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Obituary of a Beast (1985)

Directed by Rolf Schübel

Documentary · 1h 00m

Between 1962 and 1966, sex murderer Jurgen Bartsch cruelly tortured and killed four children in an old air raid bunker in Germany. This documentary examines the personality of the killer who died in 1976 during voluntary castration surgery at the age of 30. Vilified by the press for his heinous crime, Bartsch also became a case study for famous found criminal psychologists like Alice Miller (who maintains that no one abuses without being abused as a child, and murderers tend to have their own childhood abuse denied by the adults around them). Bartsch never met his birth parents, he was raised in a clinic and later adopted by a cold, unaffectionate couple. By the age of 15, he tortured and killed his first child victim. This informative, fact-filled documentary provides enough details for viewers to come away with a broader understanding of the nature of the criminally insane and society's role in their formation.

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Cast

Crew

Director
Rolf Schübel
Screenplay
Rolf Schübel, Michael Lentz
Director of Photography
Niels Bolbrinker
Editor
Harald Reetz
Producer
Jelka Naber, Ingeborg Janiczek

Details

Original title
Nachruf auf eine Bestie
Release date
1985-01-01
Runtime
1h 00m
Genres
Documentary
Original language
DE
Spoken languages
German
Countries
Germany