Peter Kurten Essays - Burglars, Peter Krten,

Peter Kurten The Dusseldorf Vampire Peter Kurten was born the 26th of May 1883, in Cologne-Mulheim Germany. The eldest of 13 children, he was born into extreme poverty. Having to live in a small one-room apartment, he was witness to the violent outbursts of a drunken father. On his father's side of the family there was a history of alcoholism and mental problems. Not only was Kurten subjected to the drunken violent assaults by his father, but was also witness to the forced rape of his mother on a continual basis. His father would later be arrested for attempting to molest his own 13-year-old daughter. Kurten would later state this was the beginning of his sexual teachings, which unfortunately would also involve violence. Having his father in prison, his mother, of ?respectable stock? separated from her husband and shortly remarried. However, while the violent episodes that influenced Kurten should have ended, another individual surfaced to continue his perverse teachings. While the father was imprisoned the family took in a boarder, a dogcatcher, who would befriend the young Kurten. The dogcatcher, a severely demented individual, formed a tight bond with the 9-year-old and taught the boy to masturbate dogs and to torture them. Enjoying this immensely, Kurten turned to bestiality, which involved goats and sheep. He soon learned he enjoyed this much more when he would stab them repeatedly during intercourse. By the age 16 Kurten was involved in committing petty thefts and subsequently ran away from home. It was here that he would receive the first of 27 prison sentences, Vampire 3 which would consume some 24 years of his life. After release from his first sentence he moved in with a prostitute who was twice his age. It is here that his teachings reached full circle and he moved sexually from animals to people. In 1913, Christine Klein, an 8-year-old girl, was to be the first known victim of Kurten. Frequenting a local inn, one night Kurten broke in to the above apartment with the attempt to steal. Seeing nothing of interest, he came upon the girl asleep in her bed. After strangling her to unconsciousness he molested her, and then he slit her throat watching the blood stream out. He would later say he ?derived sexual pleasure from watching the blood flow? (Chitolie, 1997). Although dropping his embroidered handkerchief with the initials PK at the scene of the crime, blame was cast on the young girl's uncle. The next day Kurten returned to the scene, stopping at a caf? next door for a beer. Listening to the talk about the murder he later commented ?all the horror and indignation did him good? (Gilbert, 1999). (It should be noted her that later at his trial Kurten would confess to the earlier killings of three other individuals. Two were his childhood friends that he confessed to drowning at the young age of 5. Another occurred around the age of 17. As he was having intercourse with a young woman in the woods he attempted to experiment with strangulation. Since no body was ever found, it is assumed she survived). During this year of 1913, he also attacked two other individuals with an ax, both dying from their wounds. From 1913 to 1921 he spent in prison and began to blame society for his life predicaments. He also began to fantasize about committingbrutal sexual acts. He Vampire 4 became so obsessed with these fantasies that he deliberately broke minor prison rules so that he could be sentenced to solitary confinement? (Gilbert, 1999). Soon the two combined and he began to fantasize about revenging himself onto society through the brutal killings of the innocent. After his release in 1921 he moved to Altenburg, became a factory worker and become involved in the trade unions. He attended church often and in 1925 was married, to a former prostitute. In 1925, they moved back to Dusseldorf and once again he took up crime, again stealing, but now also setting fires. The fires filled the sexual need in him and this continued til 1929, when his violent tendencies overtook him and he killed again. This time his murderous tendencies were almost frenzied. In February a woman was stabbed 24 times with a pair of scissors,