The Murderer in Ruins (32 page)

T
here really was a ‘rubble murderer’ who claimed four victims in Hamburg in the terrible, cold winter of 1946–7. That was the name he was given at the time, a name that struck fear in people’s minds. But who he really was remains a mystery.

This thriller is based on the original case. I have done my best to depict the bombed-out city as accurately as possible, from the food rationing to the radio play that was broadcast on the newly founded North West German Radio (NWDR). A few of the figures who feature in this book really existed, such as Mayor Max Brauer and CID chief ‘Cuddel’ Breuer – whose nickname was spelled by some contemporary writers as ‘Kuddel’. In the case of the others I have allowed myself considerable artistic licence. There really was a police officer called Frank Stave, but my protagonist has nothing to do with this historical individual. Most of the other characters are invented, and any similarities with people alive at that time are pure chance.

The murders were played out just as described here: the details of the victims, the places where their bodies were found and many other details are based on the investigations carried out by the police and the pathologist’s reports. The wording on the posters erected is authentic as is much of the other data from the autopsies. On the other hand I have inserted a few other, small but consequential, details to help Chief Inspector Frank Stave track down the killer – sadly only in this book.

In reality there were no such clues. The police tried long and hard over several years to solve the case, but never found anything that might help them identify the killer or reveal his motive. The series of
killings ended, as abruptly as it began, with the fourth murder. All I can do is speculate as to the reason.

What remains even more shocking is that the detectives never identified the victims. Despite all the efforts, which I have described here – the posters and photographs put up, not just around the city of Hamburg but in all of occupied Germany – not one person ever came forward to identify the old man, either of the two women or the little girl. Whether or not they were related, whether there was any relationship at all between them and why they were marked out to die, remains to this day unknown.

I
n my research for this book I worked my way through mountains of literature, newspaper articles, letters and other documents. Particular thanks are due to Dr Ortwin Pelc from the Museum of Hamburg, Uwe Hanse from the city’s police museum and Wolfgang Kopitsch, previously at the regional police academy in Hamburg, now council leader in the North Hamburg district, all of whom gave me important advice and information about the city at the time. Dr Uwe Heldt of Mohrbooks and Angela Tsakiris of DuMont did a critical read-through of the manuscript. My most sincere thanks to all of them – and of course to my wife Françoise, and our children Julie and Anouk for their tolerance during many long, often late, hours spent at my computer.

CAY RADEMACHER
was born in 1965 and studied Anglo-American history, ancient history and philosophy in Cologne and Washington. He has been an editor at
Geo
since 1999, and was instrumental in setting up renowned history magazine
Geo-Epoche.
The Murderer in Ruins
is the first novel in the Inspector Stave series; Arcadia Books will publish parts 2 and 3 (
The Trafficker
and
The Forger
) in 2016 and 2017. He now lives in France with his wife and children, where his new crime series is set.

PETER MILLAR
is an award-winning British journalist, author and translator, and has been a correspondent for Reuters, the
Sunday Times
and
Sunday Telegraph.
He has written a number of books, including
All Gone to Look for America
and
1989:
The Berlin Wall, My Part in Its Downfall
. He has also translated, from German, Corinne Hofmann’s best-selling
White Masai
series of memoirs and Martin Suter’s
A Deal with the Devil.