Frankfurt · DE
True Crime Frankfurt
Firebombs, Art Thieves, and an Unsolved Murder
What's the walk about?
Welcome to Frankfurt, Germany's city of money, where glass skyscrapers rise above a rebuilt medieval old town and the river Main. But behind its polished facades, Frankfurt keeps a darker ledger: tax fraud worth hundreds of millions, a murder that was never solved, the 1968 firebombs that led straight to the Red Army Faction, and one of the most daring art heists in Europe. Our investigation begins here, at the foot of the Deutsche Bank twin towers, where the first crime needed no weapon at all, just a trading desk and a market in carbon permits.
What you'll see
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1
The Carbon Carousel - Deutsche Bank Twin Towers
office_building
In 2009 and 2010, a trading desk in these mirrored towers helped fraudsters spin carbon permits through a tax carousel, and Deutsche Bank's returns claimed back more than 145 million euros in VAT; in June 2016 the desk's former head was sentenced to three years in prison.
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2
Riot at the Fountain - Alte Oper
opera_house
On the night of 18 to 19 July 2020, a pandemic party of about 3,000 people in front of the Alte Oper turned into a riot when police breaking up a brawl at the Lucae fountain were pelted with bottles, leaving five officers hurt and 39 people detained.
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3
90 Seconds, 40 Luxury Watches - Frankfurt Stock Exchange
landmark
At 10:41 on 29 June 2023, two disguised men robbed a jeweller one block behind Frankfurt's grand stock exchange, grabbing 40 luxury watches and jewellery worth about 850,000 euros in just 90 seconds, then escaped by bicycle and calmly locked their bikes before vanishing. They have never been caught.
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4
The Rosemarie Nitribitt Mystery - Eschenheimer Turm
tower
On 1 November 1957 Rosemarie Nitribitt, 24, the call girl famous for her black Mercedes 190 SL, was found strangled in her flat at Stiftstraße 36, a stone's throw from this medieval gate tower. An acquaintance was tried and acquitted in 1960, and her murder is still unsolved.
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5
The Alarm-Clock Firebombs - Hauptwache
square
Shortly before midnight on 2 April 1968, firebombs made from plastic bottles and travel alarm clocks set the department store on this square and the M. Schneider store on the Zeil alight; Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and two accomplices were arrested two days later and got three years each, the first step on the road to the Red Army Faction.
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6
The Mayor Who Was Voted Out - Römer
town_hall
On 6 November 2022, 95.1 percent of voters removed Mayor Peter Feldmann from the city hall that has governed Frankfurt since 1405, and seven weeks later a court convicted him of accepting favors from a welfare charity that had given his later wife a lavish job and a company car.
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7
The Stolen Turners - Kaiserdom
cathedral
On the night of 28 July 1994, thieves locked inside the Schirn Kunsthalle beside this cathedral overpowered a guard and escaped with two Turners from London's Tate and a Caspar David Friedrich, insured for 70 million marks; three men went to prison, but it took nine years of secret talks to bring every painting home.
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8
Fire at the ECB Opening - Eiserner Steg
bridge
On 18 March 2015, as the European Central Bank opened its 1.3 billion euro tower about 1.5 kilometres upriver from this footbridge, Blockupy protests turned into riots: at least seven police cars were set alight, more than 200 people were hurt and about 350 activists were detained.
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