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True Crime Cologne
Master Forgers, Hostage Dramas, and a Cathedral Heist
Di cosa parla la passeggiata?
Welcome to Cologne, a city famous for its soaring Gothic cathedral, its Rhine promenade and its legendary carnival spirit. But behind the postcard views lies a darker chronicle: forged masterpieces, a hostage drama, failed bombs and a daring night raid on the cathedral treasury, all played out on squares that thousands of people cross every day. Our journey begins on the Neumarkt, outside the auction house where a single forged painting fooled the art world.
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1
The Titanium White Fake - Kunsthaus Lempertz (Neumarkt 3)
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In November 2006 this Cologne auction house sold a 'lost' 1914 Campendonk for a record 2.4 million euros, but the picture was painted by master forger Wolfgang Beltracchi, who was betrayed by a single tube of titanium white and sentenced to six years in prison.
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2
The Gladbeck Getaway Car - WDR-Arkaden
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On 18 August 1988 the Gladbeck hostage takers parked their getaway car, with two 18 year old hostages on the back seat, on this stretch of Breite Straße, where reporters crowded round for live interviews and one even climbed in to guide them to the motorway. That afternoon, a police ambush on the A3 ended with 62 shots and one of the hostages dead.
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3
The Garbage Millions - Alter Markt
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Between 1994 and 1999, firms profiting from Cologne's 820 million mark waste incinerator secretly funnelled money to the SPD that led the council in this town hall, laundered through fake small donation receipts. Exposed in March 2002, the scandal ended with a prison term for the incinerator's manager and suspended sentences for waste magnate Hellmut Trienekens and former city director Klaus Heugel.
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4
The Suitcase Bombs That Failed - Hohenzollernbrücke
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On 31 July 2006, two suitcase bombs rode over this bridge on regional trains out of Köln Hbf; at 14:30 the timers fired, a construction error stopped the blasts, and one of the two bombers was later sentenced to life.
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5
The Hooligan Riot - Breslauer Platz
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On Sunday 26 October 2014, about 4,800 hooligans and far right extremists rallied on this square behind Cologne's main station, then rioted with stones, bottles and fireworks, overturned a police van and left dozens of officers injured.
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6
The Cathedral Treasury Heist - Domschatzkammer
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On the night of 1 to 2 November 1975, three men climbed the cathedral scaffolding, slipped down a ventilation shaft into the 'optimally secured' treasury in the north transept and escaped with monstrances, a pax tablet and twelve bishops' crosses. Tips from Cologne's underworld brought them down, but the golden monstrance of 1657 had already been melted.
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7
The New Year's Eve Terror Alert - Roncalliplatz
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Just before Christmas 2023, a tip about an alleged Islamist plan to attack Cologne Cathedral with a car on New Year's Eve shut the cathedral to tourists and put about 1,000 officers on guard around this square. Five men were detained, but no one has been convicted of a Cologne plot.
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8
The Night Cologne Failed - Bahnhofsvorplatz
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On New Year's Eve 2015/16, hundreds of women were surrounded, groped and robbed on this station forecourt and the cathedral steps while an overwhelmed police force called the night largely peaceful. Of 1,210 complaints, only three people were ever convicted of sexual offences.
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