Anna and Her Mother — Marianne Bachmeier
In the early morning of May 5, 1980, seven-year-old Anna Bachmeier was abducted by her neighbor, Klaus Grabowski. Grabowski, a convicted sex offender, had previously been in a psychiatric hospital and had voluntarily undergone chemical castration. However, he later underwent hormone treatment — with court approval — and restored his sex drive.
Anna was reported missing when she didn't return home from school. Later that day, Grabowski was arrested after a tip-off from his fiancee. He confessed to the murder but denied having abused the girl. Instead, he claimed that Anna had tried to blackmail him, threatening to tell her mother that he had sexually harassed her if he didn't give her money. Grabowski strangled Anna with a pair of stockings from his fiancee and buried her body in a cardboard box on the bank of a canal.
On March 6, 1981, in room 157 of the Lübeck regional court, during the third day of the trial for the murder of her seven-year-old daughter Anna on May 5, 1980, Marianne Bachmeier took justice into her own hands. Klaus Grabowski, a convicted sex offender who had confessed to strangling Anna, was in court when Bachmeier shot him from behind with a .22-caliber Beretta, hitting him six times and resulting in his death in the courtroom. “I wanted to shoot him in the face. Unfortunately, I hit him in the back. Hopefully, he's dead”, said Bachmeier shortly after the incident, allowing her arrest without resistance.
Marianne Bachmeier's act of revenge in the courtroom sparked a national debate about vigilantism, the criminal justice system, and the rights of victims. The subsequent trial in 1983 found Marianne guilty of manslaughter and illegal possession of weapons, resulting in a six-year prison sentence.
Marianne's life story, including her unhappy childhood and youth, was published in a Stern magazine series, which helped to cover her legal costs. The series also detailed the events leading up to Anna's tragic death on May 5, 1980, when Grabowski strangled her after holding her captive for hours.
The trial of Marianne Bachmeier attracted immense public attention, with many expressing sympathy for her act of revenge. However, others blamed the judiciary for allowing Grabowski to use hormones to restore his sex drive, despite his criminal record for sexual abuse of children.
During her trial, the court had to determine whether the crime was murder or manslaughter. The defense argued that the crime was not planned, and the court ultimately convicted Marianne of manslaughter and illegal possession of a weapon. She was released early in 1985 and left Germany to live in Nigeria and later Sicily, where she worked as a euthanasia assistant in a hospice.
Marianne was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1996 and returned to Germany, where she passed away at the age of 46. She was buried next to her daughter Anna in the Lübeck Burgtorfriedhof. Despite the decline in public interest in her life, Marianne continued to seek attention and sympathy for her story until her death.
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