the bodies
00:17:04
had been discovered
four years previously.
00:17:08
-[ Speaking German ]
00:17:10
-In November 1971,
a worker at a factory yard
00:17:14
in the Gausssirasse
came across some junk,
00:17:17
and when he rummaged through it,
he found body parts.
00:17:25
He saw a hand sticking out
of a pile of rubbish.
00:17:28
He immediately informed
the police,
00:17:30
and the local officers on duty
00:17:32
who were the first to arrive
at the scene informed us
00:17:34
that the findings were,
indeed, body parts.
00:17:38
We went to investigate
further and spotted
00:17:40
several chopped-up body parts.
00:17:43
Only the torso and the right leg
were missing.
00:17:46
Everything else was there,
but cut into pieces.
00:17:52
Besides the body parts, we found
breasts that had been cut off,
00:17:56
suggesting that this was,
in all probability,
00:17:59
related to a sex offense.
00:18:03
-Although the head
was badly decomposed,
00:18:06
in 1971, experts were able to
reconstruct it well enough
00:18:11
to enable the police to provide
a photo to the press.
00:18:14
The victim was identified
00:18:16
as 42-year-old prostitute
Gertraud Brauer.
00:18:20
Before the fire
at Honka's apartment,
00:18:22
the case had remained unsolved.
00:18:25
-[ Speaking German ]
00:18:29
-We had come full circle,
00:18:31
from the body parts found in
the Gausssirasse
00:18:34
to the torso found
on the premises
00:18:35
of Honka's living quarters,
00:18:37
and subsequently, we could
charge him with this crime.
00:18:43
-Honka had murdered Gertraud
in December, 1970,
00:18:47
after picking her up
in the Golden Glove.
00:18:49
It was the first time
he'd killed someone.
00:18:52
Investigators believe
he strangled
00:18:54
the 42-year-old to death
00:18:56
because she refused
to have sex with him.
00:18:59
He dismembered her body
using a saw.
00:19:02
-To simply cut off a limb
00:19:04
is a fairly straightforward
procedure.
00:19:07
You need a knife
to get through the flesh
00:19:09
and a saw to get
through the bone.
00:19:11
It doesn't have to be
a complex thing to do.
00:19:16
It's not like you're a surgeon
doing an operation.
00:19:20
-Golden Glove barman
Jorn Nurnberg
00:19:22
had unknowingly assisted
Honka in meeting his victims.
00:19:26
-[ Speaking German ]
00:19:28
-He always said in a sneaky way,
00:19:30
"Hey, Jorn, give that
one a little drink,
00:19:32
but don't tell her
it's from me."
00:19:34
"Okay, Fite, no problem,"
gave the drink.
00:19:37
"Who's that from?"
"From someone."
00:19:39
"Oh, okay. Good."
00:19:41
They didn't ask much, as long
as they had something to drink.
00:19:46
-Gertraud Brauer, a hairdresser
and part-time prostitute,
00:19:50
was a regular in the bar.
00:19:53
-Time after time,
prostitutes are killed
00:19:56
because no one
reports them missing.
00:19:58
They live on the edge
of the law.
00:20:00
They're long past in connection
with their families.
00:20:06
They are living in
a twilight world,
00:20:09
and, well, you miss
a prostitute?
00:20:13
Well, she could've given up,
00:20:14
or she could've gone
to another city,
00:20:16
or she could've gone
back to her mother,
00:20:17
or whatever it may have been,
00:20:19
and so they're
very seldom tracked.
00:20:22
-Even though Honka refused
to cooperate with the police,
00:20:25
they had now identified
one of his victims.
00:20:29
Each time they interrogated him,
detectives tried to find out
00:20:32
more about the other
three women.
00:20:35
-[ Speaking German ]
00:20:38
-"You frequently go
to St. Pauli.
00:20:41
You're still going to
the Elbschlosskeller
00:20:43
and other bars in St. Pauli.
00:20:45
You drink vast
amounts of alcohol.
00:20:48
We found a lot of alcohol
in your flat.
00:20:53
And we've seen the walls
in your place.
00:20:55
They're full
of pornographic posters."
00:20:58
Well, we also found
a plastic doll
00:21:00
he probably used
to satisfy himself
00:21:02
when no woman was around.
00:21:05
The aim was to unsettle him.
00:21:07
The uncertainty produced
insecurity.
00:21:09
His replies to specific
questions were different
00:21:12
to those
he had given the previous day.
00:21:19
-After taking the life
of another human
00:21:22
for the first time
in December, 1970,
00:21:25
Honka wouldn't kill again
for almost four years.
00:21:30
-What happened to start him off
again in August, 1974?
00:21:34
I would argue that Honka's
alcoholism had probably got
00:21:37
so intense by that time that he
was desperately out of control,
00:21:45
and perhaps he just had
genuinely some kind of
00:21:49
psychotic break, some kind of
brainstorm that led him to kill.
00:21:55
-The police had a wealth
of evidence against Honka,
00:21:59
but they were desperate for him
to make a full confession.
00:22:02
If he continued
with his silence,
00:22:05
they may never identify
the other three murdered women.
00:22:13
-[ Speaking German ]
00:22:17
-It smelled really odd
in the house.
00:22:19
There were also foreigners
living there,
00:22:21
and Honka always said,
00:22:22
"The foreigners cook
in a funny way.
00:22:25
They use strange spices in their
food, and that's why it stinks."
00:22:28
None of the neighbors suspected
that it wasn't the foreigners,
00:22:31
that the smell came from
the body parts in Honka's flat,
00:22:35
and they had started to reek.
00:22:41
-Once somebody dies,
decomposition will begin.
00:22:45
There will be an increase,
to start with,
00:22:49
in particularly the smell
that comes from the body.
00:22:52
As the body functions render
down, things start to decompose.
00:22:58
-[ Speaking German ]
00:23:01
-Everywhere in the flat
were scented stones,
00:23:04
all around the skirting boards.
00:23:06
The toilet was full of them.
00:23:08
They were everywhere.
00:23:12
-The longer the bodies
had remained in Honka's attic,
00:23:15
the harder it was
to get rid of them.
00:23:18
-A dead body is difficult
to move,
00:23:20
and once rigor mortis
starts to set in
00:23:22
and the body becomes stiff,
it's not even flexible to move.
00:23:26
It can be very hard to do.
00:23:28
-This is really illustrative
of the type of
00:23:30
serial killer he was.
00:23:32
He wasn't massively organized in
terms of covering up his crimes.
00:23:36
You know, he would have
the corpses of his victims
00:23:38
right there in his flat.
00:23:40
He didn't actually
dispose of them,
00:23:42
so this was something
that he was doing
00:23:44
just kind of short-term,
reactionary,
00:23:47
just kind of coping
with each day as it arose.
00:23:50
-When the police went to
Honka's favorite bars
00:23:53
and broke the news that bodies
had been found in his flat,
00:23:57
they were met with
complete disbelief.
00:24:00
-[ Speaking German ]
00:24:03
-No one expected
that of him, no one.
00:24:06
Even if you've met him,
you'd definitely have said,
00:24:08
"Him?
Nah, he's too harmless."
00:24:10
Really shocking.
00:24:14
-Journalists also went
round the bars
00:24:17
to get background color
for their stories.
00:24:20
-[ Speaking German ]
00:24:24
-Part of the story was to
look around and find out,
00:24:27
"Where did Honka
meet his women?"
00:24:30
and that was in
the Goldenen Handschuh.
00:24:32
It was unimaginable.
00:24:33
This was pure poverty.
00:24:36
People, human wrecks,
women as well as men,
00:24:39
whose fate had taken
a sad turn for the worse.
00:24:49
These people had reached
the very bottom of society.
00:24:52
This doesn't mean
that had to be criminals,
00:24:55
but they were
very poor creatures.
00:25:03
As a consequence,
it smelled pretty bad
00:25:05
in the Goldenen Handschuh,
00:25:07
as these people
weren't able to wash.
00:25:10
They had nowhere to go,
as many of them were homeless.
00:25:18
-The police had identified
one of Honka's victims
00:25:21
as Gertraud Brauer,
00:25:23
but the other three
remained a mystery.
00:25:26
Establishing their identities
would not be simple.
00:25:31
-Even in the modern era of DNA,
00:25:34
identifying victims
can be incredibly challenging.
00:25:38
By and large, you have to have
something to compare
00:25:42
your victim to,
so dental records,
00:25:46
evidence of missing people,
have they got
00:25:49
defining characteristics
that's unique to them?
00:25:57
-The police found a pile of
women's ID cards in Honka's flat
00:26:02
and set about
the complicated task
00:26:04
of trying to find the rightful
owners among the prostitutes
00:26:07
who frequented the bars
around the Reeperbahn.
00:26:11
Each time they found
a woman alive,
00:26:13
they were able to cross her off
the list of potential victims.
00:26:17
One of the local officers
at the time was Peter Reichard.
00:26:21
-[ Speaking German ]
00:26:23
-We were able to work our way
00:26:25
through all the names
on this list,
00:26:27
and we realized that our women
all seemed to be alive.
00:26:32
-The Hamburg police
also put out a call
00:26:35
to colleagues across Germany
00:26:37
for details of missing women
in their mid-40s to mid-50s.
00:26:42
-[ Speaking German ]
00:26:46
-How many
missing persons reports
00:26:48
do you think they get
in Germany?
00:26:49
I had stacks of them on my desk,
00:26:51
and I had to look through
all of them,
00:26:53
and somehow still wasn't
making progress.
00:26:58
Well, so we catalogued
the clothes we had found
00:27:01
in his flat, hung them up,
00:27:03
numbered them,
and photographed each item.
00:27:07
These clothes were
really the only thing
00:27:09
we had at that moment.
00:27:16
-Detectives would have to go to
the bars Honka went to around
00:27:19
the Reeperbahn to see
if anyone could help them.
00:27:22
-[ Speaking German ]
00:27:26
-You try going to St. Pauli
when you don't have a name.
00:27:29
You don't have an address.
00:27:31
All you have is clothes
and nothing else.
00:27:33
You have the name of Mr. Honka,
00:27:35
and with that,
you go to a bar and ask people,
00:27:38
"What kind of girlfriends
did he have?"
00:27:45
What do you think the people
in these bars tell you?
00:27:47
"Yes, he had many women,
you know?
00:27:49
One was called Annie,
the other Gerda,
00:27:52
and the next, Erika,
but that's all we know."
00:27:55
Well, what are you
going to do with that?
00:28:01
So you go round all the bars
showing the outfits,
00:28:04
and if you're lucky,
you might get a name.
00:28:06
"Yeah, such-and-such always wore
these kind of clothes."
00:28:14
As soon as you get a first name,
you can make progress.
00:28:17
At that point,
we were established
00:28:18
that we were probably dealing
with aging prostitutes.
00:28:27
-Using the list
of missing persons,
00:28:30
the clothes found
in Honka's apartment
00:28:32
and the names gathered
from the local bars,
00:28:35
detectives were able to
draw up a short list
00:28:37
of possible victims.
00:28:39
Armed with photographs,
00:28:41
they headed out on to
the Reeperbahn once more.
00:28:44
-[ Speaking German ]
00:28:45
-And with these pictures,
we went back to show them around
00:28:48
and were finally able
to establish,
00:28:50
"Yes, he had a thing with her."
00:28:55
-It was a major breakthrough
for the police.
00:28:58
They had linked a number
of women to Honka.
00:29:01
-[ Speaking German ]
00:29:04
-As soon as we knew
who these women were,
00:29:07
we could confront him
again and again
00:29:09
during the interrogations,
00:29:11
and we kept insisting
until he'd say,
00:29:13
"Yes, I knew her, and she'd
been over at my place."
00:29:18
So at least now he had admitted
that they'd been with him.
00:29:23
Some stayed longer with him,
for days, even weeks.
00:29:26
It was nice for the women.
00:29:27
Suddenly, they had
somewhere to live.
00:29:30
The question was,
what happened next?
00:29:33
Well, we obviously had to
confront him with the fact
00:29:35
that he had killed the woman,
00:29:38
and all he said,
"I can't remember."
00:29:44
We had no choice
but to accept that.
00:29:46
However, there was evidence
that the women
00:29:50
who had been identified
and who had also lived with him,
00:29:53
were found dead in his flat,
and that exactly was the point.
00:30:01
-But the police still
needed a confession.
00:30:04
-[ Speaking German ]
00:30:08
-Now we just had to hear
from him that he killed them
00:30:11
and how he killed them
00:30:13
and what he did with the bodies,
and that's difficult.
00:30:16
That's very difficult.
00:30:18
As I remember, he always made it
sound like it was a possibility,
00:30:22
but he never admitted it 100%.
00:30:27
-It is interesting that
he didn't deny the killings.
00:30:32
He wasn't a particularly,
00:30:35
"Oh, no, it's got nothing
to do with me."
00:30:36
Mind you, it would've been
very difficult for him
00:30:38
to deny the killings.
00:30:39
He was living with
the body parts of four women.
00:30:41
I mean, how they got there,
00:30:43
he was the only person
who truly knew.
00:30:45
-[ Speaking German ]
00:30:47
-We kept pushing him.
00:30:49
"But you chopped up the bodies.
00:30:50
You cut the women up
with a saw," and so on.
00:30:54
He just said,
"I can't remember."
00:31:00
-It was further frustration
for the police.
00:31:05
For example, he would say,
"Yeah, I slept with that woman,
00:31:10
and in the morning,
she was lying dead next to me.
00:31:13
Well, how she died, the way
she died, I simply can't say."
00:31:20
-Although Honka continued
to deny killing the three women,
00:31:23
the detectives were at least
able to finally identify them.
00:31:28
They were 54-year-old
Anna Beuschel,
00:31:30
52-year-old Ruth Schult
and 57-year-old Frieda Roblick,
00:31:35
a regular in the Golden Glove
who went by the name of Rita.
00:31:40
-[ Speaking German ]
00:31:45
-I had a cleaning lady
who always helped out.
00:31:48
Her name was Sofie,
and Sofie was friends with Rita.
00:31:53
Now and then, Sofie would
take Rita home with her
00:31:56
so she could have a wash,
bathe, or even sleep,
00:31:59
but I don't know.
00:32:01
I think she had nowhere to live.
00:32:08
She was gone for a while.
00:32:10
One day, she came back
wearing nice clothes,
00:32:13
really quite fancy, and I said,
"Where have you been?
00:32:17
I already thought
you were dead."
00:32:19
"No, I have a new boyfriend,
and he's wonderful."
00:32:26
-But that new boyfriend
was Fritz Honka,
00:32:29
who strangled her to death
in December 1974.
00:32:33
-Honka always seems to me to be
00:32:36
kind of a accidental
serial killer.
00:32:38
He didn't fit what the BAU
00:32:40
or the FBI's behavioral unit
call organized.
00:32:44
He was completely disorganized.
00:32:46
These were crimes
of opportunity.
00:32:48
He wasn't stalking these women.
00:32:51
He wasn't planning
their killings.
00:32:54
They happened.
00:32:55
They were part of
his tragic character
00:32:59
and part of his drinking
and part of the fact
00:33:02
that he found any kind
of sexual relationship
00:33:04
with women almost impossible,
and this was the only way
00:33:07
he could find to satisfy
those desires that he had.
00:33:12
-The West German press
were fascinated with Honka.
00:33:15
Photographer Lutz Jaffé managed
to capture a photograph
00:33:18
of the mysterious killer.
00:33:21
-[ Speaking German ]
00:33:24
-Back then, you could have
pretty good contacts
00:33:27
within the police,
and I knew that Honka
00:33:29
would be taken either to prison
or to appear in front
00:33:32
of the Magistrate
at a specific time.
00:33:35
Someone from the police
had told me about it.
00:33:42
Well, and then I lay in wait
for him to arrive.
00:33:46
That's how this photo
came about,
00:33:48
as he turned around
when I called, "Mr. Honka!"
00:33:51
That's how I managed
to catch him.
00:33:56
-The police were trying to
determine a motive
00:33:58
for the murders.
00:33:59
Interviews
with local prostitutes
00:34:02
who'd been with Honka
and lived to tell the tale
00:34:04
revealed shocking facts about
his perverse sexual tastes.
00:34:09
-[ Speaking German ]
00:34:14
-The women who escaped
from his home were very lucky.
00:34:19
The interrogation of these women
hinted at his sexual practices,
00:34:23
and these were
sometimes catastrophic.
00:34:26
I don't want to go into
every detail here,
00:34:28
but it was pretty terrible.
00:34:36
It's possible these sexual
practices got out of hand
00:34:39
and became excessive,
which, I have to say,
00:34:44
might have led
to the death of a women.
00:34:52
-One of the surviving victims
showed the police a scar
00:34:55
she'd received in a brutal
sexual encounter with Honka.
00:34:59
-[ Speaking German ]
00:35:03
-Because she was so upset
about Fritz Honka,
00:35:06
that dirty old swine,
as she called him,
00:35:08
she pulled up her skirt,
took off her underwear
00:35:12
and pointed to a scar
beside her vagina.
00:35:14
"What is that?" I asked her.
00:35:16
She then told us that during
a sexual encounter
00:35:19
with Fritz Honka,
he had penetrated her
00:35:21
with a broom handle.
00:35:23
That's where the injury
had come from,
00:35:25
and she ended up in hospital.
00:35:28
She was furious, angry
beyond belief, you could say.
00:35:34
-And she wasn't the only one
who needed medical treatment
00:35:38
after spending the night
with Honka.
00:35:41
-[ Speaking German ]
00:35:46
-For example, one of the women
he took back to his place,
00:35:49
he sat her with a bare bum
on top of a hot plate.
00:35:53
As a result, the woman ran
semi-naked out of the flat.
00:35:57
This is an example,
00:35:58
a sort of thing
where he became violent.
00:36:06
This may have resulted
in these deaths,
00:36:09
but, of course,
it's also possible
00:36:11
that the women weren't complying
with his demands
00:36:14
and he became
violent towards them.
00:36:20
-The investigation
was drawing to an end,
00:36:23
but some questions
remained unanswered.
00:36:26
-He had, unbelievable
though it may seem,
00:36:30
escaped under the radar for
five years, killing four women
00:36:36
and basically keeping them
around the flat as trophies.
00:36:39
Now, there's no suggestion
that Honka had sex
00:36:42
with them postmortem.
00:36:44
There's no suggestion that he
was some kind of necrophiliac.
00:36:46
I think he was just
a dreadfully lazy drunk
00:36:50
who didn't know what else to do
and just convinced himself
00:36:53
it would be perfectly all right.
00:36:55
-In November, 1976, the trial
of Fritz Honka began in Hamburg.
00:37:01
He had retracted his
initial confession
00:37:03
and was now denying
all the charges against him.
00:37:07
-Well, his defense strategy
when he was arrested and charged
00:37:09
with the crimes
was an incredibly bizarre one.
00:37:12
He decided to blame
Jack the Ripper,
00:37:15
who was sending him messages
to kill these women.
00:37:18
Now, this appears to be
something that is, you know,
00:37:21
completely bizarre
and very odd,
00:37:24
but it could be evidence
of somebody
00:37:26
who is experiencing
some kind of mental ill health.
00:37:30
We know that people who
experience episodes of psychosis
00:37:34
feel very strongly compelled
to act in a particular way,
00:37:37
and they're not really fully
in control of their actions,
00:37:40
but equally, at the same time,
00:37:42
if you are reading
the newspapers,
00:37:44
if you are listening
to the radio,
00:37:46
and you know that
this is something
00:37:48
that is available to you,
00:37:49
that you're able to
come out with this
00:37:51
and it perhaps
be taken seriously,
00:37:54
then you're going to
give it a go.
00:37:56
-The psychiatrists
who examined Honka
00:37:59
during the court case concluded
00:38:01
that he'd acted with diminished
criminal responsibility.
00:38:05
On the 20th of December, 1976,
the jury found him guilty
00:38:10
of three counts of manslaughter
and one of murder,
00:38:14
that of 54-year-old
Anna Beuschel,
00:38:17
who he had strangled
in his apartment in August 1974.
00:38:21
Honka was sentenced to 15 years
in a psychiatric hospital.
00:38:27
-He might have been described
at the time as a big slow.
00:38:30
That affects the amount
of culpability
00:38:33
that we assign to his crimes.
00:38:35
So was he in control
of what he was doing?
00:38:37
Did he know what he was doing
was wrong?
00:38:39
And if that can't
be established,
00:38:41
then perhaps he is treated
in a mental-health facility
00:38:45
rather than a prison,
and, indeed, he served 15 years
00:38:48
in a hospital,
in a hospital setting.
00:38:51
-The crimes of Fritz Honka left
the entire country in shock,
00:38:56
especially the city of Hamburg.
00:38:58
-[ Speaking German ]
00:39:02
-I believe after
the Second World War,
00:39:04
such a murder case
has never happened again
00:39:06
in the history of crimes
in Hamburg.
00:39:08
It was a unique case,
that someone killed four women,
00:39:11
dismembered them,
and left them in his flat.
00:39:19
-[ Speaking German ]
00:39:21
-After that, we became very,
very well-known beyond Hamburg,
00:39:25
famous for the murder,
as unpleasant as it was,
00:39:28
and as sorry as I felt
for the women, especially Rita.
00:39:33
Rita really didn't deserve it.
00:39:38
-Honka was released from
the psychiatric hospital
00:39:41
in 1993.
00:39:43
He spend the final years
of his life
00:39:45
in a nursing home
under the name Peter Jensen.
00:39:49
He died in Hamburg
on the 19th of November, 1998.
00:39:53
He was 63 years old.
00:39:56
Today, Fritz Honka has become
something of a cult figure
00:40:00
in Hamburg.
00:40:01
The Golden Glove continues
to capitalize
00:40:04
on its most infamous
former customer,
00:40:07
with the words "Honka Saloon"
emblazoned above the entrance.
00:40:11
-[ Speaking German ]
00:40:14
-These bars were a no-go zone.
00:40:16
Not in a million years would a
normal Hamburg citizen go there.
00:40:21
Only after the series of murders
was made public
00:40:23
did it become
an interesting place
00:40:25
for people in fur coats
to visit after the opera,
00:40:28
so they could see for themselves
how well-off they were
00:40:31
and how miserable the others.
00:40:33
"Well, I'm going to be
really generous
00:40:35
and pay for a round of beer."
00:40:38
It was just to boost
their own ego.
00:40:43
-But it should never be
forgotten that Honka was
00:40:46
a violent killer who took away
00:40:47
the lives of four
innocent women.
00:40:50
-I think he's somebody
who did evil things,
00:40:53
but if we call him evil,
we let him off the hook.
00:40:57
We just simply
explain it away as,
00:40:58
"Well, this kind of
subhuman monster
00:41:00
that just does these things
because they're evil,"
00:41:02
and that removes
the possibility
00:41:04
that they've chosen
to do these things.
00:41:06
-It's entirely possible
that Honka would have got away
00:41:10
with it a little longer.
00:41:12
No one really had
complained particularly.
00:41:15
He'd had bodies in the flat
for almost five years.
00:41:18
He could well have had them
for another two years.
00:41:21
It is inevitable, however,
00:41:23
that eventually justice
would've caught up with Honka.
00:41:28
-Fritz Honka callously
killed four women
00:41:31
between 1970 and 1975.
00:41:34
He strangled them before
dismembering their bodies.
00:41:38
By attacking prostitutes,
00:41:40
he hoped his crimes
would never be revealed.
00:41:43
Had it not been for a fire
in his apartment block,
00:41:46
who knows just how many victims
may have been murdered
00:41:50
at the hands of Fritz Honka,
00:41:52
one of the world's
most evil killers.
00:41:56
♪♪
00:42:04
♪♪
00:42:12
♪♪
