Based on a true story
State police!!
Stand up with your hands above your head.
I gotthe case as a giftfrom my older colleagues in the department.
I've just turned thirty.
Everyone was proud of me as if I were their own son.
Peter Kuerten?.
I'm your attorney, Mr. Wehner!
Between February 1929 and October 1931
Peter Kuerten killed eight people and attacked a great many others.
He killed men and women, children and animals,
he killed anything that got in his way.
Hundreds of policemen were working on Kuerten's arrest.
Every possible method was used, from graphology to clairvoyance.
Once they even dressed a model in the clothes of one victim
and had her waltzing at various balls.
They hoped someone would recall her last dance partner's face.
1931 - year two of economic crisis
Dusseldorf was in the grip of a panic comparable to the kind
that Jack the Ripper caused in London in 1888.
The entire city was stuck in a stifling fog
that crept into your home through an open window.
Peter Kuerten?.
I'm your attorney, Mr. Wehner!
I would like to know!!! could you please tell me!!!
is my hair a mess?!
There are no mirrors here.
-Your hair is fine! -Honestly?.
Honestly!
There's not much I can offer you as refreshment! Maybe water.
-Would you Iike some water?. -No! Thank you!
Don't worry! The cup's quite clean.
I must confess I was expecting someone older!
I think you'll find out that I'm quite competent!
You intend to prove that I'm mentally ill?!
Are you?!
I don't think so! But that's what all crazy people say, isn't it?.
You were born in Mulheim in 1867 as the third of thirteen children!
-That's a big family! -Family!!!
My mother was an ordinary woman, in no way exceptional.
My grandfatherwas a thief, a brute, and an alcoholic!
Would you say that your father Ioved your mother?.
Can I ask you a personal question instead of giving you an answer?!
How would you define love?.
Unselfishness. Trust. Understanding!
And how did you come to that?. Found it in books, art?!
-In a dictionary?. -By observation!
-Observation of whom?. -People!
-Strangers?. -Yes.
-No! People around me. -Parents?.
-Of course. -Did your parents love each other?!
-Of course they loved each other! -How do you know?.
Mr. Kuerten, I'm good at what I do!
If you want to Ieave this cell alive, please answer my questions.
I was never innocent! In the end it was to my advantage!
There's no place for innocence in this world.
The entire country is watching us!
Monsters like Peter Kuerten have no place in our society.
A society built on hard work,
justice, freedom, equality and prosperity!
I promise, before the year ends, Peter Kuerten will be executed!
Welcome!
-Have you already met him?. -Yes, he will stand trial!
Yes of course!
Is Mr! Kuerten seeing a psychiatrist?!
The doctor declared him sane and responsible for his actions!
It's been only a few days and he already reached a decision?.
The case is clear!
PIease accept a complete file on Peter Kuerten.
I believe Mr. Kuerten is mentally ill.
I'll ask for lifelong detention in a mental ward, based on article 51!
You're still young, Mr! Wehner, nice, gentle and innocent!
But the crowd demands blood. They want to rip the Ripper apart!
They want a piece of raw meat to feast on.
And I will give it to them!
DearMom, dearDad, today I met Kuerten face to face.
Surprisingly, I wasn't afraid.
It's just as expected, he grew up in unbearable conditions.
My win would be easier but for some disturbing changes I sense.
I'm relying on you and your allies to exert pressure where it counts.
I hope that you plan to send a group to insure a fair trial.
Thank you foryour support. I'II do everything to win the case.
With love, Justus.
Mister Wehner?.
I ran away from home for the first time when I was eight!
I felt quite grown up!
That was when I killed the first two!
You have never mentioned this!
Well, it was just a spiteful joke.
I was playing with two boys my own age by the river!
We found an old raft,
and one of the boys and l were floating on it, not far!
I thought it might be fun to push him into the water.
He caught hold of the raft, and I figured out
that by shifting my weight I'd keep him from coming to the surface.
The other boy jumped in to save him, but he didn't know how to swim.
They both drowned!
And how did it make you feel?!
Just as though I'd found a diamond washed up on the shore!
-Still think I'm mentally ill?. -I'm sure of it!
Just Iike you're sure yourfather Ioves your mother!
If you were mentally sane you'd be overcome by horror!
-Horror overwhat you'd done. -Horror?!
What do you know about horror?!
Where I grew up, lots of dogs were dumped in the streets.
There was a man who would catch these street mutts.
No one spoke about the sounds heard coming from his flat!
I was awake every night and could heartheirtormented whining!
Sweet smells and screams came from behind the door.
That man taught me so many things.
After school I would regularly come and visit him.
We became good friends.
I made a surprising discovery then:
the gushing of blood, its coppery smell and dark color,
aroused a pleasant sensation!
I developed a strong addiction to that feeling!
There are times in life when you must close the door behind your old life
and enter a new one.
You first went to prison at the age of sixteen fortheft!
Over all I've spent twenty-seven years of my life in prison.
It was always for some trivial thing. I was unjustly punished!
So the fact that I committed unjust punishments in return
is the direct fault of the state.
That's hardly a reason for drowning those two boys!
And what is then?.
Maybe you hated them fortheir innocence which you rejected!
My mother and her daughters took turns sucking my dick!
-Doesn't it make your spine shiver?! -I find it revolting, that's all.
You're trying to maintain order in your little world!
You know what I was doing during puberty,
when you were still nuzzling your mother's panties?.
I was screwing dogs, sheep and pigs
while stabbing them with a knife.
The pigs were the best, and you know why?!
Guard!!!
What's going on?.
Power outage! It happens down here all the time!
The darkness has always been kind to me.
I've enjoyed spending time in isolation.
What do you think about in the dark?!
Naked women,
your skin rubbing against theirs,
theirfair hairs tickling your stomach, is that right?!
In the dark I dream of open wounds and bloodbaths,
bridges and dams being blown up,
and poisoned sweets for children!
It'll really be something when you tell this to your kids one day.
How they'll tremble when you say:
Imprisoned in the dark with Peter Kuerten!
And you survived it, so you can tell them about it!
Are they going to kill my husband?!
At first I thought no. But these are uncertain times.
People are upset. They want the blood of our politicians,
and it's quite Iikely that instead they'II settle for his blood!
-Will you help him?! -I need your help.
You could overturn the doctor's opinion and influence the jury.
He didn't do it.
Have you talked to him?.
I think he would rather talk to a priest.
I didn't know he was religious!
He isn't!
But he is afraid!
And they say that in the end all fear is the fear of God!
The man standing in front of you today is a monster.
I'm not trying to deny it any more than he himself is!
He's standing here accused of nine murders and seven murder attempts.
He killed men, women, children, animals.
Members of the jury, Peter Kuerten must be isolated from society.
But do we punish murderwith murder?! Are we to become what we despise?!
Or do we try to understand?! The question is simple:!
are monsters born or do we create them?.
Are monsters born or do we create them?.
We always eat boiled eggs!
Do you Iike boiled eggs?.
Why are you here, Mr. Wehner?.
As you know Peter Kuerten was arrested a few weeks ago!
Do you know the date of his execution?!
Some minor gaps in the Iegal file still need to be filled.
Are you suggesting he might not get the ultimate sentence?.
Mr. Klein, I'd like to learn more about what happened 20 years ago.
The documentation on your case is ongoing, slowing down the trial.
I think all of us wish to see him executed as soon as possible!
He broke into our house on the twenty-fifth of May.
The damn cops said he probably came to steal.
He opened the register but took almost nothing in the end.
He didn't come to steal!
He came to kill.
He stood so close to us.
But we...
we slept!
In the morning afterthey took Christine away
they found the handkerchief!
His initials were on it!
P.K. As in Peter Kuerten
but also Peter Klein, my brother!
They released him for Iack of evidence!
In a small town, evidence has no value!
He hanged himself a few weeks after he was released.
I didn't know that.
Can I ask you a question?!
What was special about Christine?!
I mean was there something that could attract the murderer?.
The color of her eyes?.
Was she mature enough for her age to attract him as a woman?!
She was my daughter!
You come to our house asking what was special about her?.
That bastard stabbed herto death, raped her
and left her in bed Iike a piece of dirty rag!
I just want his blood now!
-I am sorry about the question! -Get out!
I was watching Christine!
She was Iying in the casket and she knew I did it!
And she was the only one who knew I was smiling.
She was the first girl that let me experience happiness!
My first true love!
Yourwife believes that you are innocent.
She says that what's in the newspapers is a Iie.
AII of these incredibly morbid deeds must be someone else's work!
So what's the truth?! Are you a Iiar?. Or just boasting?.
Are you making up dirty stories to get aroused at night?.
Or did you just not have the guts to brag to your wife?.
You're proud of what you did, of how amazing you are, aren't you?!
You want to tell the whole world so why not tell her?!
Before I met Peter I used to be a street girl.
Some men... that is, those who used to see me regularly,
really cared about me!
One tried to convince me to give up my job!
We saw each otherfor eight years.
His wife wasn't well
and he felt it would be cruel to Ieave her,
so we waited until she died,
but when that happened he no longer wanted to marry me!
He broke my heart!
I wanted to kill him but I couldn't!
I left the city and swore that I would never come back.
Then I met Peter!
We fell in love!
We needed each other!
-He needed me, I needed him. -And do you still need him?!
-Are you married?. -Me?. No!
Have you not met the right woman?.
I have, Eva, a girl who lived in a village
my family used to visit on holidays,
but after school I went straight on to study Iaw. It paid off!
-Was it your or your parents' wish?! -I wanted it!
Do you get along well with your parents?!
I want them to be proud of what I do. I want to be the best.
I'm sure they're proud of you!
Your decision to defend Peter is brave!
Considering all the Iies about him in the papers!
I am obliged to tell you the charges raised against your husband!
I would like to see him, Mr! Wehner.
Your husband is charged with eight murders
committed in the past two years
and one murder committed twenty years ago.
He is my husband! And he is in prison.
He needs me.
Some man is waiting for you outside!
Have you ever seen a corpse, Mr! Wehner?!
A dead child or at least a dead dog?!
Have you everwiped prints off a child's broken hand?.
Ever seen a slit throat with the head held by the skin left on?.
I would prefer you stay away until the trial is over!
Kuerten promised a full confession only during the trial!
-He wants to show off. -My client is sick, Mr. Wenge.
His behavior is a consequence of terror he experienced at home!
He is taking his revenge for what he had to bear!
We shouldn't allow him to speak in public.
He's just a dirty ass killer jerking off on victims' graves!
Should you manage to persuade him to confess priorto the trial...
Bear in mind your good reputation!
You don't want to besmirch the good name of yourfamily, do you?.
DearMom, dearDad, I need to speak with you.
Perhaps I only need to be assured about the opposite,
but I'm afraid I'm getting too involved in the case.
I sleep badly, and then my mind gets hazy
and I can't remember how I got to where I am right now.
As if my thoughts didn't come from me. Do you know where Eva is?
I remember the summer day we spent together.
We married a few weeks Iater!
He was my support.
We were happy!
I sat for hours in the endless dark
and remembered my old crimes and dreamed of new ones!
I felt this uncontrollable urge getting stronger!
I tried to suppress this compulsion inside me!
But it was impossible!
I had a great respect for Marie!
But when I got between herthighs, I thought of killing!
I thought of Christine's frightened eyes.
That night, I decided finally to return to Dusseldorf!
Then I heard the noise.
I felt like a king! Enough denying, enough pretending,
I am not Iike the "innocent" around me!
I understood my true nature!
And God who arranged this welcome for me
gave me a clear sign that he was on my side.
Thank you for your honesty! Yourtestimony is important!
Good night, Mr. Wehner!
What do you feel towards yourfather, Peter?.
I hated him, Justus.
-When did you Iast see him?. -I don't remember!
I'II remind you! You saw him in the fall three years ago!
He was seriously ill and he sent for you.
You looked after him. You gave him money, clothing, food.
When the police approached him,
he did not deny that you had an unhappy childhood,
but he also mentioned good times you spent together!
For example, strolling on the beach of the North Sea!
Do you rememberthe story he used to tell you?! You couldn't get enough of it!
On that shore, many years ago, a ship had sunk!
No one survived and the cargo and treasure were lost!
At night during heavy storms it is possible
to catch sight of the broken hull and the broken mast of the ship.
It was said that after such a storm, if you combed through sand!!!
...you'd find a diamond!
-From a Iong-Iost treasure... -!!!washed up on the shore.
There's no doubt Peter Kuerten must be isolated from society.
This is not a matter of guilt, but of mental health!
Article 51 defines mental disorder as "a state of consciousness
or mental illness keeping a person from acting of his own free will."
Members of the jury.
This case will test the very foundations of our Iegal system.
It's not just Peter Kuerten who is on trial, but society itself!
A society which doesn't realize that the outcome of a trial
can in the nearfuture be used against everyone of us.
Let us judge a man for his failures,
Iet us judge him for not being able to control his passions.
Passions that are common to us all!
Our dilemma is the following:
Does Peter Kuerten sufferfrom such a disorder
that would free him of responsibility for his crimes?!
-Good morning, Mr. Wehner! -I'm so sorry, my friend!
Mr! Wenge simply talked me into this! It was a deal.
You know, gentlemen, I was telling my attorney
this moving story about the diamond! I think I got to him.
It seems that just about any story with fathers or mothers
will surely put Mr. Wehner into a sentimental mood.
You haven't by chance brought any coffee with you, have you?!
Mr. Kuerten, are you ready now to give us your confession?.
With pleasure!
You returned to Dusseldorf in 1929! What happened then?!
I was looking around! Waiting! I was working on the image
of a nice and mild man! And then it began.
On February 3, you attacked a housemaid, Mrs. Kuhn!
Twenty-four stab wounds to her body and head!
Yes!
Mrs. Kuhn crawled to a hospital two streets away.
They managed to save her life, but she lost her memory.
I bought brand new scissors, and the point broke!
No one is doing his work with pride these days!
Just ten days Iater, February 13, Rudolf Scheer!
Yes, I killed him.
Twenty stab wounds to his body and head!
At least he died during Carnival Week!
March 3, little Rose Ohliger.
Fourteen, eyes black as night.
Thirteen stab wounds to her body and head! Raped!
I had some fun with her after she was dead! I would never torture children.
You dumped her body in a construction site and burned it.
That's because I'm so sensitive. The flames were wonderful!
She reminded me of Iittle Christine.
I stood in the crowd next day, watched her being carried away.
I talked to a policeman there - he looked a bit like you -
and asked him if they had any idea who did it!
The man gabbed but on the whole he didn't say much, poor man.
You carried out two more unsuccessful attacks on April 29!
Yes, that wasn't my happiest day. Moreover, I feel
that some illiterate imbecile named Strausberg was sentenced for it.
That idiot even confessed to other of my crimes...
Please keep to facts, Mr! Kuerten!
Saturday, October 23.
The Goldman sisters! Louise was fourteen, Gertrude only five.
I remember that just like today!!!
I stabbed her only twice.
Of all my victims, the most pleasant death was hers!
On her return, I killed Luisa too but waited until I got my change.
In the fall of 1931 Josefine Budlick came up to you in the street
and asked whether you could recommend a lodging house.
-You suggested your place! -Yes, I took herto my place.
I asked whether she would go to bed with me!
She said she would rather die!
You must have known they would arrest you! You wanted to stop?.
For over twenty years they couldn't catch me!
Do you really think I gave up just Iike that?.
That I felt my conscience pressing against me?!
I told you, my dearfriend, there are times
when you must close the door to your old Iife
and enter a new one.
As I looked at the wound in my palm
I realized that I had a long journey ahead of me.
I dreamed of saving the city from a horrific threat,
from a vampire, a werewolf, a phantom.
I returned victorious from a Iong and bloody battle,
and people were grateful to me and admired me.
They organized a torchlight procession in my honor.
They took the authorities by force
and demanded the president's head!
They installed me in his place.
Peter Kuerten! The Saviour!
-But that was only a dream! -A dream?! Look around you.
The people suffer from the stupid belief
that the world can be a beautiful place for the innocent!
This idea tortures them.
They need a new Ieaderto guide them in the world without guilt!
There is no such world.
And who are the innocent then?. My mother?. My father?!
My wife?!
Marie knows the murders everyone talks about are my doing.
And yet she stands by me! She needs me.
She needs to believe that I am innocent just the same way
as you need to believe that yourfather Ioves your mother!
But that is an illusion!
Marie has Iied to you the same way as you parents did.
There is no place for innocence in this world.
Even you are not innocent, Justus. Accept it! Stop Iying to yourself!
He is my husband. He needs me.
You didn't tell us that you would be defending that bastard.
We took you to her room.
She was not just an item in a file! She was our daughter! Our Iife!
Have you no respect for Iife?. You defend a monster?!
You are a monster yourself!
I won't Iet you.
DearMom, dearDad, it's so easy, isn't it?.
We say the Iaw, a fairtrial with the same composure
as we say stabbed, murdered or dead.
You separated me from Eva. I lost the only thing that mattered to me.
Is this what you wanted from me? The future I suffered so much fo?
Are you proud of me now?
Where are you, now that I need you?
Why do you not write at all?!!
I know he killed that girl twenty years ago.
But the others?!
The others?.
Can it be true?.
He killed Doris Hahn on May 20.
He tried to crucify her, but the body was too heavy.
So he hid her in a shallow grave where he'd return to masturbate!
In September during the course of one day, he attacked two ladies.
Mrs! Dorrierwas beaten by a hammer!
With Ida Reuther he danced all night.
When he walked her home he cracked her skull with the same hammer!
On November 3, five-year-old Liza AIbermann went missing.
Her parents last saw her in a park playing with a kite!
He dragged her into a factory! He drank blood from her skull.
The next day he sent a Ietterto the papers telling where to find the bodies.
He showed us how stupid we were!
The parents recognized Doris Hahn only by the earrings
they had bought her the day before the murder!
After I gave Iife to Josefine I decided to see Marie.
I wanted to confess everything to her!
But I told her only about Christine, couldn't say any more!
First, she suggested we should kill ourselves.
I told her that I deserve to be punished
but also that there was a big reward on my head.
She was offended by my proposal, but I persuaded her
that turning me in wouldn't be a betrayal!
She didn't turn me in because of the reward.
She did it out of Iove.
She understood I wanted it. She understood I needed it!
And what was it?.
Destruction, Justus! Destruction!
Sane people do not long for destruction.
I will become a martyr and people will celebrate me!
You're insane.
Of course! And you know that Justus, don't you?.
You know everything. Only you.
And me.
You see that wasp?.
It was buzzing around my head, and then spiraled to the ground!
I was watching it die!
Why?! Out of anger?! Or compassion?.
I can't tell the two apart anymore.
-She spoke very nicely about you! -Who?.
My wife!!! I wouldn't mind.
Don't you think she is attractive?!
-What are you trying to say?. -You misunderstood me.
I think only the best of you, just Iike she does.
You are my client. She is your wife!
Yeah! And what good am I to her now?.
I want herto be happy!
She needs a man who would bring some decency into her life,
a bit of purity!
AII of which I could never have given to her!
Your life is coming to an end, Mr! Kuerten, not hers.
A wife of Peter Kuerten?. That monster?!
Just think, Justus: if not you, who else then?!
Who could see through it?.
Members of the jury. The question is simple:!
are monsters born or do we create them?.
Do you still think I'm mentally ill?.
The man standing here today is a monster.
I was never innocent!
He is standing here accused of nine murders and seven murder attempts.
Just as though I'd found a diamond.
You are proud of what you did, how amazing you are!
I dreamed of saving the city from a horrific threat!
From a vampire, a phantom.
I feel no pity for my victims.
This case will test the very foundations of our Iegal system.
-Crowds celebrate me... -The case is not just about Kuerten,
-The Saviour!!! -!!!but society itself.
My father, my mother?! Do you think I felt my conscience?.
Our dilemma is the following: Does Kuerten have a disorder
that would free him of responsibility for his crimes?!
There's no place for innocence in this world!
-Punish murder with murder?. -Even you are not innocent, Justus.
-Are we to become what we despise?! -Accept it!
-Or do we try to understand?! -Stop Iying to yourself!
Members of the jury. You know what this man has done.
He is mentally deranged. He is mentally deranged!
Should you decide otherwise, then God help us.
Thejury was gone for only half an hour.
Peterwas sentenced to nine death penalties.
The judge said that he had committed his crimes cold-bloodedly,
that during the trial he appeared clever, calm and even-tempered.
He said that Peter Kuerten was normal.
Dear Mom, dear Dad. I would like you to know
that I no longer expect you to write back. I am leaving.
For where Eva has gone. Far away from you.
This is my very Iast letter to you. Forget that I'm your son. Justus.
J ustus, I worried you wouldn't come! I wanted to thank you.
-For what?. -For your patience!
Have you eaten?.
Wiener schnitzel, potatoes, and even wine. Delicious!
How do you feel?.
Quite full!
-Justus?. -Yes?.
Ever since the verdict, I sleep peacefully!
-Are other people Iike that too?! -Some of them are.
And they Iove each other without fear, without pain?.
-You received a Iot of mail! -Hate mail?!
-Mostly! -And the rest?.
Some ask for an autograph, some for marriage.
Justus, I am not the only one, and I am not the Iast one!
While we two are talking here, others are being born and molded;
at home, in prison, in a children's playground.
And they are all normal.
Do you have a Iast wish?!
Last wish?.
Tell me!!!
how do I Iook?!
Good!
-Honestly?. -Honestly!
Yes, I have a Iast wish.
I want to Iive Iong enough
to hear my blood gushing out of my neck.
In the years thatfollowed Kuerten's execution,
millions of other "normal"people, were doing things
they neverthought they'd be capable of.
I was lucky.
I fled the country before too much blood stained my hands.
I don't know if there's a God. But if there is,
then when Judgment Day comes, we will all face Him.
And I can only hope that He will not judge us as the monsters we became,
but as the children we once were.
In Ioving memory of Hana Sevcikova