Adolf Gustav Seefeld

Case record

Adolf Gustav Seefeld (1871–1936) was a German tramp and religious fanatic who killed boys with natural poisons.

Seefeld was arrested and tried in 1936. He confessed to 12 murders, committed at ever-decreasing intervals between April 16, 1933, and February 23, 1935. There may have been more, since he had been charged with a murder as early as 1908. When sentenced, the Nazi court moralized over his deeds and sentenced him to be executed. He was executed by guillotine on May 23, 1936.

Background

Seefeld was an itinerant watchmaker in his native Germany. He studied scripture and could quote long Bible passages from memory. He preferred to sleep in the open, regardless of weather. He sometimes passed himself off as a witch to gullible peasants, professing ability to cast evil spells on their livestock.

First charged with the murder of a young boy in 1908, Seefeld escaped conviction through lack of evidence. He spent nearly a quarter-century in prison on various convictions for child molestation. He was committed to a mental home near Potsdam. He remained in custody for two years without speaking a word to attendants.

Seefeld did not always choose to murder his victims. Once he traveled with a kidnapped boy for three months and spared his life. When he killed, his favorite weapon was a homemade poison, concocted from wild plants and fungi, that left his chosen targets in an attitude of peace, as if they were relaxing for a nap.

Ironically, authorities recorded that his murder victims showed no signs of sexual abuse, while children he molested were allowed to live.

In custody, Seefeld confessed to a total of twelve murders. In some cases, names were unknown or forgotten, but Adolf remembered most of his children—or at least the ones he had dispatched in recent years.

The offence

Seefeld murdered boys using a homemade poison made from wild plants and fungi.

Timeline

• April 16, 1933 — Eleven-year-old Kurz Gnirk was slain.
• November 2 — Ten-year-old Ernest Tesdorf was killed.
• November 7 — Seefeld murdered Wolfgang Metzdorf, age seven.
• November 22 — Ten-year-old Alfred Praetorius was killed.
• January 16, 1934 — Hans Korn, age 11, was killed.
• October 16, 1934 — Two victims were found together at New Ruppin: six-year-old Edgar Diettrich and four-year-old Arthur Dinn.
• February 23, 1935 — His arrest followed the murder of a boy named Zimmerman.
• May 23, 1936 — Seefeld was executed by guillotine.

Trial and sentencing

Seefeld was convicted at trial a year after his arrest. The Nazi court moralized over his deeds and sentenced him to be executed.

Outcome

Seefeld was executed by guillotine on May 23, 1936 after confessing to 12 murders.