Haarmann. Die Geschichte eines Werwolfs

In the autumn of 1924, Hanover was haunted by a monster in its midst. Fritz Haarmann, a WWI veteran turned butcher, had systematically murdered at least twenty-four young men, draining their blood and disposing of their bodies with terrifying methodical precision. When he was finally caught, the city confronted a horror it had been blind to for years. Theodor Lessing, a professor of psychology turned investigative reporter, covered the trial and produced something far more unsettling than a typical crime account. He dissects not just the mind of a killer, but the failures of an entire society: a complacent police force, a sensationalist press, and a judicial system more concerned with procedure than justice. Written in crisp, unsentimental prose, this book stands as one of the earliest and most penetrating examinations of what makes a serial killer, and more disturbingly, how a community enables one. It remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the darker currents of Weimar Germany.