Dresden · DE
True Crime Dresden
Jewel Thieves, Fake Gold, and Rebels on the Barricades
What's the walk about?
Welcome to Dresden, the 'Florence on the Elbe', a city of baroque palaces, priceless treasures and a skyline risen from the ashes. But behind its sandstone facades lies another Dresden: a city of fake gold and rigged votes, of rebels on the barricades and thieves in the night. On this walk we follow the trail of the city's most remarkable crimes, from a public beheading in 1601 to one of the boldest jewel heists of modern times, standing on the spots where history turned dark. Our journey begins at the golden gate of the New Town Hall.
What you'll see
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1
The Rigged Vote - Neues Rathaus
town_hall
This ornate town hall was the seat of a mayor who was later convicted of election fraud. On 7 May 1989, while Dresden's citizens cast their votes, officials systematically falsified the No vote tallies before passing the results up the party chain.
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2
The October Knife Attack - Rosmaringasse
street
Just steps from Dresden's famous Kulturpalast concert hall, two tourists were stabbed without warning on an autumn evening in 2020, leaving one dead and a city shaken. A small bronze plaque set into the pavement marks the exact spot.
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3
The Beheaded Chancellor - Neumarkt
memorial
A single cobblestone carved with the letters 'Kr.' is set into the Neumarkt paving to mark the exact spot where Saxon chancellor Nikolaus Krell was publicly beheaded by sword on 9 October 1601, condemned after nearly ten years of imprisonment for the charge of secret Calvinism.
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4
The Fake Gold-Maker - Brühlscher Garten
monument
On the sun-drenched terrace above the Elbe stands a small bronze figure of the man who promised Augustus the Strong the world and delivered something far more valuable instead: a failed alchemist who never produced a single gram of gold yet accidentally invented European porcelain in his prison laboratory beneath your feet.
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5
Bombs Before Unity Day - Augustusbrücke
bridge
One week before Germany's national Unity Day celebrations were planned in Dresden, two pipe bombs tore through the night, one at a mosque in the west of the city and one on the terrace of the congress centre visible downstream from this bridge.
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6
The Conductor on the Wanted Poster - Theaterplatz
square
In May 1849, Royal Court Conductor Richard Wagner helped arm the barricades and climbed the Kreuzkirche tower to signal to rebels, then fled Dresden under a false name with a high treason warrant on his head. The opera house in front of you was designed by his co-conspirator, architect Gottfried Semper, while both men were banned from setting foot in Saxony.
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7
Glued to the Madonna - Zwinger
palace
On 23 August 2022 two climate activists walked into the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and superglued their bare hands to the gilded frame of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, bringing one of Europe's most famous baroque palace complexes to a standstill.
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8
The Green Vault Heist - Residenzschloss
palace
Just before dawn on 25 November 2019, two thieves squeezed through a pre-cut corner window of this building and axed open a jewel display case, executing the greatest museum heist in German history in under three minutes. Three of the stolen pieces, including the Saxon White diamond, remain missing to this day.
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