Marianne Bachmeier

Case overview

Marianne Bachmeier (born 3 June 1950 in Sarstedt; died 17 September 1996 in Lübeck) became known in Germany after she shot the alleged murderer of her daughter Anna Bachmeier in an act of vigilantism in the hall of the District Court of Lübeck in 1981.

Background

Marianne Bachmeier grew up in Sarstedt, where her parents from East Prussia had fled to. Her father had been a member of the Waffen-SS. Her parents separated, and her mother remarried. At the age of 16, Marianne Bachmeier became a mother. She became pregnant again at the age of 18 by her then-boyfriend. Shortly before the birth of her second daughter, she was raped. Both of these children were given up for adoption shortly after their birth.

In 1973, her third daughter Anna was born. Marianne Bachmeier raised Anna herself. After the birth of Anna, Marianne Bachmeier was sterilized.

The offence

On 5 May 1980, Anna Bachmeier did not go to school “to spite her mother”. When she attempted to visit a friend her own age, Anna was abducted by Klaus Grabowski, a 35-year-old butcher. He was said to have held Anna for several hours at home and then strangled her with a pair of tights. According to the Prosecutor, he had tied the girl tight, packed her into a box, which he then buried on the canal bank in a shallow grave.

Klaus Grabowski was a convicted sex offender who had previously been sentenced for the sexual abuse of two girls. During his detention, he was castrated in 1976 and, two years later, underwent hormone treatment.

Investigation and arrest context

Once arrested, Grabowski stated that he did not intend to sexually abuse Anna. He said the girl had wanted to tell her mother that he had touched her inappropriately, with the aim of extorting money from him.

Trial

Grabowski’s trial

Marianne Bachmeier shot Grabowski during the trial in the hall of Lübeck District Court.

A Luebeck court later described the circumstances: Grabowski was on trial for abducting and killing Mrs. Bachmeier’s daughter Anna in May 1980. The shooting took place on 6 March 1981 before a stunned court. The trial was reported as having attracted widespread attention in West Germany and Europe.

Bachmeier’s courtroom shooting (6 March 1981)

On 6 March 1981, the third day of the trial, Marianne Bachmeier smuggled a Beretta M1934 into the courtroom of Lübeck District Court and shot the alleged killer of her daughter Anna, Klaus Grabowski, in the back. The account states that she aimed the gun at Grabowski’s back and pulled the trigger eight times; seven of the shots hit, and the 35-year-old defendant was killed instantly.

It was described as “probably the most well-known case of vigilante justice in the Federal Republic”. Extensive media coverage followed; television crews traveled from all over the world to Lübeck to report on the case. A large part of the population showed understanding for her actions.

Marianne Bachmeier sold her life story for about 250,000 Deutschmarks in an exclusive to the news magazine Stern.

Sentencing

On 2 November 1982, Marianne Bachmeier was initially charged in court with murder. Later the prosecution dropped the murder charge. After 28 days of negotiations, the Board agreed on the verdict.

Four months after the opening of proceedings, Marianne Bachmeier was convicted on 2 March 1983 by the Circuit Court Chamber of the District Court Lübeck for manslaughter. She was sentenced for unlawful possession of a firearm to six years in prison.

A contemporaneous report stated:

Marianne Bachmeier, who shot and killed a man on trial for sexually molesting and strangling her 7-year-old daughter, was found guilty of manslaughter today. A Luebeck court sentenced the 32-year-old woman to six years in prison.

The same report described the case as follows:

Mrs. Bachmeier was touted in some circles as a symbol of citizen frustration over coping with a rising crime.

The report also recounted the prosecution and defence positions:

The prosecution last week reduced the charge of murder to manslaughter and asked that Mrs. Bachmeier be sentenced to eight years in prison.
Prosecutors contended Mrs. Bachmeier had acted out of revenge and was in command of her faculties at the time.
Mrs. Bachmeier's lawyers had argued she was under severe emotional stress and was not responsible for her actions at the time.

The report included a quote attributed to the judge at Grabowski’s trial, Guenter Kroeger:

“I wanted to shoot him in the face, but I only got him in the back. I hope he's dead,” the judge quoted Mrs. Bachmeier as saying.

Appeals

Outcome

Marianne Bachmeier was released from prison early in 1986 as a “suicide risk”.

Aftermath

Moving abroad and later life

Marianne Bachmeier married in 1985 and moved in 1988 to Lagos, Nigeria with her husband, a teacher. They lived in a German camp where her husband taught at a German school. She and her husband divorced in 1990, and she moved to Sicily. She was diagnosed there with cancer and returned to Germany.

Interviews and television appearance

In 1994, 13 years after her act, she gave an interview on Germany radio:

“I think it's a very big difference if I kill a little girl, because I'm afraid that I then have to go to prison for my life. And then also the 'how', so that I stand behind the girl and, strangle her which is taken literally from from his statement: 'I heard something come out of her nose, I was fixated, then I could not stand the sight of her body any longer ' .”

On 21 September 1995, she appeared on the talk show Fleige on the Das Erste TV channel. She admitted that she had shot the alleged killer of her daughter after careful consideration, to enforce the law on him, and to prevent him from further spreading lies about Anna.

Death and burial

On 17 September 1996, Marianne Bachmeier died at the age of 46 years from pancreatic cancer in a hospital in Lübeck. It had been her desire to die in her adopted home of Palermo.

Before her death, she asked the NDR reporter Lukas Maria Böhmer to accompany her with a movie camera in the last stages of her life. She was buried in the same grave as her daughter Anna in a graveyard in Lübeck.

Other details

The case record included references to “Mother is sentenced for killing man on trial for daughter's death” and “The Evening Independent March 2, 1983 Luebeck, West Germany (AP)”.