Editing Fritz Haarmann (section)

==Criminal career==
For the next decade, Haarmann primarily lived as a petty thief, burglar, and [[con artist]]. Although he did occasionally obtain legitimate employment, he invariably stole from his employers or their customers. Beginning in 1905, he served several short prison sentences for offences such as [[larceny]], [[embezzlement]], and assault. On one occasion when working legitimately as an invoice clerk, Haarmann became acquainted with a female employee with whom he later claimed to have robbed several [[tombstones]] and graves between 1905 and 1913 (he was never charged with these offences).<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} pp. 29–31</ref> Consequently, Haarmann spent the majority of the years between 1905 and 1912 in jail.<ref>Cannibalism: The Last Taboo! {{ISBN|978-1-859-58495-8}} p. 109</ref>

In late 1913, Haarmann was arrested for burglary. A search of his home revealed a hoard of stolen property linking him to several other burglaries. Despite protesting his innocence, Haarmann was charged with and convicted of a series of burglaries and frauds. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for these offences.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 29</ref>

Due to compulsory conscription resulting from the outbreak of [[World War I]], Germany saw a shortage of available domestic manpower. In the final years of his prison sentence, Haarmann was permitted to work throughout the day on the grounds of various [[manor house]]s near the town of [[Rendsburg]],<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 31</ref> with instructions to return to prison each evening. Upon his release from prison in April 1918, he initially moved to [[Berlin]] before opting to return to Hanover, where he briefly lived with one of his sisters before renting a single-room apartment in late August 1918.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 33</ref>
[[File:Food Queues Weimar Republic 1918 Hanover.jpg|right|thumb|The years following the loss of [[World War I]] saw an increase in poverty, crime, and [[black market]] trading in the [[Weimar Republic]].]]

According to Haarmann, he was struck by the poverty of the German nation as a result of the loss the nation had suffered in World War I. Through his initial efforts to both trade and purchase stolen property at [[Hanover Central Station]], Haarmann established several criminal contacts with whom he could trade in contraband property, and he immediately reverted to the criminal life he had lived before his 1913 arrest.<ref name="nydailynews.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/butcher-hanover-article-1.300659|title=The Justice Story: The Butcher of Hanover|access-date=7 November 2017|newspaper=Daily News|date=18 October 2008}}</ref>

===Police informant===
Despite police knowledge that Haarmann was both a known criminal and a known homosexual,<ref name="Weimar p.50">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 50</ref>{{refn|group=n|Homosexuality was illegal and punishable by imprisonment in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.<ref name="Weimar p.50"/>}} he gradually began to establish a relationship with law enforcement as an [[Informant|informer]], largely as a means of redirecting the attention of the police from himself and his own criminal activities,<ref>Cannibalism: The Last Taboo! {{ISBN|978-1-859-58495-8}} p. 110</ref> and to facilitate his access to young males. By 1919,<ref name="ReferenceD">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 35</ref> Haarmann is known to have regularly patrolled Hanover station,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/butcher-hanover-article-1.300659|title=The Justice Story: The Butcher of Hanover|access-date=29 November 2017|newspaper=Daily News|date=18 October 2008}}</ref> and to have provided police with information relating to the city's extensive criminal network. With the cooperation of several police officials, Haarmann devised a ruse whereby he would offer to [[Fence (criminal)|fence]] or store stolen property at his premises, then pass this information to police, who would then raid his property at agreed times and arrest these contacts.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} pp. 50–51</ref> To remove any suspicion as to his treachery reaching the criminal fraternity, Haarmann himself would be arrested in these raids. Moreover, on numerous occasions, he is known to have performed [[citizen's arrest]]s upon commuters for offences such as travelling on forged documents. As a result of these activities, police began to rely on Haarmann as a reliable source of information regarding various criminal activities in Hanover, and he was allowed to patrol Hanover station largely at will.<ref>Cannibalism: The Last Taboo! {{ISBN|1-859-58495-0}} p. 110</ref>