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Berlin’s Nazi Serial Killer
World War II blackout facilitated murders and assaults
More than seven million Germans died in World War II, so the deaths of eight women in Berlin seem minuscule. They weren’t war casualties, though. They were victims of a serial killer who used his position and wartime conditions to appease his deviant obsessions.
In 1931, 18-year-old Paul Ogorzow joined the Nazi Party. The following year he joined the Nazi’s original paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung, more commonly known as the “SA” or “Brownshirts.” He eventually became a senior squad leader, the equivalent of a non-commissioned officer. Internal Nazi politics led to the murder of SA leadership in 1934 and, although not formally disbanded, the SA’s power went to the SS.
Ogorzow was hired by the S-Bahn, Berlin’s commuter rail network, in 1934 and rose from manual laborer to auxiliary signalman. Stationed in Berlin’s eastern suburbs, the building he worked in was separate and a distance from the passenger station. Still, the job provided him a uniform and opportunity for his murderous aims. From August 1939 to July 1940, Ogorzow stabbed three women, bludgeoned one, and strangled yet another before throwing her from an S-Bahn train. None died, but they were the fortunate ones.
