Obituary of a Beast (Nachruf auf eine Bestie) 39 years old

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.

Credits

Obituary of a Beast Cast

Name Character
Wilfried Rasch He was 59, 75 years old when he died as Himself

Obituary of a Beast Crew

Name Department
Jelka Naber as Producer. Production
Ingeborg Janiczek as Producer. Production
Niels Bolbrinker as Director of Photography. He was 34 (now 73) years old Camera
Harald Reetz as Editor. Editing
Rolf Schübel as Director. He was 42 (now 81) years old Directing
Rolf Schübel as Screenplay. He was 42 (now 81) years old Writing
Michael Lentz as Screenplay. He was 21 (37) years old when He died Writing
Michael Lentz as Idea. He was 21 (37) years old when He died Writing
Obituary of a Beast (39 years)

  • Release day: Tuesday, January 01, 1985
  • Runtime: 60 minutes