Erwin Hagedorn

Erwin Hagedorn
Hagedorn in court in May 1972
Born	Hans Erwin Hagedorn (1952-01-30)30 January 1952 Eberswalde, Brandenburg, East Germany
Died	15 September 1972(1972-09-15) (aged 20) Leipzig Prison, Leipzig, East Germany
Cause of death	Execution by shooting
Criminal status	Executed
Motive	Sexual sadism
Conviction(s)	Murder with aggravating circumstances (3 counts) Sexual abuse of children Attempted sexual abuse of children
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	3
Span of crimes	1969–1971
Country	East Germany
State(s)	Eberswalde
Target(s)	Young boys
Weapon	Knife
Date apprehended	12 November 1971

Hans Erwin Hagedorn (30 January 1952 – 15 September 1972) was an East German serial killer who murdered three young boys from 1969 until 1971.

Murders

On 31 May 1969, Hagedorn killed two nine-year-old boys, Henry Specht and Mario Louis, in a forest in Eberswalde with a knife. The bodies were found two weeks later. Both victims died from deep cuts to the neck. One of the boys was cut so severely that his head was severed as a result of the rotting of the corpse. Extensive investigations were commenced, with a psychological offender profile being assembled and the Ministry for State Security obtaining documents about the case of West German child murderer Jürgen Bartsch. However, the first investigations were not successful.

Forest area where the first victims were found

On 7 October 1971, Hagedorn killed Ronald Winkler, a 12-year-old boy, in the same area and in the same way he had killed his first two victims. Shortly afterwards the decisive clue came from a boy who reported being sexually harassed in the year before the first murders took place. Erwin Hagedorn was arrested on 12 November 1971 and immediately confessed to the murders. East Germany had abolished capital punishment for juvenile offenders in 1952, meaning that Hagedorn could only face execution for the murder he committed in 1971, when he was an adult.

In May 1972, Hagedorn was convicted of three counts of murder with aggravating circumstances, sexual abuse, and attempted sexual abuse, and was sentenced to death. An appeal for clemency was denied by the Head of State Walter Ulbricht. The 20-year-old Hagedorn was executed by a single shot to the back of the neck on 15 September 1972. His body was cremated and buried in a secret place.

He was the last regular criminal executed in the German Democratic Republic, though executions for political-laden crimes continued until the abolition of capital punishment in the 1980s. The last execution is believed to be that of Werner Teske in 1981.

Hagedorn was shot by Hermann Lorenz, a Stasi officer who shot 29 people during his time as East Germany's executioner. During an interview, he said neither Hagedorn nor any of the other 28 people he executed cried out or resisted as they were escorted to the death chamber.

See also

• List of German serial killers
• Capital punishment in Germany

Documentary

Die großen Kriminalfälle: Tod einer Bestie – Der Fall Hagedorn, 2001 (German)

Literature

• Werremeier, Friedhelm: Der Fall Heckenrose, Bertelsmann, München / Gütersloh / Wien 1975, ISBN 3-570-00492-9.
• Brückweh, Kerstin: Mordlust. Serienmorde, Gewalt und Emotionen im 20. Jahrhundert. : Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York, NY 2006, ISBN 978-3-593-38202-9.
• Mittmann, Wolfgang: „Tatzeit. Große Fälle der deutschen Volkspolizei. Band 1 und 2“, Das Neue Berlin, Berlin 2000, S. 445–508, ISBN 3-360-00895-2.