Editing Fritz Haarmann (section)

==Known and alleged murders==
Between 1918 and 1924, Haarmann committed at least twenty-four murders, although he is suspected of murdering a minimum of twenty-seven. All of his victims were males between the ages of 10 and 22, the majority of whom were in their mid- to late-teens. The victims were lured back to one of three addresses in which Haarmann is known to have resided throughout those years. He is known to have killed upon the promise of assistance, accommodation, work, or under the pretence of arrest. At Haarmann's apartment, the victim was typically given food and drink before Haarmann bit into his [[Adam's apple]], often as he was [[strangulation|strangled]].<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 80">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 80</ref> Often this caused the victim to die of asphyxiation, but on several occasions Haarmann bit completely through his victims' Adams apple and [[trachea]].<ref name="A Plague of Murder Chapter 3">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRieBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT74|title=A Plague of Murder|first=Colin|last=Wilson|date=7 February 2013|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|access-date=26 February 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1-472-10802-9}}</ref> (Haarmann referred to the act of biting through his victims' neck as his "[[love bite]]".)<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 99">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 99</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/215220421|title=There Are-Vampires To-day!|access-date=26 October 2020|newspaper=The Glenelg Guardian|date=29 July 1936}}</ref>
[[File:Ihme Muendung Leine Hannover 2005-03-21 00.jpg|right|thumb|The Leine River, into which Haarmann disposed of many of his victims' dismembered remains]]

All of Haarmann's known victims were dismembered before their bodies were discarded, usually in the [[River Leine|Leine River]], although the dismembered body of his first known victim had simply been buried,<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 65">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 65</ref> and the body of his last victim had been thrown into a lake located at the entrance to the [[Herrenhausen Gardens]].<ref name="ReferenceJ">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 124</ref>

Haarmann typically kept his victims' personal possessions for himself or his lover, Hans Grans. Alternatively, they would be sold on the black market through criminal contacts he and Grans had established at Hanover Central Station. However, the personal possessions of some victims were sold to legitimate retailers. In several instances, both Haarmann and Grans gave possessions belonging to various victims to acquaintances as gifts.<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 86">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 86</ref>

Following Haarmann's arrest, rumours circulated that Haarmann ate the flesh of his victims, or sold it on the black market as pork or horse meat.<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 60">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 60</ref> Although no evidence was ever produced to confirm these theories, Haarmann was known to be an active trader in contraband meat,<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 81">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 81</ref> which was invariably boneless, diced, and often sold as [[ground meat]].<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 54">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 54</ref> When asked where he obtained the meat, Haarmann sometimes said he had obtained the produce from a butcher named "Karl", although investigators would later note that the stories Haarmann told his acquaintances regarding the origins of this individual varied.<ref name=Perth>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/76438969|title=Fiend in Human Form: Jack the Ripper Deeds Outdone|date=31 January 1925|work=The Mirror (Perth)|access-date=24 October 2020}}</ref><ref name=RealLife>Real Life Crimes, p. 2651, {{ISBN|1-85875-440-2}}</ref>

===First known victim===
Haarmann's first known victim was a 17-year-old runaway named Friedel Rothe. When Rothe disappeared on 25 September 1918, his friends told police he was last seen with Haarmann, who at the time resided in a single-room apartment at 27 Cellerstraße. Under pressure from Rothe's family, police raided Haarmann's apartment in October 1918, where they found him in the company of a semi-naked 13-year-old boy.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 83</ref> He was charged with both the [[sexual assault]] and [[Battery (crime)|battery]]<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 37">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 37</ref> of a minor, and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. (Haarmann later confessed to detectives that at the time they had searched his apartment, Rothe's head was stowed behind his stove, wrapped in newspaper.)<ref>Real Life Crimes, p. 2652, {{ISBN|1-85875-440-2}}.</ref>

Haarmann avoided serving his sentence throughout 1919. That October, he met an 18-year-old youth named Hans Grans, who had run away from his home in Berlin following an argument with his father on 1 October. Grans had slept rough in and around Hanover station for approximately two weeks—selling old clothes<ref name="ReferenceE">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19240716&id=YnwuAAAAIBAJ&pg=3040,1969303|title=Aided Murderer: Second-hand Dealer Wanted Victims' Clothes|access-date=16 December 2017|newspaper=The Gazette|location=Montreal|date=16 July 1924}}</ref> in and around the station to earn enough money to simply eat—before he encountered Haarmann.<ref name="A Plague of Murder Chapter 3"/>

===Relationship with Hans Grans===
In his subsequent confessions to police, Grans stated that, although his sexual orientation was heterosexual, he himself initiated contact with Haarmann, with the intention of prostituting himself, having heard of Haarmann's homosexuality through acquaintances he had established in Hanover.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 41</ref> Haarmann himself stated following his arrest that he viewed Grans as being "like a son" to him, adding that he "pulled him [Grans] out of the ditch and tried to make sure he didn't go to the dogs."<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 42">Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 42</ref>

Shortly after their initial acquaintance, Haarmann invited the youth to move into his apartment, and Grans became Haarmann's lover and criminal accomplice.<ref>[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/history/haarman/1b.html trutv.com].</ref> According to Haarmann, although he was smitten with Grans,<ref name="Monsters of Weimar p. 42"/> he gradually became aware that the youth manipulated and, occasionally, mocked him. On several occasions, Grans was evicted after heated arguments, only for Haarmann to plead with him to come back. Despite the manipulation Haarmann endured at the hands of his accomplice, he later claimed to tolerate the capitulation as he craved Grans' companionship and affection,<ref name="news.google.com">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19241219&id=yepPAAAAIBAJ&pg=2918,5611359|title=The Evening Independent |via= Google News Archive Search|access-date=26 February 2017}}</ref> adding: "I had to have someone I meant everything to."<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 45</ref>

Haarmann served the nine-month prison sentence imposed in 1918 for sexual assault and battery between March and December 1920. Upon his release, he again regained the trust of the police and again became an informer.<ref name=Perth /> Haarmann initially resided in a hotel, before he and Grans lodged with a middle-class family.<ref name=RealLife />

Through criminal contacts, Haarmann became aware of a vacant ground-floor apartment located at 8 Neue Straße. The apartment was located in a densely populated, old house located alongside the Leine River. Haarmann secured a letting agreement with the landlady, ostensibly to use the property for storage purposes. He and Grans moved into 8 Neue Straße on 1 July 1921.<ref>Monsters of Weimar {{ISBN|1-897743-10-6}} p. 47</ref>