Paul Minow

Case record

Paul Minow was an epileptic printer’s apprentice who lived in downtown Berlin with his mother and sister. He was unable to satisfy their demands, and he developed rage when they nagged him incessantly about his “laziness.”

The offence

In July 1907, Minow exploded and terrorized the city with a series of attacks on young children. He selected female victims who were all below the age of five. He lured four children into alleys and doorways and stabbed each repeatedly about the abdomen with scissors. Three of the victims died; a fourth survived and provided police with a vague description of the slayer.

After one attack, a note was found nearby, pinned to the seat of a public bench with a single sharp scissor blade. The note read: "Away, away; in five minutes there will be a corpse. There is a child murderer in the neighborhood. Deliver this note to the police. I have killed children in Belforter, Preinzlauer, and Hensendorfer Streets."

Berlin police treated the attacks as a series of crimes resembling the “Jack the Ripper” murders in London, but with little girls as victims.

Investigation

Detectives questioned twenty suspects in the case, but Minow was not among them at that time. For some days after the crimes were committed, children were kept indoors while Berlin was searched for the culprit. In all, about twenty persons were taken into custody, but the identity of the murderer was not definitely established until Minow brought suspicion upon himself in the asylum.

Experts examined the note and concluded it was written by a madman. A theory favored among German medical men was that the assassin was an epileptic.

Confinement and confessions

After the final attack, Minow was confined to an asylum for the insane at Herzberge. In November 1907, investigators were informed that Minow had been talking in a rambling manner about the murders; they encouraged him to talk. Minow then freely related how he had been taunted by his mother and sister with laziness, had gone out into the streets in a rage, and had vented his feelings by stabbing four little girls without reflection, one after the other. He also rambled about the city for a while and eventually returned home.

The authorities confirmed Minow’s confession. The narrative surrounding his family indicated that it did not appear whether his mother and sister were aware of what he had done, but his mind became so disordered that they sent him to the asylum a week later.

Outcome

Minow confessed in November 1907. The sentence was not stated in the provided material.

Other details

Minow’s confinement was at an asylum for the insane at Herzberge. The killings in Berlin occurred in July 1907, with venue listed as Berlin, Germany. The article referenced a report in The New York Times dated November 9, 1907, Saturday Berlin, describing the crimes as cleared up through the confession of Paul Minow, an epileptic, 22 years of age. The prior suspicion in the asylum preceded investigators definitively establishing his identity as the murderer.