Post by redsycorax on Apr 16, 2022 3:52:34 GMT
The Horned Owl (Georg von Tregor) and his partner and son Fledermaus (Wilhelm) were icons of Weimar and later, Nazi, Germany. In his hometown Frankfurt, the Horned Owl won respect from the Kriminalpolizei civil authorities for his primary role, crime fighting, which brought him the attention and admiration of the Nazi Party hierarchy at the same time. In the late tbirties, though, the Owl was called to Berlin for assistance on a particularly important case. Although the Reich dared not admit it, there was a serial killer active in the railyard area of Berlin.
++
PROLOGUE: KARLSHORST, BERLIN: AUGUST 1939:
As he let the throttled figure fall to the ground, unconscious, Paul Ozgorow looked down disdainfully at her body, with its short, figure-hugging skirt and its garish lipstick and make-up. To be honest, he really had nothing against street walkers per se. For one thing, they were easy targets and for another, prostitution outside government approved brothels was forbidden, so the tart that he'd had his way with wouldn't go wailing to the KPs. And if he did, what they say? It wasn't as if she wasn't asking for it, taking advantage of lonely soldiers separated from their loved ones. However, he reflected, perhaps these scrubbers were too easy a target.
BERLIN-FRANKFURT RAIL:
As he leant back in his passenger seat, Georg couldn't suppress a hint of amusement at his wide-eyed young son who was taking in the sights as the Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotive hurtled across the breadth of Germany, en route to the nation's capital:
"Papa! This is so awesome!"
"Just as long as you remember we're going to Berlin on business."
"Ach yes, that case." The young Fledermaus was circumspect, given that one never knew who might be listening these days. Which was all very well, given that the Horned Owl and Bat generally had cordial relationships with the Nazi party apparatus, but there were some frankly bewildering rivalries between the Gestapo, SS and Wehrmacht over jurisdiction and scope that made his head ache sometimes. Added to which, there were regional satrapies and rivalries to consider as well. Ah well, no matter. It did Georg's heart well to see his son so enthusiastic and excited. There had been a time, just after his late wife's death, when he wondered if either he, or his beloved child, would ever smile again. At least the Fuhrer had brought security and internal peace to the German people and restored dignity and discipline to the country. When he remembered the anarchic days of the Weimar Republic, it made his blood run cold.
Even so, he had some issues with the way the investigation into the Berlin case was proceeding. While he didn't have much time for Jewish trouble makers and approved of seeing the most obnoxious ones behind the barbed wire and fences of concentration camps, privately he thought that the Gestapo was letting its obsession with this far-fetched Protocols of the Elders of Zion conspiracy theory nonsense hamper accurate criminal investigations. Of course there were Jews in the underworld- just as there were other Germans. But they didn't "dominate" it and frankly, one would have to be insane to ratchet up the existing animosity toward their culture and religious institutions within the Reich to resort to attacks on German women, even if they were 'ladies of the evening'. Hmm. He had to be careful with that. He didn't want the boy to grow up too fast, even if he knew something about what prostitution was already. No need to go into all the sordid details.
He also realised that he had to carefully sound out the Kriminalpolizei when they finally got to Berlin. Most of the assaults and rumours of murder had occurred in the working class districts of the sprawling German metropolis. He would investigate the lines of inquiry that a Jewish sexual maniac was responsible for these grisly events, but he also planned to follow other leads. He could not discount the possibility that all was not well within the Nazi Party itself- it might even be the case that a lower echelon member of the party was responsible for the murders. After all, the purge of Ernest Rohm and his SA thugs and hoodlums wasn't that far in the past and they had been Hitler's right hand men until he had tired of their violence and standover tactics and shut them down to insure stability, law and order. And given the rivalries within the Nazi state, there might be motivation for concealment, denial and deflection, as well as opportunities.
As it turned out, his guesswork was indeed accurate. However, so were his suppositions about the obstacles to a diligent and objective criminal investigation within a racist dictatorship
BERLIN:
As soon as the father and son had arrived, they found a deserted factory and changed to their heroic identities. At length, they were outside the tall, forbidding headquarters of the Reich Main Security Offices (Reichssicherheitshauptamt: RSHA), co-ordination point for all of the Reich's police and security apparatuses. As they ascended the lift, Horned Owl anticipated the meeting keenly. As the lift doors opened, SS Gruppenfuhrer Arthur Nebe stepped forward and shook the hand of the Reich's Greatest Detective:
"Horned Owl and the Bat. This is a great pleasure. I have been enthralled by the stories of your crime fighting and detective work in Frankfurt."
"It's an honour to meet you, sir. Can you tell me for what reason we've been called to Berlin? Surely the disciplined and diligent forces of the Kriminalpolizei are adequate for any such matter?"
"Ach, would it were that simple, meinherr. Here. this is the criminal logistics room."
After they were shown in, Nebe sighed:
"I admire your directness, Horned Owl. We face an intractable criminal menace here. At first, there were attacks and assaults on prostitutes. We initially discounted those, given that it is in the interests of public morality that street soliciting for sex is discouraged and that such behaviour is restricted to brothels. And at this point, you may want to ask Fledermaus to investigate the forensic details that the KP has gathered."
Fledermaus pulled a face, but the Horned Owl nodded in the direction of the forensics room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Nebe unsealed a manila envelope on his desk and handed the photographs within to the Horned Owl:
"I apologise for the subterfuge."
"It is no problem at all, Gruppenfuhrer. I wouldn't have wanted Fledermaus to witness this, in any case. Graphic. So, these seem to indicate a common modus operandi. Has the Kriminalpolizei identified any prospective occupations or particular geographical areas for our assailant?"
Nebe shook his head: "The answer to the geographical area is ...tentative. It appears to be the Rummelsberg area. And unfortunately, there may have been more victims amongst the working women. Given the penalties that street soliciting attracts, they're in no hurry to risk arrest or fines if they come forward with information. We've taken the liberty of looking the other way for the duration of this investigation. More recently, however, with the onset of war, we have become aware of a new and disturbing turn of events. It seems to hinge on the black outs necessary to protect our city from enemy aircraft attack. Under the cover of this darkness, this filthy predator has begun to attack ordinary housewives whose husbands are away serving he Reich in Poland, Austria, Hungary or the French theatre. And can I be candid?"
"Please do, Gruppenfuhrer."
"Good. Look, to some extent, the "official" position of blaming everything on the Jews is getting in the way of a properly diligent investigation. In the name of forensic thoroughness, we have investigated likely Jewish criminals in the Berlin metropolitan area, of course. However, with the mobility and residential restrictions that have been undertaken in regard to their community, I have long since discounted even a remote possibility that our assailant is indeed Jewish. That is insufficient for the higher-ups. They seem to want a scapegoat for this. I refuse to play along. If this creature is preying on German women, mutilating and perhaps killing some of them, simply scapegoating some Jewish wretch arbitrarily will not solve the problem and will reduce confidence in the mission and purpose of the Kriminalpolizei."
Horned Owl nodded: "I see the problem. Have no fear, I will not discuss this conversation beyond these walls. I appreciate your candour and trust."
"I was hoping that would be the case. A moment please..." Nebe answered a telephone call:
"What is it?"
"It seems as if our rapist and torturer has crossed a threshold. Early this morning, in a forest clearing in the Rummelsberg area, one of my officers found the body of a young woman. She has been positively identified as Gerda Ditter, aged 20. Mein gott. She was a mother of two children. I think you may need to steel yourself for what follows." A further manila envelope slipped through the door. Nebe opened it and gagged at the ensuing forensic photographs. As he poured a glass of water to suppress the rising nausea, Horned Owl looked over the crime scene. He noted the injuries on the dead woman's body and looked up:
"May I say that I don't blame you for your response, Gruppenfuhrer. Any decent human being would behave exactly the same way. However, there does seem to be some usefulness to this evidence. That poor woman's shoulder and side have particular indentations and injuries consistent with being hit by a heavy cable, and there was leaden residue according to the accompanying report. Which suggests to me that the assailant probably works in an occupation that uses such cables for loading or freight containment purposes, which one can extrapolate to a handful of occupations. We may be looking at a dockworker or railway employee in this context."
"Thank you, Horned Owl. I only wish that we could have met under more auspicious circumstances."
"Are you a party member, Gruppenfuhrer?"
"Yes. Ah, I see your reasoning. It would indeed be prudent and expeditious to use the party infrastructure to investigate potential assailants."
"Good. It's been a long day. My offsider and I will need to rest for the next few hours, then we will be out in Rummelsberg. Any Kriminalpolizei assistance would be much appreciated."
"Of course, Horned Owl. And thank you."
RUMMELSBERG, BERLIN:
Under the circumstances, a more cautious individual would have avoided raising suspicion with an experienced master detective like the Horned Owl in the vicinity. However, Paul Ozgorow was a psychopath. And given the extent of injuries on Gerda Ditter's body, the Horned Owl was starting to suspect that was indeed the case:
"Owl? Are we dealing with a madman here?"
"Yes, Bat, my boy. However, it may be possible that it is a particular sort of mad man, known in the medical literature as a 'psychopath'. Last century, the great physician Ludwig Koch came up with the term to describe a particular individual with specific personality traits and self-presentation. It's possible that this individual may indeed be having what are known as psychotic breaks-"
"Which is what they call it when someone is having delusions or hallucinations, right?"
"Good boy. I see you're been doing that reading I recommended. Yes, a psychopath may have that set of delusions, but they're also self-absorbed, highly superficial, impulsive, callous and displaying little real human empathy."
"That's a little broad. So is this person really mad, apart from the delusions? It sounds like that wouldn't be too obvious to detect."
"Yes, Bat. The term is in its infancy. There are no real tests for it as yet, or more precise identifying criteria beyond that general description."
Looking around them, Wilhelm observed: "There don't seem to be that many people here. All I can see is a Lutheran mission building, a disabled veteran's home, and a hotel for those church groups we passed on the way out here. So, are we going to check that large rock in the centre of town, the... Burgandsteinfelsen, it says here? Do you think the killer threw Mrs Ditter from there?"
The Horned Owl shook his head: "No, Bat, although I appreciate you showing your initiative that way and it is a fair question to ask. Do you remember what the report the pathologist provided to us said?"
"Goodness, Owl, you're right. If he'd thrown Mrs Ditter from up there, there wouldn't have been the amount of dirt and mud found on her clothes and body, would there?"
"Well done, Bat. Yes, exactly. And with the absence of any sizeable rivers near the area she was found, what else does that suggest?"
"That the killer couldn't have thrown her body from any riverboat or shipping, because that wasn't where her body was found?"
"Good. Now, what did the interviews with the Reverend Nicols at the church and Doctor Olpp at the convalescent home for wounded veterans imply?"
Wilhelm thought some more: "That they couldn't have seen anything if it had happened in the centre of town, which must mean... the railway? Yes, that would fit, wouldn't it? If the assailant threw Mrs Ditter from the train, then that would have meant she'd landed in the dirt and mud and probably rolled down hill. Does that mean that our murderer is a railway worker?"
The Horned Owl looked across the town at the rail tracks and nodded: "Precisely, Bat. I think that should be our next stop..."
SCHWARZENBRUCK STATION:
As soon as he saw the Horned Owl and Bat approaching, Paul Ozgorow straightened, shot forward his right hand and saluted:
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler, friend. You must be Mr Ozgorow? Gruppenfuhrer Nebe talks very highly of you."
"Thank you, sir. He telephoned ahead that you were coming. How can I help you?"
Horned Owl nodded: "Did you see anything or anyone suspicious on the night that Mrs Ditter was murdered?"
Ozgorow sighed: "I wish I could be more help, but it's darker than the devil's arse with the blackout regulations in force."
"What about sounds? Did you hear anything that could have been a struggle, or violent activity? Like a pulley cable being swung, anything like that?"
"With the noise that the engine makes up front, it's difficult to be certain. It's terrible something like that happening, just terrible. She was a young mother and her husband is overseas serving the Reich. It's the children I feel sorry for. I have two of my own. It makes you think, doesn't it?"
"Could you show us to the caboose, if that's where you store the emergency equipment?"
"Yes, sir, of course. Gruppenfuhrer Nebe ordered that you be given a spare key to assist your inquiries, so here it is."
"Much appreciated. Now, are there any equipment items that are recently retired due to wear and tear? Especially over the last few days?"
"Ach, with the war and with the supply shortages, we're probably not spending as much time on maintenance as we should. Of course, our boys in the west need to take priority, but all the same, I'm just worried that one day, there'll be an accident because we haven't been as thorough as we normally are."
"Thank you once again for your assistance, Mr Ozgorow."
As the hulking railway worker returned to his work , the Horned Owl frowned. Why did Ozgorow's replies strike him as rehearsed and artificial when it came to that discussion that they'd just had with him? Nevertheless, the supply caboose was his primary interest right now and had to take precedence. An hour later, Wilhelm was frustrated:
"Nothing amiss. All spotlessly clean. Mr Ozgorow sure takes pride in his job."
"True. And the chemical tests we did don't even indicate any residue from blood stains. Yet, if the equipment used conforms to that which was used to attack and kill Mrs Ditter, that had to be there."
"Owl, do you think one of the railway workers on this train did it?"
"We can't rule out the possibility, Bat. But we need to move on."
Late that night, there was a telephone call from an adjacent Kriminalpolizei station. Another body had been found, this one buried in the soil near the Rummelsburg tracks- and had been identified as Elfriede Franke, another young woman. In addition, ripped fragments of train tickets were found near her body, albeit too badly burnt to be deciphered. The body had the same traces of dirt, mud and debris that indicated that it must have been thrown from the train, increasing the Horned Owl's suspicion that the killer must be one of the employees or regular passengers who used the Rummelsburg service. And the next morning, a third body turned up- Irmgard Freeze (19), a local factory worker. Like Gerda Ditter and Elfriede Franke, she had apparently been thrown from the train, but the pathologists reports indicated something different- her body lacked the forensic dirt, mud and debris that had been found on the other two bodies. Which led the Horned Owl to suspect that she might have been killed beforehand.
1.40 PM NZST: 27.04.22:
BERLIN:
But as the fatalities mounted, Horned Owl and the Bat were increasingly perplexed. The pressure from Heinrich Himmler and the Nazi hierarchy grew on Gruppenfuhrer Nebe, along with his nervousness. History shows that Nebe wasn't the loyalest subordinate executive within the Nazi state police apparatus and he fretted that he might make a fatal error that would expose his participation in an earlier interneccine plot against the Fuhrer and lead to his own execution. For its own part, the aforementioned Nazi state apparatus was bedevilled by dissent from not-quite-subordinated remnants of its pre-coup d'etat rival political parties, asking why it was that the Reich seemed powerless against a lone antisocial psychopath and why it had seemingly abandoned virtuous German women who were now the serial killer's prey. Samizdats (as they would be known under another dicatorship several decades later) made caustic observations to the effect that the Reich was wasting time trying to find a suitable Jewish scapegoat and avoiding the real issue at hand, although Horned Owl and the Bat were lauded as 'true patriots' who would not let ideology get in the way of forensic diligence and discipline. (That much was true - in Germany's last pre-coup election, Georg had voted for the Catholic Centre Party, a conservative organisation).
And still the deaths continued. Elizabeth Bungener. Gertrude Siewert. Hedwig Ebauer. Johanna Voigt. All of those women were thrown from the train at some point during the journey and there were no clues as to the identity of their executioner. And then, as Horned Owl listened in on the brutal interrogation of Dimi Tarrant, a petty Jewish pickpocket, something he said made sense. He talked about one of the ladies of the evening of his acquaintance and how she had seen the man before he had attacked her. He was tall, with a moustache and spoke with a Bavarian accent. He seemed to be in his twenties. Horned Owl and the Bat stared at one another, then Horned Owl entered the room and stopped the interrogation, but not without fisticuffs applied to the more doctrinaire 'true believers' in the
Jewish-Bolshevik "international conspiracy" of the "Elders of Zion" to dissuade them from beating Tarrant to a pulp. In a side room, the Bat made coffee for the petty criminal, who seemed nervous, but, gathering confidence and assurance as he became convinced of the Horned Owl's objectivity and belief in blind justice, he elucidated on the matter at hand. His hooker friend had seen a Nazi Party identification badge for a moment as the figure assaulted her. Moreover, she had seen it drop from his collar during the struggle! He was also most forthcoming when it came to the location. Fifteen minutes later, Dimitri Tarrant was on his way out of Germany, concealed in a freight car and made it to Switzerland, where he lived out the ensuing remainder of the war. His friend's information proved crucial as the Bat found the tarnished, rusting and buckled Nazi badge and its identification number.
To his credit, when Gruppenfuhrer Nebe heard the welcome news, he was most compliant with the details from NSDAP headquarters. The Nazi hierarchy conversed amongst itself. At length, it realised that this time, it had been deceived as to the probity and character of this individual and they needed to be excised like a cancer. At RHSA headquarters, the Horned Owl came up with a complete forensic match and confirmed the identity of the murderer beyond any doubt. It was indeed Paul Ozgorow. When they visited Ozgorow's home, they encountered his tearful wife Gertrud and it became obvious from her bruised eye that this was a troubled, dysfunctional relationship. Gertrud didn't try to defend her husband and provided further incriminating evidence- that Paul Ozgorow had burnt clothing with suspicious bloodstains on it and raved to her when he had come home drunk about the malignity and diseased status of prostitutes and 'so-called virtuous German housewives". When she had argued about that, he had hit her and accused her of infidelity.
RUMMELSBURG:
And finally, the noose was closing in around Paul Ozgorow's neck. That evening, he sat alongside the woman who would have been his final victim, florist Frieda Koziol. As the train lurched around the corner, he made his move, raising his cable above his head and repeatedly striking the woman with it, then pulling her legs apart as a prelude to his predatory desires. And then, on came flashlights and the Horned Owl and the Bat were there in the train passenger car with him. Sneering and bellicose, Ozgorow rushed forward, brandishing his cable, but a flying kick from the Horned Owl winded him in the stomach. Then the Bat was on him, hammering Ozgorow's head and distracting him as the Horned Owl pressed home his advantage. The murderer blundered around the car as Horned Owl threw the Bat a rope and the young crimefighter tightened it around Ozgorow's neck. Finally, he fell to the car's floor, unconscious. Paul Ozgorow's reign of terror against Berlin women was over. The killer had finally been apprehended.
EPILOGUE:
With Frieda Koziol's testimony and the forensic evidence, the case against the "S-Bahn Killer", Paul Ozgorow, was insurmountable. As he was a Nazi Party member, of course the party apparatus was anxious to avoid any detailed scrutiny of the killer in question which might have uncovered embarrassing details to their detriment about how Ozgorow had managed to avoid detection for almost a year and how thoroughly he had duped local Nazi officials about his character and dedication to Nazi ideals. Accordingly, a Special Court was convened behind closed doors and only basic details were released about the background, crimes and apprehension of the killer, who was classified as a volksschadling or 'public pest', a most illuminating if hyperbolic term comparing him to insect lice, fleas and other vermin. It cannot be determined whether or not the hurried passage of the wartime "Public Pest Ordinance" at the same time (September 1939) was motivated by a desire to make an example of Ozgorow for his crimes and embarassment of the Nazi police apparatus over the months that his crimes had gone undetected. However, it is recorded historical fact that Section 4 of the relevant legislation refers to "anyone who commits a criminal offense by exploiting the state of emergency caused by the state of war," with provision for the death penalty if the offence was calculated to be particularly reprehensible by public opinion. While looters and petty thieves were sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, it is obvious that in Ozgorow's case, the crimes involved went beyond petty larceny.
Accordingly, with public acclaim for the Horned Owl and the Bat and the regime's legitimacy preserved, Paul Ozgorow was executed by use of the guillotine on September 25, 1939.
THE END
++
PROLOGUE: KARLSHORST, BERLIN: AUGUST 1939:
As he let the throttled figure fall to the ground, unconscious, Paul Ozgorow looked down disdainfully at her body, with its short, figure-hugging skirt and its garish lipstick and make-up. To be honest, he really had nothing against street walkers per se. For one thing, they were easy targets and for another, prostitution outside government approved brothels was forbidden, so the tart that he'd had his way with wouldn't go wailing to the KPs. And if he did, what they say? It wasn't as if she wasn't asking for it, taking advantage of lonely soldiers separated from their loved ones. However, he reflected, perhaps these scrubbers were too easy a target.
BERLIN-FRANKFURT RAIL:
As he leant back in his passenger seat, Georg couldn't suppress a hint of amusement at his wide-eyed young son who was taking in the sights as the Deutsche Reichsbahn locomotive hurtled across the breadth of Germany, en route to the nation's capital:
"Papa! This is so awesome!"
"Just as long as you remember we're going to Berlin on business."
"Ach yes, that case." The young Fledermaus was circumspect, given that one never knew who might be listening these days. Which was all very well, given that the Horned Owl and Bat generally had cordial relationships with the Nazi party apparatus, but there were some frankly bewildering rivalries between the Gestapo, SS and Wehrmacht over jurisdiction and scope that made his head ache sometimes. Added to which, there were regional satrapies and rivalries to consider as well. Ah well, no matter. It did Georg's heart well to see his son so enthusiastic and excited. There had been a time, just after his late wife's death, when he wondered if either he, or his beloved child, would ever smile again. At least the Fuhrer had brought security and internal peace to the German people and restored dignity and discipline to the country. When he remembered the anarchic days of the Weimar Republic, it made his blood run cold.
Even so, he had some issues with the way the investigation into the Berlin case was proceeding. While he didn't have much time for Jewish trouble makers and approved of seeing the most obnoxious ones behind the barbed wire and fences of concentration camps, privately he thought that the Gestapo was letting its obsession with this far-fetched Protocols of the Elders of Zion conspiracy theory nonsense hamper accurate criminal investigations. Of course there were Jews in the underworld- just as there were other Germans. But they didn't "dominate" it and frankly, one would have to be insane to ratchet up the existing animosity toward their culture and religious institutions within the Reich to resort to attacks on German women, even if they were 'ladies of the evening'. Hmm. He had to be careful with that. He didn't want the boy to grow up too fast, even if he knew something about what prostitution was already. No need to go into all the sordid details.
He also realised that he had to carefully sound out the Kriminalpolizei when they finally got to Berlin. Most of the assaults and rumours of murder had occurred in the working class districts of the sprawling German metropolis. He would investigate the lines of inquiry that a Jewish sexual maniac was responsible for these grisly events, but he also planned to follow other leads. He could not discount the possibility that all was not well within the Nazi Party itself- it might even be the case that a lower echelon member of the party was responsible for the murders. After all, the purge of Ernest Rohm and his SA thugs and hoodlums wasn't that far in the past and they had been Hitler's right hand men until he had tired of their violence and standover tactics and shut them down to insure stability, law and order. And given the rivalries within the Nazi state, there might be motivation for concealment, denial and deflection, as well as opportunities.
As it turned out, his guesswork was indeed accurate. However, so were his suppositions about the obstacles to a diligent and objective criminal investigation within a racist dictatorship
BERLIN:
As soon as the father and son had arrived, they found a deserted factory and changed to their heroic identities. At length, they were outside the tall, forbidding headquarters of the Reich Main Security Offices (Reichssicherheitshauptamt: RSHA), co-ordination point for all of the Reich's police and security apparatuses. As they ascended the lift, Horned Owl anticipated the meeting keenly. As the lift doors opened, SS Gruppenfuhrer Arthur Nebe stepped forward and shook the hand of the Reich's Greatest Detective:
"Horned Owl and the Bat. This is a great pleasure. I have been enthralled by the stories of your crime fighting and detective work in Frankfurt."
"It's an honour to meet you, sir. Can you tell me for what reason we've been called to Berlin? Surely the disciplined and diligent forces of the Kriminalpolizei are adequate for any such matter?"
"Ach, would it were that simple, meinherr. Here. this is the criminal logistics room."
After they were shown in, Nebe sighed:
"I admire your directness, Horned Owl. We face an intractable criminal menace here. At first, there were attacks and assaults on prostitutes. We initially discounted those, given that it is in the interests of public morality that street soliciting for sex is discouraged and that such behaviour is restricted to brothels. And at this point, you may want to ask Fledermaus to investigate the forensic details that the KP has gathered."
Fledermaus pulled a face, but the Horned Owl nodded in the direction of the forensics room. As soon as the door closed behind them, Nebe unsealed a manila envelope on his desk and handed the photographs within to the Horned Owl:
"I apologise for the subterfuge."
"It is no problem at all, Gruppenfuhrer. I wouldn't have wanted Fledermaus to witness this, in any case. Graphic. So, these seem to indicate a common modus operandi. Has the Kriminalpolizei identified any prospective occupations or particular geographical areas for our assailant?"
Nebe shook his head: "The answer to the geographical area is ...tentative. It appears to be the Rummelsberg area. And unfortunately, there may have been more victims amongst the working women. Given the penalties that street soliciting attracts, they're in no hurry to risk arrest or fines if they come forward with information. We've taken the liberty of looking the other way for the duration of this investigation. More recently, however, with the onset of war, we have become aware of a new and disturbing turn of events. It seems to hinge on the black outs necessary to protect our city from enemy aircraft attack. Under the cover of this darkness, this filthy predator has begun to attack ordinary housewives whose husbands are away serving he Reich in Poland, Austria, Hungary or the French theatre. And can I be candid?"
"Please do, Gruppenfuhrer."
"Good. Look, to some extent, the "official" position of blaming everything on the Jews is getting in the way of a properly diligent investigation. In the name of forensic thoroughness, we have investigated likely Jewish criminals in the Berlin metropolitan area, of course. However, with the mobility and residential restrictions that have been undertaken in regard to their community, I have long since discounted even a remote possibility that our assailant is indeed Jewish. That is insufficient for the higher-ups. They seem to want a scapegoat for this. I refuse to play along. If this creature is preying on German women, mutilating and perhaps killing some of them, simply scapegoating some Jewish wretch arbitrarily will not solve the problem and will reduce confidence in the mission and purpose of the Kriminalpolizei."
Horned Owl nodded: "I see the problem. Have no fear, I will not discuss this conversation beyond these walls. I appreciate your candour and trust."
"I was hoping that would be the case. A moment please..." Nebe answered a telephone call:
"What is it?"
"It seems as if our rapist and torturer has crossed a threshold. Early this morning, in a forest clearing in the Rummelsberg area, one of my officers found the body of a young woman. She has been positively identified as Gerda Ditter, aged 20. Mein gott. She was a mother of two children. I think you may need to steel yourself for what follows." A further manila envelope slipped through the door. Nebe opened it and gagged at the ensuing forensic photographs. As he poured a glass of water to suppress the rising nausea, Horned Owl looked over the crime scene. He noted the injuries on the dead woman's body and looked up:
"May I say that I don't blame you for your response, Gruppenfuhrer. Any decent human being would behave exactly the same way. However, there does seem to be some usefulness to this evidence. That poor woman's shoulder and side have particular indentations and injuries consistent with being hit by a heavy cable, and there was leaden residue according to the accompanying report. Which suggests to me that the assailant probably works in an occupation that uses such cables for loading or freight containment purposes, which one can extrapolate to a handful of occupations. We may be looking at a dockworker or railway employee in this context."
"Thank you, Horned Owl. I only wish that we could have met under more auspicious circumstances."
"Are you a party member, Gruppenfuhrer?"
"Yes. Ah, I see your reasoning. It would indeed be prudent and expeditious to use the party infrastructure to investigate potential assailants."
"Good. It's been a long day. My offsider and I will need to rest for the next few hours, then we will be out in Rummelsberg. Any Kriminalpolizei assistance would be much appreciated."
"Of course, Horned Owl. And thank you."
RUMMELSBERG, BERLIN:
Under the circumstances, a more cautious individual would have avoided raising suspicion with an experienced master detective like the Horned Owl in the vicinity. However, Paul Ozgorow was a psychopath. And given the extent of injuries on Gerda Ditter's body, the Horned Owl was starting to suspect that was indeed the case:
"Owl? Are we dealing with a madman here?"
"Yes, Bat, my boy. However, it may be possible that it is a particular sort of mad man, known in the medical literature as a 'psychopath'. Last century, the great physician Ludwig Koch came up with the term to describe a particular individual with specific personality traits and self-presentation. It's possible that this individual may indeed be having what are known as psychotic breaks-"
"Which is what they call it when someone is having delusions or hallucinations, right?"
"Good boy. I see you're been doing that reading I recommended. Yes, a psychopath may have that set of delusions, but they're also self-absorbed, highly superficial, impulsive, callous and displaying little real human empathy."
"That's a little broad. So is this person really mad, apart from the delusions? It sounds like that wouldn't be too obvious to detect."
"Yes, Bat. The term is in its infancy. There are no real tests for it as yet, or more precise identifying criteria beyond that general description."
Looking around them, Wilhelm observed: "There don't seem to be that many people here. All I can see is a Lutheran mission building, a disabled veteran's home, and a hotel for those church groups we passed on the way out here. So, are we going to check that large rock in the centre of town, the... Burgandsteinfelsen, it says here? Do you think the killer threw Mrs Ditter from there?"
The Horned Owl shook his head: "No, Bat, although I appreciate you showing your initiative that way and it is a fair question to ask. Do you remember what the report the pathologist provided to us said?"
"Goodness, Owl, you're right. If he'd thrown Mrs Ditter from up there, there wouldn't have been the amount of dirt and mud found on her clothes and body, would there?"
"Well done, Bat. Yes, exactly. And with the absence of any sizeable rivers near the area she was found, what else does that suggest?"
"That the killer couldn't have thrown her body from any riverboat or shipping, because that wasn't where her body was found?"
"Good. Now, what did the interviews with the Reverend Nicols at the church and Doctor Olpp at the convalescent home for wounded veterans imply?"
Wilhelm thought some more: "That they couldn't have seen anything if it had happened in the centre of town, which must mean... the railway? Yes, that would fit, wouldn't it? If the assailant threw Mrs Ditter from the train, then that would have meant she'd landed in the dirt and mud and probably rolled down hill. Does that mean that our murderer is a railway worker?"
The Horned Owl looked across the town at the rail tracks and nodded: "Precisely, Bat. I think that should be our next stop..."
SCHWARZENBRUCK STATION:
As soon as he saw the Horned Owl and Bat approaching, Paul Ozgorow straightened, shot forward his right hand and saluted:
"Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler, friend. You must be Mr Ozgorow? Gruppenfuhrer Nebe talks very highly of you."
"Thank you, sir. He telephoned ahead that you were coming. How can I help you?"
Horned Owl nodded: "Did you see anything or anyone suspicious on the night that Mrs Ditter was murdered?"
Ozgorow sighed: "I wish I could be more help, but it's darker than the devil's arse with the blackout regulations in force."
"What about sounds? Did you hear anything that could have been a struggle, or violent activity? Like a pulley cable being swung, anything like that?"
"With the noise that the engine makes up front, it's difficult to be certain. It's terrible something like that happening, just terrible. She was a young mother and her husband is overseas serving the Reich. It's the children I feel sorry for. I have two of my own. It makes you think, doesn't it?"
"Could you show us to the caboose, if that's where you store the emergency equipment?"
"Yes, sir, of course. Gruppenfuhrer Nebe ordered that you be given a spare key to assist your inquiries, so here it is."
"Much appreciated. Now, are there any equipment items that are recently retired due to wear and tear? Especially over the last few days?"
"Ach, with the war and with the supply shortages, we're probably not spending as much time on maintenance as we should. Of course, our boys in the west need to take priority, but all the same, I'm just worried that one day, there'll be an accident because we haven't been as thorough as we normally are."
"Thank you once again for your assistance, Mr Ozgorow."
As the hulking railway worker returned to his work , the Horned Owl frowned. Why did Ozgorow's replies strike him as rehearsed and artificial when it came to that discussion that they'd just had with him? Nevertheless, the supply caboose was his primary interest right now and had to take precedence. An hour later, Wilhelm was frustrated:
"Nothing amiss. All spotlessly clean. Mr Ozgorow sure takes pride in his job."
"True. And the chemical tests we did don't even indicate any residue from blood stains. Yet, if the equipment used conforms to that which was used to attack and kill Mrs Ditter, that had to be there."
"Owl, do you think one of the railway workers on this train did it?"
"We can't rule out the possibility, Bat. But we need to move on."
Late that night, there was a telephone call from an adjacent Kriminalpolizei station. Another body had been found, this one buried in the soil near the Rummelsburg tracks- and had been identified as Elfriede Franke, another young woman. In addition, ripped fragments of train tickets were found near her body, albeit too badly burnt to be deciphered. The body had the same traces of dirt, mud and debris that indicated that it must have been thrown from the train, increasing the Horned Owl's suspicion that the killer must be one of the employees or regular passengers who used the Rummelsburg service. And the next morning, a third body turned up- Irmgard Freeze (19), a local factory worker. Like Gerda Ditter and Elfriede Franke, she had apparently been thrown from the train, but the pathologists reports indicated something different- her body lacked the forensic dirt, mud and debris that had been found on the other two bodies. Which led the Horned Owl to suspect that she might have been killed beforehand.
1.40 PM NZST: 27.04.22:
BERLIN:
But as the fatalities mounted, Horned Owl and the Bat were increasingly perplexed. The pressure from Heinrich Himmler and the Nazi hierarchy grew on Gruppenfuhrer Nebe, along with his nervousness. History shows that Nebe wasn't the loyalest subordinate executive within the Nazi state police apparatus and he fretted that he might make a fatal error that would expose his participation in an earlier interneccine plot against the Fuhrer and lead to his own execution. For its own part, the aforementioned Nazi state apparatus was bedevilled by dissent from not-quite-subordinated remnants of its pre-coup d'etat rival political parties, asking why it was that the Reich seemed powerless against a lone antisocial psychopath and why it had seemingly abandoned virtuous German women who were now the serial killer's prey. Samizdats (as they would be known under another dicatorship several decades later) made caustic observations to the effect that the Reich was wasting time trying to find a suitable Jewish scapegoat and avoiding the real issue at hand, although Horned Owl and the Bat were lauded as 'true patriots' who would not let ideology get in the way of forensic diligence and discipline. (That much was true - in Germany's last pre-coup election, Georg had voted for the Catholic Centre Party, a conservative organisation).
And still the deaths continued. Elizabeth Bungener. Gertrude Siewert. Hedwig Ebauer. Johanna Voigt. All of those women were thrown from the train at some point during the journey and there were no clues as to the identity of their executioner. And then, as Horned Owl listened in on the brutal interrogation of Dimi Tarrant, a petty Jewish pickpocket, something he said made sense. He talked about one of the ladies of the evening of his acquaintance and how she had seen the man before he had attacked her. He was tall, with a moustache and spoke with a Bavarian accent. He seemed to be in his twenties. Horned Owl and the Bat stared at one another, then Horned Owl entered the room and stopped the interrogation, but not without fisticuffs applied to the more doctrinaire 'true believers' in the
Jewish-Bolshevik "international conspiracy" of the "Elders of Zion" to dissuade them from beating Tarrant to a pulp. In a side room, the Bat made coffee for the petty criminal, who seemed nervous, but, gathering confidence and assurance as he became convinced of the Horned Owl's objectivity and belief in blind justice, he elucidated on the matter at hand. His hooker friend had seen a Nazi Party identification badge for a moment as the figure assaulted her. Moreover, she had seen it drop from his collar during the struggle! He was also most forthcoming when it came to the location. Fifteen minutes later, Dimitri Tarrant was on his way out of Germany, concealed in a freight car and made it to Switzerland, where he lived out the ensuing remainder of the war. His friend's information proved crucial as the Bat found the tarnished, rusting and buckled Nazi badge and its identification number.
To his credit, when Gruppenfuhrer Nebe heard the welcome news, he was most compliant with the details from NSDAP headquarters. The Nazi hierarchy conversed amongst itself. At length, it realised that this time, it had been deceived as to the probity and character of this individual and they needed to be excised like a cancer. At RHSA headquarters, the Horned Owl came up with a complete forensic match and confirmed the identity of the murderer beyond any doubt. It was indeed Paul Ozgorow. When they visited Ozgorow's home, they encountered his tearful wife Gertrud and it became obvious from her bruised eye that this was a troubled, dysfunctional relationship. Gertrud didn't try to defend her husband and provided further incriminating evidence- that Paul Ozgorow had burnt clothing with suspicious bloodstains on it and raved to her when he had come home drunk about the malignity and diseased status of prostitutes and 'so-called virtuous German housewives". When she had argued about that, he had hit her and accused her of infidelity.
RUMMELSBURG:
And finally, the noose was closing in around Paul Ozgorow's neck. That evening, he sat alongside the woman who would have been his final victim, florist Frieda Koziol. As the train lurched around the corner, he made his move, raising his cable above his head and repeatedly striking the woman with it, then pulling her legs apart as a prelude to his predatory desires. And then, on came flashlights and the Horned Owl and the Bat were there in the train passenger car with him. Sneering and bellicose, Ozgorow rushed forward, brandishing his cable, but a flying kick from the Horned Owl winded him in the stomach. Then the Bat was on him, hammering Ozgorow's head and distracting him as the Horned Owl pressed home his advantage. The murderer blundered around the car as Horned Owl threw the Bat a rope and the young crimefighter tightened it around Ozgorow's neck. Finally, he fell to the car's floor, unconscious. Paul Ozgorow's reign of terror against Berlin women was over. The killer had finally been apprehended.
EPILOGUE:
With Frieda Koziol's testimony and the forensic evidence, the case against the "S-Bahn Killer", Paul Ozgorow, was insurmountable. As he was a Nazi Party member, of course the party apparatus was anxious to avoid any detailed scrutiny of the killer in question which might have uncovered embarrassing details to their detriment about how Ozgorow had managed to avoid detection for almost a year and how thoroughly he had duped local Nazi officials about his character and dedication to Nazi ideals. Accordingly, a Special Court was convened behind closed doors and only basic details were released about the background, crimes and apprehension of the killer, who was classified as a volksschadling or 'public pest', a most illuminating if hyperbolic term comparing him to insect lice, fleas and other vermin. It cannot be determined whether or not the hurried passage of the wartime "Public Pest Ordinance" at the same time (September 1939) was motivated by a desire to make an example of Ozgorow for his crimes and embarassment of the Nazi police apparatus over the months that his crimes had gone undetected. However, it is recorded historical fact that Section 4 of the relevant legislation refers to "anyone who commits a criminal offense by exploiting the state of emergency caused by the state of war," with provision for the death penalty if the offence was calculated to be particularly reprehensible by public opinion. While looters and petty thieves were sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, it is obvious that in Ozgorow's case, the crimes involved went beyond petty larceny.
Accordingly, with public acclaim for the Horned Owl and the Bat and the regime's legitimacy preserved, Paul Ozgorow was executed by use of the guillotine on September 25, 1939.
THE END
