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Fritz Heinrich Angerstein (January 3, 1891 – November 17, 1925) was a German mass murderer who killed his wife and seven other people at his home in Haiger, German Reich on December 1, 1924. Later that day he set fire to the house, stabbed himself and claimed a group of bandits was responsible for the crime, though within three days he confessed to have committed the murders himself. After a sensational trial that was widely publicised by the media at that time, Angerstein was sentenced to death. The verdict was carried out on November 17, 1925. ==Life== Angerstein was born on January 3, 1891 in Dillenburg, the seventh of ten children. His father worked as a carpenter, and later as a steelworker, and was also the mayor of his community.〔(Die Glocke ); 1925.〕〔(Der Angerstein-Prozeß ), ''Coburger Zeitung'' (July 7, 1925).〕〔Cite error: The named reference VZ0607A was invoked but never defined〕 From an early age Angerstein suffered from tuberculosis and had a rib surgically removed. At the age of 14 Angerstein began working for a land surveying bureau, before being employed by the Nassauische Bergbau AG. Since 1917 he was procurator of a limestone mine in Haiger, which was taken over by the firm van der Zypen in 1920.〔〔(F 65 - Hüttenwerke Siegerland AG / Hoesch Siegerlandwerke AG ), ''Archive in Nordrhein-Westfalen''.〕 In 1911, Angerstein married Käthe Barth, a devout methodist.〔〔 The marriage was described as happy and Angerstein gave the impression of a loving and caring husband, even though he suffered under the ailing condition of his wife,〔 who not only was afflicted with severe hysteria, but also fell ill with an unknown intestinal disease in 1920.〔Herren, Rüdiger: (Freud und die Kriminologie: Einführung in die psychoanalytische Kriminologie ); F. Enke, 1973.〕 All the while Angerstein himself suffered from various types of tuberculosis.〔 The couple had no children, though Angerstein's wife miscarried six times.〔〔Davies, Owen: (Grimoires: A History of Magic Books ); Oxford University Press, 2010.〕 The relationship with his mother-in-law was said to have been strained, because they were unable to have any children and because of her poor treatment of his wife. Angerstein related that she often reduced her daughter's diet to soup, due to her ailments, though apparently she often scorched the meal, whereupon his wife wouldn't eat anything at all. According to his own testimony Angerstein once whipped his mother-in-law with a dog whip, because of a burnt meal, after his wife had run away because of her. In the same instance Angerstein also decided to shoot his mother-in-law and himself should his wife not return home.〔 In 1921, Käthe wrote a letter to her husband, telling him that due to her illness she couldn't be the wife he needed. After Angerstein had talked to her about the matter they made the mutual decision to drown themselves, since they were both sick at that time. However, when Angerstein was carrying his wife into the water and they were already halfway in, they heard someone sing a song, whereupon they came, as he relayed, to their senses again and aborted their suicide attempt.〔〔 Also in 1921, Angerstein, together with his wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, moved to Haiger after he received free lodging in a villa belonging to van der Zypen.〔〔 His salary was 390 Reichsmark per month. The ground floor consisted of five bureaus for Angerstein and his assistants, first floor living quarters for himself and his wife, his sister-in-law and mother-in-law, and the attic for their maidservant. Angerstein claimed van der Zypen owed him 90,000 Mark.〔 Angerstein got into financial troubles, whereupon he began to embezzle money from his employer. According to court the total sum was 14,892 Reichsmark. The fraud was discovered by one of Angerstein's colleagues in November 1924.〔 On the Friday before the murders, Angerstein witnessed his wife put away a notebook containing her last wishes, stating she was expecting to die soon. Angerstein, in the night from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 found and read the notebook.〔 On the Saturday before the murders, Angerstein met with procurist Nix, for wage accounting, paid salaries.〔 Nix confronted him with the discrepancies in the accounting.〔 Startled by six shots during the night in front of the house, his wife was suffering from bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fainting and heart problems due to the agitation.〔〔 Angerstein learnt the next day that the shots had been fired during a birthday party. Angerstein suffered from severe headaches.〔〔Lethen, Helmut: (''Cool Conduct: The Culture of Distance in Weimar Germany'' ), trans. Don Reneau; University of California Press, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 2002.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fritz Angerstein」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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