In the early 1930s, a child murderer spread fear and terror in the north. On February 22, 1936, Adolf Seefeld was convicted of twelve murders in Schwerin, and he was executed on May 23. He may have killed more children.
by Benjamin Unger
As a last meal he wants a fried chicken. The horror came to an end the next morning:Adolf Seefeld was executed in Schwerin on May 23, 1936. For the Schwerin criminalist Michael Stricker, Seefeld is the "most terrible serial killer in German criminal history". For decades he probably murdered, allegedly killing little boys after sexual abuse. In Parchim, Rostock, Ludwigslust and other cities in the north-east.
Adolf Seefeld responsible for 100 child murders?
Adolf Seefeld does not confess to any of the crimes, but is convicted of twelve murders in a circumstantial trial. "We examined and reanalyzed the court files, documents and reports from that time. According to the latest archive finds, there are at least twenty murders committed by Seefeld," says Stricker. He actually assumes that significantly more children were killed:"It is very likely that Adolf Seefeld committed up to 100 murders."
On the way as an unsuspecting watchmaker
It was the 1920s and 1930s in the German Reich:Adolf Seefeld, who came from Potsdam, traveled around as a watchmaker without a fixed address. He comes to northern German villages and towns, repairs broken clocks and is popular with children as "Uncle Tick-Tock". Photos show a nondescript man:a gray hat, a long black coat, a neutral look at the camera. But that only seems to be a facade:he is always in prison. "Because of sexual offenses against boys," as it was called at the time. "Seefeld was an intelligent psychopath. He always behaved inconspicuously, mostly lived in the forest," explains Stricker. "But then he acted coldly and unscrupulously in his actions:he emotionally wrapped up the children, tricked them with his friendly facade - and that's how the disaster took its course."
Did "Uncle Tick-Tock" poison the boys?
The dead boys are usually found in remote forest areas - external violence is not visible on them.Seefeld apparently lures the children into a forest or other remote, deserted places. There he then probably violates the boy. He could have drugged or poisoned the children beforehand - this is not proven. In 1898, Adolf Seefeld began murdering:"He wanted to use this to cover up his crimes against sex," says Stricker, a detective. "Before, the abused children had often betrayed him, so now he killed the direct witnesses."
Between 1933 and 1935 alone, several boys were found dead in forests in north-eastern Germany. They are between five and 13 years old. "It was terrible what happened back then," says Hamburg historian Anne-Kathrin Kompisch, who dealt with the Seefeld case in her dissertation. "The archive photos of the dead children and the places where they were found are really horrifying. From today's perspective, it is almost unbelievable that Seefeld was not found out much earlier."
Cause of death "death by freezing"
Again and again there are clues that connect Seefeld with the victims - but the police never have concrete evidence:Neither poison nor a narcotic was found on the victims. There is also no evidence of sexual abuse. The deaths are not followed up either, there is no reason to:the dead children are always found as if they had fallen asleep. Doctors always determine the cause of death:"death from freezing".
And there was another problem in the German Reich at the time, which favored the course of the series of murders:"There was no nationwide police network as we know it today. No exchange of cases, data, incidents. That's not how the accumulation of dead boys in the Northeast happened really up," explains criminalist and author Michael Stricker.
Book tip on the subject
Frank-Rainer Schurich and Michael Stricker:"The serial killer Adolf Seefeld and modern criminalistics" Publisher:Dr. Köster, Berlin, 2015
Police series - historical criminalistics
ISBN:978-3-895-74875-2
392 pages
24.95 euros
Critical information comes from Grabow
Then, in March 1935, there was a decisive turning point:a nine-year-old schoolboy was found dead in the woods in Wittenberge. Now witnesses recall seeing an elderly man with the boy. "But the most important tip comes from a sergeant from Grabow," explains Stricker. "He remembers an older case:At that time, an older man tried to lure two boys into the forest - but that didn't work. The policeman took the man's personal details." It was:Adolf Seefeld. A search for Seefeld was immediately carried out using mug shots. He was arrested in the Neuruppin district just 48 hours later.
From his notes and various testimonies, it quickly becomes clear that Seefeld was often in the exact same place at the time when boys were being killed there.
Trial with a clear enemy image of the National Socialists
For a long time no connection was seen between the numerous deaths. In the process, Seefeld denies everything.In January 1936, the trial against Adolf Seefeld began before the Schwerin district court. The trial lasts a month, experts and more than 150 witnesses testify. The trial was accompanied by the press controlled by the National Socialists:"The Nazis used the case for their propaganda:against homosexuals and so-called vagrants," says historian Kompisch in her analysis of newspaper reports from the time. "On the other hand, there is no criticism, for example of the police, who initially did not investigate at all."
Seefeld makes no confession in the process. In the end it is a circumstantial process, there is no evidence. The verdict:He is sentenced to death for twelve counts of murder. "The cruel deeds of serial killers like Fritz Haarmann are very well known nowadays. On the other hand, almost nobody knows the case of the multiple child murderer Adolf Seefeld. He was one of the most terrible German serial killers ever," says Michael Stricker.