As of: April 3, 2024, 4:32 p.m
By: Cornelia Schramm
Comments
Press
Split
The death portrait was distributed at Eder's funeral. There is no mention of suicide or murder. © Private
The carter Leonhard Eder was found dead in his room in Wasserburg in 1942. The police assume it was suicide. Only: It was murder and the maid Cäzilie Bauer was the perpetrator.
Wasserburg – On February 2, 1942 there was turmoil at the Stemmerhof. The police go to the sawmill in Bachmehring near Wasserburg am Inn. The farmhands, maids, milkmen and even the landowners Stemmer can hardly believe it. Stummerl – that’s what everyone called the carter on the farm – killed himself. The police arrest: Leonhard Eder, 60 years old, deaf and mute, bled to death. He severed his wrists and carotid artery with his folding knife. Three weeks later, the case was filed as a suicide.
But actually it was murder. Ulrike Hofmann is an archivist at the Munich State Archives and deals with historical cases. And this case won't let her go. The reason is the murderous maid Cäzilie Bauer. Because of her, the old investigative file is a social study, family drama and chamber play all in one. Hofmann studied them - from the first report from the rural police to Bauer's execution protocol. “What makes the case so exciting is the biotope of relationships on the farm,” she says. “The Stemmers and the employees live under one roof. There are strict hierarchies, there are dalliances and there is gossip.”
Ulrike Claudia Hofmann is an archivist at the Munich State Archives. © Private
A few weeks after Eder's death, the house's young maid, Cäzilie Bauer, was accused of murder. The Munich Police Department and the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office are taking over the case. And so today, 82 years later, we can reconstruct what happened at the Stemmerhof on Candlemas in the war year of 1942.
Cäzilie Bauer pretends that her victim committed suicide
After Eder doesn't show up for coffee that morning, the landlady sends the maid to his room at lunchtime. Cäzilie comes back - and reports on the bloodbath. She saw Eder stab himself in the neck several times with the knife. The Stummerl was unique. But what drove him to suicide? A mystery.
Sawmill owner Rupert Stemmer doesn't want to believe his maid's story right from the start. Cäzilie has already stolen bread and smoked food from him and sent it to her family. The 25-year-old is a decent worker for him, but not very trustworthy. In addition, the gentlemen believe that there should have been a lot more cash in Stummerl's cassette. The police only found 150 Reichsmarks in it. Stemmer would have guessed 3000. Stummerl was a young person and a meticulous saver. Cäzilie must have taken advantage of him.
Cäzilie Bauer is a woman who wants to live. She likes going to the café, wants to wear nice clothes and have her crooked teeth fixed. But this is a luxury that is unaffordable for the maid.
Ulrike Claudia Hofmann, Munich State Archives
My news
Contribution service sends letters to thousands of households - if you don't respond, you risk being fined
1,500 euros per month – Citizen’s benefit recipient emphasizes: “It’s just too much money for my standards” read
“That touched a nerve”: Breakfast café has to close shortly after opening – due to too many guests reading
“Accumulation of vehicles” spotted: Russia’s army is moving new tanks to Crimea
“Significant losses” for Russia: Ukraine repels several attacks on the Dnipro
Loaded with uranium: Russian freighter arrested in Germanyread
“Cäzilie Bauer is a woman who wants to live,” says Hofmann. “She likes to go to the café, wear beautiful clothes and have her crooked teeth fixed.” Luxury that is unaffordable for the maid. Cäzilie grew up in poverty in a railway worker family in Wolfratshausen. The family is honest, but occasionally saves itself from hunger through petty thefts. When she was in her early 20s, Cäzilie started working in Wasserburg. A social climb – but she craves more.
“This young girl takes an uncompromising approach and initially gets away with the suicide story,” says Hofmann. “The files contain letters that she later wrote to her parents from prison. She sees herself as a victim. She never realizes that she has extinguished a human life.” Particularly bitter for Cäzilie: Gusti, her own sister, betrayed her to the police. Here the file becomes a family drama.
When Cäzilie Bauer is arrested for the murder of Leonhard Eder, she has to give her fingerprints. The original document is now in the Munich State Archives. © StAM PolDir 8016/Munich State Archives
Several murder attempts: The maid can't get rid of Leonhard Eder with rat poison
Gusti Brandl lives in Munich. Cäzilie had often told her that Stummerl made her eyes look beautiful. So perhaps she is acting on her big sister's advice when she promises to marry the much older carter. Eder keeps giving her money so that she can buy everything for their household. The servants on the farm notice the flirtation. And the landlady notices that Cäzilie is buying suitcases of beautiful things that she could never afford.
Eder pushes Cäzilie more and more to get married. She wants to get rid of her annoying lover and puts rat poison in his beer several times. Each time he gets sick but doesn't die. “And over and over again it has become, you can do whatever you want,” Cäzilie tells her sister. Just like at Candlemas when their plan worked.
“I didn't know a way out: I got up at four in the morning and sneaked into his room. I tried to fake a suicide attempt on him and cut his wrists.”
Cäzilie Bauer, files of the Munich public prosecutor's office
“I didn't know a way out: I got up at four in the morning and sneaked into his room. I wanted to simulate a suicide attempt on him and cut his wrists.” Eder was sedated while he slept. Cäzilie had mixed sleeping pills into his beer the night before. He couldn't scream. When she saw at noon that he was still alive, she stabbed him.
After the murder, a rift breaks out between the sisters. Cäzilie visits Gusti in Munich – with a lot of money in her luggage. They indulge until Gusti's husband wants to get rid of his busy little sister and sends his wife to the police. The next day Cäzilie is arrested.
Death by guillotine: Special Nazi court convicts murdering maid
On October 15, 1942, she confessed to the crime before the special court at the Munich I Regional Court. The verdict was: death penalty. The trial only lasts one day, Cäzilie's public defender does not appeal. The Nazi special courts made short work of violent criminals.
This poster hung throughout Wasserburg for four days in December 1942. It announces the execution of Cäzilie Bauer after her treachery against Leonhard Eder. © StAM Public Prosecutor's Office 10600/Munich State Archives
Poster announces execution of the murderer
On October 15, 1942, Cäzilie Bauer confessed to the murder of Leonhard Eder in front of the special court at the Munich I Regional Court. “I now fully admit the crime as I confessed to the police,” says the young woman. The verdict is: death penalty.
The trial only lasts one day. Cäzilie Bauer has hardly any rights as a defendant, her public defender does not appeal. The special courts were introduced for the political crimes department after Hitler came to power. During the war, however, “ordinary” violent crimes were increasingly tried there. So the Nazis made short work of all the perpetrators.
Cäzilie Bauer is executed on December 22, 1942. A poster (on which her name is incorrectly spelled Cäcilie) announced her death and the dastardly murder of the driver throughout Wasserburg for four days.
The Bauer family falls apart. Father Josef Bauer doesn't believe Cäzilie Gusti. In desperation, the veteran writes a letter to the “Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor” before the execution. The file contains no indication of an answer. But a poster that must have once been bright red. It announces the insidious murder of the carter by female intrigue - and that Cäzilie Bauer has been executed. The poster was displayed all over Wasserburg for four days. It takes 15 seconds for the executioner to release the guillotine. That is also in the file.
(sco)