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Armin Meiwes

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Armin Meiwes
Born (1961-12-01) 1 December 1961 (age 62)
Other namesRotenburg Cannibal, Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher)
OccupationComputer repair technician (former)
Criminal statusIncarcerated
MotiveSexual gratification
Conviction(s)
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment (previously 8½ years imprisonment)
Details
VictimsBernd-Jürgen Armando Brandes, aged 43
Date9 March 2001
Location(s)Wüstefeld, Germany
Date apprehended
December 2002

Armin Meiwes (German: [ˈmaɪvəs]; born 1 December 1961) is a German former computer repair technician who received international attention for murdering and eating a voluntary victim in 2001, whom he had found via the Internet.

After Meiwes and the victim jointly attempted to eat the victim's severed penis, Meiwes murdered his victim and proceeded to eat a large amount of his flesh.[1] He was arrested in December 2002. In January 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. In a retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Because of his acts, Meiwes is also known as the Rotenburg Cannibal or Der Metzgermeister (The Master Butcher). The house where this event took place was destroyed in a fire that occurred in the early morning on 17 April 2023.

Biography

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Early life

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Armin Meiwes was born on 1 December 1961, the only child of Waltraud Meiwes (1919–1999). He had two older half-brothers from his father's previous relationship with another woman. His father abandoned Armin when he was eight, leaving him to be raised by his mother. During sessions with police experts, Meiwes had explained that his desire for cannibalism, related to the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, had developed during his adolescent years. He had also described himself feeling "very lonesome" after "the family had fallen apart". Meiwes identifies as bisexual.[2]

Murder of Bernd Brandes and cannibalism

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Looking for a willing volunteer, Meiwes posted an online advertisement stating that he was "looking for a well-built 18- to 25-year-old to be slaughtered and then consumed."[3] Bernd-Jürgen Armando Brandes, a 43-year-old bisexual[4] engineer from Berlin, answered the advertisement in March 2001. Many other people responded to the advertisement but backed out; Meiwes did not attempt to force them to do anything against their will.[2][5][6][7]

The two made a videotape when they met on 9 March 2001 in Meiwes's home, in the small town of Wüstefeld, west of Rotenburg an der Fulda. The video shows Meiwes amputating Brandes's penis (with his agreement) and the two men attempting to eat it together. Before doing so, Brandes swallowed twenty sleeping pills, and a bottle of cough syrup, likely causing an effect of slowed breathing and extreme tiredness. Brandes initially insisted that Meiwes should attempt to bite his penis off. This did not work, and ultimately, Meiwes used a knife to remove it. Brandes apparently tried to eat some of his own penis raw but could not, because it was too tough and, as he put it, "chewy". Meiwes then fried the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, wine, and garlic; he then fried it with some of Brandes' fat, but by then it was too burnt to be consumed. He then chopped the penis up into chunks and fed it to his dog.[8] According to court officials who saw the video (which has not been made public), Brandes may already have been too weakened from blood loss to eat any of his own penis.

Meiwes then ran Brandes a bath, before going to read a Star Trek book, while checking on Brandes every fifteen minutes, during which time Brandes lay bleeding in the bath, drifting in and out of consciousness. After long hesitation and prayer, Meiwes killed Brandes by stabbing him in the throat, after which he hung the body on a meat hook. The incident was recorded on a four-hour videotape, which has never been released to the public due to its gruesome contents. Four screenshots allegedly from the videotape can be found online, but their credibility is unproven. Meiwes dismembered and ate the corpse over the next ten months, storing body parts in his freezer under pizza boxes and consuming up to 20 kilograms (44 lb) of the flesh. According to prosecutors, Meiwes committed the act for sexual pleasure.[9][10]

Arrest, trial and manslaughter conviction

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Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, when a college student alerted authorities to new advertisements for victims online.[11][12] Investigators searched his home, and found body parts along with the videotape of the killing.[12]

Meiwes was diagnosed with a schizoid personality but deemed fit to stand trial.[13] On 30 January 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison.[14] The case attracted considerable media attention.[15]

When speaking to a German newspaper, Meiwes admitted cannibalising Brandes and expressed regret for his actions. He added he wanted to write a biography with the aim of deterring anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps. Websites dedicated to Meiwes started appearing after his 2002 arrest, with people advertising for willing victims. "They should go for treatment, so it doesn't escalate like it did with me," said Meiwes. While in prison, Meiwes has since become a vegetarian.[16] He believes there are about 800 cannibals in Germany.[15]

Retrial and murder conviction

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In April 2005, a German court ordered a retrial after prosecutors appealed Meiwes's sentence, arguing that he should have been convicted of murder[17] because he killed for sexual gratification, a motive proved by his having videotaped the crime.[18] The court ruled that the original trial had ignored the significance of the video in disproving the argument that Meiwes only killed because he had been asked to kill.[18]

At his retrial, a psychologist stated that Meiwes could reoffend, as he "still had fantasies about devouring the flesh of young people."[19] On 10 May 2006, a court in Frankfurt convicted Meiwes of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.[20]

As of 2020, Meiwes has been allowed to go outside of prison for supervised excursions in disguise around town in a different state.[21] In prison, Meiwes works at the laundry and often attends church service.[21]

Burning of Meiwes' former home

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In 2023, Meiwes' former home burnt down in what was suspected to be an arson attack.[1][22][23] Two juvenile suspects are under investigation, but no arrests have been made.[24]

Cultural impact

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Films

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Other films based on the case include: Rosa von Praunheim's Dein Herz in meinem Hirn (English title: Your Heart in My Head) and Ulli Lommel's Diary of a Cannibal.

Music

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  • The German industrial metal band Rammstein released the song "Mein Teil" in 2004, which specifically references the Meiwes case. MTV Germany restricted airing the video to after 11:00 p.m.[27]
  • The rock musician Marilyn Manson has identified Meiwes as an inspiration in the titling of his album Eat Me, Drink Me.[28]
  • The Swedish death metal band Bloodbath wrote the song "Eaten", which voices Brandes' desire to be eaten alive, all while witnessing the act.
  • The American death metal band Macabre wrote a song about Meiwes called "The Wüstenfeld Man-Eater".
  • The heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne released his 12th studio album, Ordinary Man, in February 2020. The album includes a song titled "Eat Me", which was inspired by Armin Meiwes.[29]
  • The experimental electronic musician Jeansowaty has released a darkstep composition titled Der Metzgermeister on Newgrounds.com on 18 February 2021. It has since become available on streaming platforms worldwide.
  • The band SKYND played the song "Armin Meiwes" for the first time in O2 Academy Islington, London on 18 February 2022. The track and its accompanying music video was released on 22 June 2022.

Television

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  • Season 2, Episode 3 of the sitcom The IT Crowd, titled "Moss and the German", parodies the Meiwes case. The character Maurice Moss, thinking he is answering an advert for a German cookery course, ends up in the house of an aspiring German cannibal, where the error is revealed, the fault lying with the man's poor grasp of the English language when writing the advert.
  • In the American sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the character Jake Peralta makes friends with a cannibal in prison, named Caleb. In Season 6, Episode 17, Jake arrests a murderer that he found through a cannibal forum that Caleb recommended.
  • In 2008, MORE Music and Media released the four-hour interview and documentary from RTL Extra on DVD as Der Kannibale von Rotenburg; it was released in the UK as Armin Meiwes: The Cannibal.[30]
  • An episode of the British medical documentary Body Shock entitled The Man Who Ate His Lover discusses the case in detail.
  • Season 1, episode 1 of the TV series Rake, titled "R.V. Murray", features an accused cannibal who eats his volunteer in similar circumstances to the Meiwes case.[31] Also, season 1, episode 4 of the 2014 American remake of Rake, titled "Cannibal", features an accused cannibal.
  • In season 3, episode 7 of Hannibal the character of Mason Verger refers to the incident after interrupting the title character's attempt to murder Will Graham; specifically, Hannibal cutting open Will's skull to consume his brain: "You boys remind me of that German cannibal who advertised for a friend and then ate him—and his penis—before he died. Tragedy being the penis was overcooked. Go to all that trouble to eat a friend and you overcook his penis! They ate it anyway. They had to. They committed. But they didn't enjoy it."[32]
  • In the season 2 episode "Hungry" of the American anthology series Room 104, two men meet in a hotel room to eat each other's penises. The men, Gene (Mark Proksch) and Dan (Kent Osborne), are interrupted while eating Dan's penis by the police after a concerned call from Dan's wife. After an explanation of the consent given and plan to seek medical attention shortly, the men continue to prepare for the second course (Gene's penis) as the episode ends.
  • In the TV show Succession (season 2, episode 8), when Roman is having a discussion with Gerri, he says "you eat me, I eat you, like they do in Germany."[citation needed]
  • In Season 4, Episode 4 of the British sitcom, Peep Show (British TV series), the character, Mark Corrigan, references the Meiwes case to suggest that his roommate's new well-paying handyman job has a catch. He jokes that his new employer will "...invite a German round from the internet to eat you."
  • In Season 4, Episode 17 Gilmore Girls, the character, Paris, Rory and their roommate Janet discuss Janet getting a ride from a man at their Ivy League college. The man is looked down upon according to him being "Bummed that he got turned down by that German cannibal."

Theatre

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  • In 2014, TASTE, an award-winning play inspired by the case, premiered in Los Angeles at the Sacred Fools Theater Company. The play was written by Screenwriter Benjamin Brand and directed by Stuart Gordon. The production was nominated for various awards from all of the major Los Angeles theatrical critic organizations. The production starred Chris McKenna and Donal Thoms-Cappello, and was produced by Gordon, Dean Schramm, Ben Rock, and Adam Goldworm.[33]
  • In 2017, the original musical MEIWES/BRANDES was chosen to be part of The Actors Centre's inaugural John Thaw Initiative. Written by RADA MA graduates Harriet Taylor, Scott Howland, Laura Dorn and Aurora Richardson, the piece uses correspondence between Meiwes and Brandes as well as verbatim court transcripts to recreate their meeting and tell a deeper story about love, pain, queer relationships and mental health.
  • In 2022, The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, premiered the play KANNIBALEN by playwright Johannes Lilleøre. The production featured the actors Patrick Baurichter and Morten Burian. On the opening night, the show had to be paused for about fifteen minutes due to the fact that one audience member vomited and another experienced an epileptic seizure.[34]
  • Also in 2022, Conflicted Theatre’s play FIJI premiered at Omnibus Theatre in London, UK. Co-written by actors Pedro Leandro and Eddie Loodmer-Elliott together with director Evan Lordan, a Guardian reviewer called the two-hander funny, disturbing, and “surprisingly gentle.”[35] The production received two Off West End Award 2022 Nominations for Best Lead Performance,[36] and was subsequently revived at the Edinburgh Fringe. An Edmonton Fringe festival production in 2023 received 5 out of 5 stars from the Edmonton Journal, which described it as “charming, emotional and calmly unnerving, this is easily some of the festival’s finest fare.”[37]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "House of convict in notorious German cannibal case destroyed". The Independent. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b Eckhardt, Andy (27 January 2004). "Germany awaits verdict in 'cannibal' trial". NBC World News. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  3. ^ "German cannibal tells of fantasy". BBC News. 3 December 2003. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  4. ^ Dovkants, Keith (13 April 2012). "The boy who became a cannibal". Evening Standard. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Cannibal trial reveals perverse intimacy". The Age. 19 January 2004.
  6. ^ Michael H. Stone & Gary Brucato. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019), pp. 41-43.
  7. ^ "Bidding War over Cannibal Story". DW. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  8. ^ "The Man Who Ate His Lover". Body Shock (Channel 4 TV, UK). Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  9. ^ "German 'cannibal' charged with murder". BBC News. Europe. 17 July 2003. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  10. ^ Armin Meiwes: Interview with a Cannibal documentary sheds new light on one of Germany's most infamous murderers. The Independent. Published 9 February 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  11. ^ "German cannibal tells of fantasy". BBC News. 3 December 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  12. ^ a b Hall, John (29 November 2013). "Dresden cannibal: German police worker 'obsessed' with cannibalism". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  13. ^ "German cannibal 'fit for trial'". BBC News. 23 January 2004. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  14. ^ Phalnikar, Sonia (30 January 2004). "Cannibal Convicted of Manslaughter". Deutsche Welle (DW). Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  15. ^ a b "German 'cannibal' tells of regret". BBC News. Europe. 23 November 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  16. ^ Jewkes, Yvonne; Yar, Majid (2013). Handbook of Internet Crime. Routledge. p. 376. ISBN 9781134030590. Retrieved 12 January 2023 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ "German cannibal to face retrial". BBC News. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  18. ^ a b "German Cannibal Back on Trial". Deutsche Welle. 12 January 2006. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  19. ^ "German cannibal guilty of murder". BBC News. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  20. ^ "NBC News: German court sentences cannibal to life in jail". NBC News. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  21. ^ a b Crossland, David (19 July 2023). "'Polite, friendly' cannibal Armin Meiwes leaves prison for day trips in disguise". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  22. ^ "Fire destroys home of German cannibal Armin Meiwes". Sky News. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  23. ^ ""Kannibale von Rotenburg": Haus von Armin Meiwes durch Brandstiftung zerstört?". Hessenschau (in German). 18 April 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Jugendliche sollen Haus des »Kannibalen von Rotenburg« angezündet haben". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 June 2023. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  25. ^ Landler, Mark (4 March 2006). "Cannibal Wins Ban of Film in Germany". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  26. ^ "German court lifts ban on cannibal movie". msnbc.com. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  27. ^ Jewkes, Yvonne; Yar, Majid (7 March 2013). Handbook of Internet Crime. Routledge. ISBN 9781134030590.
  28. ^ Dan Epstein. Feeding Frenzy, Revolver, reported by The Heirophant Archived 2007-03-28 at the Wayback Machine May 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2007.
  29. ^ Hissong, Samantha (14 February 2020). "Ozzy Osbourne's 'Ordinary Man' Album: 7 Things We Learned at SiriusXM Listening". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  30. ^ "Review zu Der Kannibale von Rotenburg bei DVD-Sucht". dvd-sucht.de.
  31. ^ "Rake - Episodes & Video - ABC TV". abc.net.au.
  32. ^ Slezak, Michael (19 July 2015). "Hannibal Recap: All About That Face".
  33. ^ "SACRED FOOLS - MAINSTAGE 2014 - Taste". sacredfools.org.
  34. ^ Paulsen, Joachim Talbro (28 April 2022). "Da penissen blev tilberedt, fik teaterredaktørens sidemand et epileptisk anfald". Berlingske.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  35. ^ Wyver, Kate (10 March 2022). "Fiji review – human-flesh dinner date is remarkably tender". theguardian.com. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  36. ^ "Conflicted Theatre & Clay Party present FIJI". conflictedtheatre.com. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  37. ^ Griwkowsky, Fish (20 August 2023). "FRINGE REVIEW: Masterfully metaphorical Fiji will leave you hungry for more". edmontonjournal.com. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
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