Peter Kurten, known as the Vampire of Dusseldorf, murdered two young foster sisters at a fairground on 23 August 1929, in one of a string of attacks that terrorised the city throughout that year. Born in Cologne in 1883, the eldest of 13 children, Kurten endured a childhood of brutal poverty and domestic terror, and had already demonstrated violent and sadistic tendencies from boyhood, including drowning two playmates on the Rhine at the age of nine.
His killing spree in 1929 left Dusseldorf gripped by fear. He was eventually arrested, tried, and convicted of nine murders, though police suspected him in as many as 68 attacks. His victims were overwhelmingly women and girls. He was executed by guillotine in July 1931. Shortly before his death, he asked the prison psychiatrist whether he would still be able to hear his own blood gushing from his neck after the blade fell. When told his brain might function for a few seconds, Kurten replied: ‘That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures.’
