The Two Faces of Denke

Students of Ziębice's high school made a movie about Karl Denke. Far from being a masterpiece of documentary cinema, it deserves attention for at least 3 reasons:

- it has been made by very young people;

- it relates an uneasy part of the history of the town

- it was intended as mere practice in film editing

So here it is (Polish only; no subtitles - sorry):

Cast:

Agnieszka Orłowska

Sara Duszak

Wojciech Hyla (as Karl Denke)

Piotr Pajestka (as the vagabond at the train station)

Grzegorz Skalski (as Vincenz Oliver)

Screenplay and directed by:

Agnieszka Orłowska

Sara Duszak

Edited by:

Krzysztof Kochanek

Supervisor:

Grzegorz Noculak

He is part of our History

It was exactly a year ago, when the Hanover tourist board issued this Advent calendar for children. Nothing really special about it, if not one figure depicted behind a tree at the left of the image. 

 

Yes, it is Fritz Haarmann, the cannibal killer from Hanover, with a meat cleaver in his hand:

Haarmann had already appeared in a similar calendar the year before, but nobody took notice. 

The 2007 calendar sold very well - the whole run of 20 000 copies was out before Christmas.  

Hans-Christian Nolte, head of the Hanover tourist board defended the idea of including the mass murderer in the calendar, saying: "He is part of our history. Even on guided tours the serial killer's story is told". 

...

The killer disappeared from the 2008 version of the calendar. 

OUT OF PRINT!

Frischfleisch (Fresh Meat) is - according to its designer Friedemann Friese - a vicious game for 2 - 6 hungry players at age 18+

source

From the official note: Each player represents a group of 6 persons, who are stranded in a wilderness. The sun is burning - the stomach hurts - food must be found. 

The basic idea of the game: Before I die I better eat my neighbor...

The game is out of print.

It was first published in 1999 at Spiel '99 in Essen in a print of 1200 copies

(BTW 'Essen' means 'food' in German)

Schlag du die Nägel ein!

Hammer in the nails! 

Michael Struck used Karl Denke's image as inspiration for his oil on burlap painting (ca. 90x100 cm). 

source

He explains: the picture is partly a collage. The rusty nails at the bottom right corner of the image are mounted into the burlap.

A major inspiration for this work was Dostoevsy's 'Crime and Punishment'. 

...

The implications of this statement are anyone's guess.