Editing Fritz Haarmann (section)

===Adolescence and first offences===
Haarmann initially adapted to military life and performed well as a trainee soldier. However, after five months of military service, he began to suffer periodic lapses of [[consciousness]] which, although initially described by a medical professional as being sudden signs of [[anxiety disorder|anxiety neurosis]], were subsequently diagnosed as being "equivalent to [[epilepsy]]" in October 1895. The following month, Haarmann discharged himself from the military and returned to Hanover, where he briefly worked in a cigar factory his father had established in 1888.<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 24"/>

At age 16, Haarmann committed his first known sexual offences, all of which involved young boys whom he would lure to secluded areas—typically cellars—before proceeding to [[child sexual abuse|sexually abuse]] them. He was first arrested for committing offences of this nature in July 1896. Following further offences, the Division for Criminal Matters opted to place Haarmann in a [[Psychiatric hospital|mental institution]] in the city of [[Hildesheim]] in February 1897.<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 24"/> Although briefly transferred to a Hanover hospital for [[Psychological evaluation|psychiatric evaluation]], he would be certified as being "incurably [[Psychosis|deranged]]"<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 25</ref> and unfit to stand trial by a [[psychologist]] named Gurt Schmalfuß. Schmalfuß ordered Haarmann to be confined at the mental institution indefinitely. He was returned to the institution on 28 May 1897.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} pp. 25–26</ref>

Seven months later, in January 1898, Haarmann escaped the mental institution and, with apparent assistance from his mother, fled to [[Zürich]] in Switzerland. Here, he lived with a relative of his mother and obtained employment as a handyman in a shipyard. Haarmann remained in Zürich for sixteen months before he returned to Hanover in April 1899. Early the following year, he seduced and subsequently became engaged to a woman named Erna Loewert,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/haarman/5b.html|title=CrimeLibrary.com|access-date=26 February 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023150958/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/haarman/5b.html|archive-date=23 October 2014}}</ref> who soon became pregnant with his child.{{refn|group=n|Haarmann's fiancée would later arrange for this first pregnancy to be [[abortion|aborted]].}} In October 1900, Haarmann received notification to perform his compulsory military service.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 26</ref>