The Serial Killer's Bar - Zum Goldenen Handschuh
Between 1970 and 1975 Fritz Honka, a night watchman and regular of this St. Pauli dive bar, where he met women living on the margins of the Kiez, killed four women, until a fire in his Ottensen attic flat in July 1975 exposed the crimes and a Hamburg court sentenced him to 15 years and committal to a psychiatric hospital.
Sobre este lugar
Tucked into the corner where the narrow Hamburger Berg leaves the Reeperbahn, Zum Goldenen Handschuh looks like just another Kiez dive, with a heavy curtain behind the door and a jukebox inside. Opened in 1953 by the European boxing champion Herbert Nürnberg, who named it after the boxer's golden glove, it is still run by his family and serves cheap beer and schnapps almost around the clock. In the early 1970s its most notorious regular was Fritz Honka, a small, shy night watchman who drank here and met women who had fallen through every net: often homeless, no longer young, surviving on occasional sex work. He offered them drinks and a bed in his attic flat in Ottensen. Between December 1970 and January 1975 he killed four of them: Gertraud Bräuer, Anna Beuschel, Frieda Roblick and Ruth Schult. Neighbours complained of a smell for months, but nothing happened until a fire broke out in the building in July 1975 and firefighters found human remains in his flat. On 20 December 1976 the Hamburg Regional Court convicted him of one murder and three counts of manslaughter and sentenced him to 15 years with committal to a psychiatric hospital. Today a back room is still known as the Honka Stube, and Heinz Strunk's 2016 novel and Fatih Akin's 2019 film have made the Golden Glove famous far beyond St. Pauli.
Datos clave
- 4 women killed — Fritz Honka killed four women between December 1970 and January 1975, women he found among the drinkers and the homeless of the Hamburger Berg bars.
- 1953 year opened — European boxing champion Herbert Nürnberg opened the bar and named it after the golden glove of his sport; his family still runs it today.
- 15 years — On 20 December 1976 the Hamburg Regional Court convicted Honka of one murder and three counts of manslaughter and sentenced him to 15 years, with committal to a psychiatric hospital.