For Hermann H., his apartment in a residential complex in Laim was everything. The typesetter bought it in the late 1990s. H. lived alone and secluded in the 16-story building. Among other things, roommates noticed that he was always dressed in black, wore a black hat and black sunglasses. A few years ago, the now 72-year-old began to terrorize neighbors with confused letters because they allegedly insulted him or spied on him as “undercover agents” of the property management.
Since he believed that he was paying too much house money to the property management and also too much property tax to the city of Munich, he stopped making all payments in 2015. Hermann H. felt right. Since he didn’t change his mind, the city ordered his apartment and Mercedes foreclosed on. The 72-year-old wanted to prevent that at all costs. In the early hours of October 28, 2021, he scattered paper towels and hay in the kitchen, bathroom, and living room before pouring gasoline on them and setting everything on fire around 4 a.m. The foreclosure sale of his apartment should have taken place on the morning of October 28th.
Hermann H. was arrested and temporarily housed in the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital. According to the opinion of a forensic scientist, the pensioner is a “querulous personality”. He also suffers from paranoia. Since the 72-year-old in an untreated condition posed a danger to the general public, the 19th Criminal Chamber at the Munich I District Court, chaired by Judge Markus Koppenleitner, ordered Hs to be placed indefinitely in a closed psychiatric clinic on Wednesday.
The judge appealed to the man to seek treatment
The fact that he set the fire in his apartment was a “logical decision” for him, the 72-year-old said during the process. He said he “wanted to protect his property from the auction”. At the time of the fire, 451 people were living in the condominium. Worse events were probably only prevented because neighbors in the hallway on the floor where the former typesetter had his apartment noticed smoke and quickly called the fire brigade.
Nobody was injured. However, there was considerable property damage. H’s apartment burned down completely. In the underground car park, where he had also set fire to his Mercedes, fire experts estimated the damage at almost half a million euros. Because the fire from the burning car exposed the iron reinforcement of the ceiling to a depth of five centimetres.
If the apartment had been foreclosed on in October last year, the psychiatric expert said in his report to the court, the 72-year-old would have had to admit that he had lost the “querulous war he waged against his enemies.” But the pensioner wanted to prevent that.
H. did not seek treatment during his temporary detention in a psychiatric hospital before the trial began. “I see no point in therapy,” he said in court. At the end of the verdict, judge Markus Koppenleitner addressed the 72-year-old directly and said to him that if he did not seek treatment, he would probably have to spend the rest of his life in a closed psychiatric ward. “It’s sad,” said the chairman.