A man lies in his room covered in blood. At first everything points to suicide. But did the investigators really miss anything? Chief Inspector Ludwig Waldinger knows the answer. But not the mid-fifties will be the first to speak and explain the connections, but historian Ulrike Claudia Hofmann. This is also due to the fact that you are not in Maillingerstrasse at the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office is located, for which Waldinger normally works as one of the press officers, but in the Gimplkeller in Wasserburg.
These plans also belong to the original documents.
(Photo: StAM PolDir 8016_03)
Because the case that happened on a farm in nearby Bachmehring is real, but goes back to the year 1942. That is when the 60-year-old, deaf driver Leonhard Eder was killed by the 25-year-old maid Cäzilie Bauer with his throat cut and slashed wrists in his chamber. What is initially considered an act of desperation soon turns out to be a matter of murder.
Hofmann studied this meticulously using original documents and made an astonishingly captivating book out of it with “Ermittlungsakte Cäzilie Bauer”. No coincidence. Because in the year the native of Coburg worked on “feme murders” for her dissertation. But then her interest in true crime faded into the background for a while – “with a job and two children there wasn’t much room for anything else”.
The historian Ulrike Claudia Hofmann allows herself to be “found” by the files that inspired her true crime books. The next one – it takes place in a celebrity villa on Lake Starnberg – is almost finished.
(Photo: private/Hofmann)
But since Hofmann 2015 im Munich State Archives works primarily in the field of justice and public relations, many files pass through her hands due to the numerous inquiries she receives as part of user advice. “Suddenly, in addition to my weakness for scientific and historical work, the detective who likes to bring things to light reappeared,” explains the chief archive officer, explaining the reawakening of her former passion. She does not make a conscious choice. “The files find me,” laughs the woman, who originally wanted to be a German and history teacher. “When I come across something that hooks me, I keep going.”
The collaboration with Waldinger came about on the occasion of the “Day of the Archives”, which takes place every two years. In 2020, the criminal completed the reading of actor Winfried Frey as an expert on ‘lies and deceit“https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ebersberg/.”The event, which was scheduled to last an hour and a half, ended up being three times as long,” the police officer recalls with a laugh. Actually, the audience should have switched, but they most simply stayed put because they were so enthusiastic.
The course of “Zeitreise Murder” in Wasserburg will be similar – albeit a little shorter: Hofmann reads from the documents from “Aktenzeichen 1 KL-So 59/42: The investigation file Cäzilie Bauer”, Waldinger comments and compares the methods used at the time with modern ones police work. Using a concrete example, he explains what has changed in the last 100 years when it comes to fiber traces or fingerprints and what, amazingly, still works.
Chief Inspector Ludwig Waldinger is one of the press officers of the LKA and helped to set up the weapons museum there.
(Photo: private)
Because this man really knows his way around investigative work: He started in the mid-1980s with the riot police, worked as a narcotics investigator and patrol officer, first came to the press office of the Munich police headquarters, before he started working for the BLKA more than 20 years ago. The 2000 people working there include many who are scientifically active in a wide variety of fields. “I learn a lot every day”. The walk-in 3-D crime scene, which Waldinger can talk about on request, also contributes to this, as does the weapons museum he helped set up for his agency.
Because weapons will also be the focus on March 13 in Wasserburg – after all, a knife played a decisive role in the driver’s death. And because Waldinger “never goes empty-handed” when he is on stage somewhere, he will certainly have impressive visual material with him.
For him, the main thing here is education, because everyone has knives at home, so you have to be just as familiar with what is allowed and forbidden, “like when you go through the traffic light at a red light. Everyone has to think about what they are wearing or handbag.” Only for a reasonable reason – such as cutting bread at a picnic – are you allowed to carry a fixed knife that is more than twelve centimeters long. Also, some cutting tools are only allowed for certain professional groups – for example, only professional rescue workers could use one-hand knives.
The court found the maid guilty and sentenced her to death by an axe.
(Photo: StAM public prosecutors 10600_01)
Even if the real case ends badly – the death penalty is imposed – the evening promises to be not only informative but also entertaining. Anyone who has experienced the convincing stage presence of the equally eloquent and humorous Waldinger knows that. As a savvy fan of crime literature, the chief inspector, who lives with his family in the southern district of Munich, has been advising writers for more than 20 years and compares crime and thriller plots with author Martin Arz (“Fiction vs. Facts”) in his program with the Reality.
The book contains a compilation of the original files, together with some explanations for the historical classification of the events and people.
(Photo: private)
This is not necessary with the true crime book by Ulrike Claudia Hofmann. Instead, according to the historian, her stage partner will “wonderfully span the technical arc by taking up elements from the book and explaining them from a completely different perspective.” In addition, the historical classification of all those involved also provides an explanation for the initially rather careless investigations.
“Zeitreise Murder” is designed as a two-hour mixture of reading, lecture and question time (“although this is open-ended – nobody is choked off”). In the end, the audience may not only be able to assess whether there could still be an undetected murder today, but will also be up to date with current investigative methods.
time travel murder: March 13, 7:30 p.m. Gimplkeller, Marienplatz 25, Wasserburg. Admission free.