The Yesterday Channel (UK) is airing a six-part series entitled “Nazi Murder Mysteries“. I have reviewed each of the episodes and links to each of my blog posts on each can be found below:
- Episodes 1 (Hitler’s Niece) and Episode 2 (The Duke of Windsor) can be found here
- Episode 3 (A Serial Killer in Berlin) can be found here
- Episode 4 (Bella in the Wych Elm) in which I participated, can be found here
- Episode 5 (Hermann Goering) can be found here
- Episode 6 (Rudolf Hess) can be found here
The third episode aired in late November and was quite fascinating!
Episode 3 – A Serial Killer in Berlin
This episode, like the first two, tells a story of which I had never heard. A number of women were assaulted and murdered in Berlin in the early years of the war, generally either on, or around, the S-Bahn lines in the southeastern corner of the city. The Criminal Police (KriPo) in Berlin use some sophisticated forensic technique and good old-fashioned detective work to eventually corner the killer, Paul Ogorzow. As it turned out, Ogorzow pleaded guilty to eight murders, six attempted murders and thirty-one assaults.
What I found most intriguing however, was the side-story of one of the KriPo detectives, George Heuser, who would go on to become an SS-Obersturmführer and participate in the systematic murder of Jews, Gypsies and Russians during the German occupation of Russia (1941-1944). It rather leaves one gasping with astonishment given his sentence, particularly when one compares it with that of Ogorzow.
Review
While much of the information presented in the Ogorzow story is available on Wikipedia or other sources, seeing it on screen is always much more engaging. I very much appreciated how this episode took the story farther in linking it to the war crimes of George Heuser.
4.8 out of 5 – well done.