Marianne Bachmeier

THE case of Marianne Bachmeier is one that is long remembered in German history.

This is because she was a mother who killed her child's murderer in an act of revenge.

Who was Marianne Bachmeier?
Marianne Bachmeier was born on June 3, 1950.

She grew up in Sarstedt, a small town near Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, West Germany, where her parents had fled after World War II from East Prussia.

On November 1972, Bachmeier welcomed a daughter called Anna.

In 1981 she hit the headlines after she shot and killed the man who sexually assaulted and murdered her daughter.

Who was Klaus Grabowski?
Klaus Grabowski was a 35-year-old butcher and a convicted sex offender.

He had previously been jailed for the sexual abuse of two girls.

In 1976, Grabowski voluntarily submitted to chemical castration, though it was later revealed that he subsequently underwent hormone treatment to try to reverse the castration.
What happened to Marianne's daughter Anne Bachmeier?
On May 5, 1980, seven-year-old Anna Bachmeier was abducted and murdered by Klaus Grabowski.

He held her for several hours at his home, sexually assaulted her, and ultimately strangled her.

Grabowski's fiancée then turned him in to the police.

Once arrested, he stated that the girl wanted to tell her mother that he had abused her to extort money from him.

Grabowski said his fear of going back to prison prompted him to kill her.

What happened to Marianne Bachmeier?
On March 6, 1981, the third day of Grabowski's trial and around 10am, Marianne smuggled a Beretta 70 pistol into the courtroom of Lübeck District Court.

She then shot Klaus Grabowski, the confessed killer of her daughter, in the back.

Bachmeier aimed the gun at Grabowski's back and fired seven times, and he was killed almost instantly.

She then lowered her gun, and was apprehended without resistance.

The case sparked extensive media coverage and public debate.

As a result, Bachmeier was convicted of manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm.

She was sentenced to six years but released on bail after serving three years.

What was Marianne Bachmeier's cause of death?
On September 17, 1996, Bachmeier died at the age of 46 from pancreatic cancer in a hospital in Lübeck.

Her final resting place is next to her daughter, Anna, in Burgtor Cemetery, Lübeck.

Before her death, she asked the Norddeutscher Rundfunk reporter, Lukas Maria Böhmer, to accompany her and film the last stages of her life.