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A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer
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A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer Hardcover - 2014

by Scott Andrew Selby


Summary

As the Nazi war machine caused death and destruction throughout Europe, one man in the Fatherland began his own reign of terror.

This is the true story of the pursuit and capture of a serial killer in the heart of the Third Reich.


For all appearances, Paul Ogorzow was a model German. An employed family man, party member, and sergeant in the infamous Brownshirts, he had worked his way up in the Berlin railroad from a manual laborer laying track to assistant signalman. But he also had a secret need to harass and frighten women. Then he was given a gift from the Nazi high command.

Due to Allied bombing raids, a total blackout was instituted throughout Berlin, including on the commuter trains—trains often used by women riding home alone from the factories.

Under cover of darkness and with a helpless flock of victims to choose from, Ogorzow’s depredations grew more and more horrific. He escalated from simply frightening women to physically attacking them, eventually raping and murdering them. Beginning in September 1940, he started casually tossing their bodies off the moving train. Though the Nazi party tried to censor news of the attacks, the women of Berlin soon lived in a state of constant fear.

It was up to Wilhelm Lüdtke, head of the Berlin police’s serious crimes division, to hunt down the madman in their midst. For the first time, the gripping full story of Ogorzow’s killing spree and Lüdtke’s relentless pursuit is told in dramatic detail.

From the publisher

As the Nazi war machine caused death and destruction throughout Europe, one man in the Fatherland began his own reign of terror. This is the true story of the pursuit and capture of a serial killer in the heart of the Third Reich. For all appearances, Paul Ogorzow was a model German. An employed family man, party member, and sergeant in the infamous Brownshirts, he had worked his way up in the Berlin railroad from a manual laborer laying track to assistant signalman. But he also had a secret need to harass and frighten women. Then he was given a gift from the Nazi high command. Due to Allied bombing raids, a total blackout was instituted throughout Berlin, including on the commuter trains--trains often used by women riding home alone from the factories. Under cover of darkness and with a helpless flock of victims to choose from, Ogorzow's depredations grew more and more horrific. He escalated from simply frightening women to physically attacking them, eventually raping and murdering them. Beginning in September 1940, he started casually tossing their bodies off the moving train. Though the Nazi party tried to censor news of the attacks, the women of Berlin soon lived in a state of constant fear. It was up to Wilhelm Ldtke, head of the Berlin police's serious crimes division, to hunt down the madman in their midst. For the first time, the gripping full story of Ogorzow's killing spree and Ldtke's relentless pursuit is told in dramatic detail.

Details

  • Title A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer
  • Author Scott Andrew Selby
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 294
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Berkley Books, New York
  • Date 2014-01-07
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780425264140 / 0425264149
  • Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 in (23.11 x 15.49 x 3.30 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Berlin (Germany) - History - 1918-1945, Serial murders - Germany - Berlin
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2013032412
  • Dewey Decimal Code 364.152

Media reviews

“Scott Selby’s recreation of the hunt for the wartime S-Bahn Murderer meticulously recreates one of the most horrific but fascinating murder investigations of twentieth century Germany.”—Paul French, Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China

“[A] gripping true account of a World War II serial killer. Onboard an electrified speeding train in Nazi Berlin, Scott Andrew Selby reveals an equally electrifying story of the railroad employee who could not stop murdering.”—Robert Graysmith, author of Zodiac, AutoFocus and Black Fire

“[A] darkly fascinating book... It's a story of determined detective work by a police officer with a surprisingly clear sense of justice given his surroundings. And it's a story of the ways that killers rise and fall on multiple levels, one that still resonates decades later.”—Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz-Age New York

“In a chilling, fast-paced narrative full of shocking twists, this book reveals the true story of Paul Ogorzov, the S-Bahn Killer, and his crimes in compelling detail. This is a unique and riveting historical account of a lone predator hunting in the shadows of World War II Berlin.”—Julian Rubinstein, author of Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts

“Scott Selby's true story is both intriguing and exciting - and made even more compelling because as the investigators search for a killer they are urged on by government officials committed to an official policy of mass murder.”—Howard Blum, bestselling author of American Lightning and The Floor of Heaven

About the author

Scott Andrew Selby is the author of The Axmann Conspiracy: The Nazi Plan for a Fourth Reich and How the U.S. Army Defeated It, and a coauthor of Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History. He has a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master's degree in Human Rights and Intellectual Property from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at Sweden's Lund University, as well as a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies/Theories of American Culture from UC Berkeley.
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