Rare evidence of cannibalism in Europe's early Neolithic period

Archaeologists have found evidence of mass cannibalism at a 7,000-year-old human burial site in south-west Germany, the journal Antiquity reports.

The authors say their findings provide rare evidence of cannibalism in Europe's early Neolithic period.
Up to 500 human remains unearthed near the village of Herxheim may have been cannibalised.

More here (BBC News)






Via BBC News

Time Machine

Eugenics and cannibalism combined: Time Machine (1895) by H.G. Wells.




Humanity in the year A.D. 802,701 is divided into the Eloi, a society of elegant, androgynous, and rather childishly naive people and the Morlocks - troglodytes, who breed and eat the Eloi.


Here is a fragment of the 1960 movie directed by George Pal:

Hufu

Hufu is the name of a soy-based product designed to resemble human flesh (in taste and texture): "Healthy Human Flesh Alternative".









According to the producer's website, human flesh has the "taste and texture of beef, except a little sweeter in taste and a little softer in texture. Contrary to popular belief, people do not taste like pork or chicken".






Armin Meiwes (and we can trust this guy in that matter) says human flesh has a taste of pork. By the way, Armin Meiwes has turned vegetarian: "He finds the idea of factory farming as distasteful as his crime was". (source)



Inside of Meiwes' house; photos: Thomas Rabsch (source)





From a documentary The Man who ate his Lover (2004), we learn about Meiwes' literary taste as well:

"Brandes starts to bleed to death in the bath; Meiwes passes the time downstairs by reading a Star Trek novel".


You can watch the full documentary here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5




Oh, and I forgot to say, Hufu was a spoof: here.

Macabre returns

I mentioned this American band before, but described it as extreme metal.

Well, I was wrong: indeed they play murder metal. They have a brand new site on myspace, hence we know, that Macabre blends elements of true crime, math rock, nursery rhymes, punk, thrash, folk melodies, death metal, jazz fusion, black metal and more into an energetic, catchy and unmistakable amalgam, refers to Macabre's signature style.




Which in visual terms means more or less this:



Members of Macabre on a “family” picture taken in Sedlec Kutná Hora ossuary in Czech
Republic





On their latest album, there's a song about Armin Meiwes:


The Wustenfeld Man Eater (Armin Meiwes)



In the German internet classifieds

was an ad for a man's demise

then after death he'd eat his prize

a cannibal in modern times



Then to his ad a man replied

agreed to what was advertised

his penis was cut off while still alive

he ate half his own penis before he died

Historische Serienmörder II

New book with an article about Karl Denke by Armin Rütters is out:




Publisher: Kirchschlager Verlag


ISBN 978-3-934277-25-0

Rwandan Eugenics

Quoted from Modernity Problems: Belge colonizers were into measuring cranial dimensions of Rwandans and making them do calisthenics in the name of evolving the barbarians. Back in the day, it was all about ethnicity. Today, its about mental capacity. And, creepily, forced sterilization. Wednesday, Human Rights Watch urged:



Rwanda to revise a draft law which it said would introduce compulsory HIV testing and require all people with mental disabilities to be sterilized…



The draft legislation would oblige the Rwandan government to “suspend fertility for mentally handicapped people,” the rights group said.



“Systematic forced sterilization had been recognised as a crime against humanity by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,” it said.



It is beyond profoundly disturbing when a country subject to socio-political eugenics that led to a genocide drafts legislation for a forced sterilization program.

Three generations of imbeciles are enough

The fourth child of Wioletta Woźna (42) has been taken away from her after social workers declare, that "the house is untidy, the floor is not swept, the dishes dirty, crumbs of bread on the table, the woman is unresourceful, her partner works in the field and doesn't help her much. The court states, that the woman is handicapped, and the father is 63 year old".





The story (in Polish) here;





However, there's something more: after coming back from hospital, the woman discovers, she had been sterilized without her consent during the cesarean. Read the article (in English) here (please note, she was not a surrogate mother, as the article states, but that is not important).



This happened a couple of weeks ago in Poland. It was just one of many cases of women, whose children were taken away from them on grounds of their low IQ. See for instance these two articles:




Mother fights claims she is 'too stupid' to bring up child


Second mother 'too stupid to raise her children'




And the famous case, that started all that: Carrie Buck.







Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. wrote in 1927:




We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. [...] Three generations of imbeciles are enough. (source)


More about the case in this article by Stephen Jay Gould

Micro Point Mosquito Surgical Hemostat Non-Cantilevered Ringed Forceps

Vasectomy instruments found on ebay. The set includes:




1 Ring Forceps

1 Micro Point Mosquito Surgical Hemostat

Non-Cantilevered Ringed Forceps. ("fixation clamp")





LIFE time Warranty against rust





The description says it all:

One of the most common and popular means for contraception around the world is vasectomy – a brief, surgical procedure used for male sterilization. It is a popular means of birth control for couples that have decided that their family is complete. It is nearly 100 % effective and is intended to be permanent.


(via Urlesque.com)

Mendel's Law

This is the third post concerning eugenics on this blog. Take a look at the previous ones here and here and then enjoy the poem below (click to magnify):













Source

I killed my boyfriend and ate his organs because he really, really wanted me to

The British version of the Cannibal Butcher urban legend turns Kebab style:




Well, the infamous first ever winner of the Mr Gay UK contest also tried tried some Mediterranean flavouring (quoted from The Sun):


"Having killed the victim Morley carved away a piece of flesh, took it downstairs to his kitchen where he seasoned it, fried it and tried to eat it. [...] From a chopping board on one of the kitchen units, six pieces of cooked flesh which had been seasoned with fresh herbs and fried in olive oil were recovered."


It's difficult to say what led Anthony Morley in his culinary experiences, but the name of Armin Meiwes comes instantly to mind (look here).


The latter has inspired a few movies and episodes so far, but most of the times he is referred to in a charmingly grotesque form. In Three and Out, he turns French chef:




In an episode of The IT Crowd, the German cannibal is well-mannered, cultivated and absolutely harmless:





The only attempt to focus on Meiwes' case in a more serious manner was probably Grimm Love (a.k.a. Rohtenburg). The end result however is a mixture of pretentious monologues, infantile psychology, ridiculous make-ip (see below) all concocted in an incongruous dish. Meiwes himself didn't like the movie (it was banned by a German court for infringing his personal rights). BTW the first image in this post comes from the same film...






If you're still interested, there's yet another movie: The Diary of a Cannibal directed by Ulli Lommel. It's a gory, heterosexual version of Armin Meiwes' story. Reviews here and here. Trailer below:

Haarmann's Sausages part 4

Alfred Hrdlicka, Stehender - Haarmann 1967 (red marble) 87 x 20 x 30 cm. source

The sculpture above is one of a series of Haarmann ispired statues proposed by Austrian artist Afred Hrdlicka to the city of Hanover. 

Maria Tatar notes in her book Lustmord:

Much as collective cultural memory has excluded Fritz Haarmann from the historical record and preserved his deeds in the popular imagination as something closer to lore than to fact, it was impossible to eradicate his real-life existence entirely. Of late, the Haarmann case has attracted a certain amount of notoriety , but, in one instance at least, the effort to remember turned into what was perceived to be a scandalous attempt to commemorate his deeds. In Haarmann's native city of Hanover, Alfred Hrdlicka proposed erecting a monument to Haarmann - a statue that would be a provocation to be sure - but with hope of provoking thought. It goes without saying that the plan was never approved, but Hrdlicka still had the chance to articulate what it was that made Haarmann worthy of memorialization. Haarmann's offenses lay at the heart of "the enigmas of a nation," Hrdlicka declared. "Haarmann the mass murderer... was not only a lightning flash revealing the state-sanctioned mass murderers that were to come; his antisocial preoccupations and drives were, above all, what made him a prototype of his time."

And another sculpture:

Alfred Hrdlicka, Haarmann (Haarmann und eines seiner Opfer III) 1967 - 1968 (bronze), 212 x 33 x 40 cm. source

Take a look at the 3 previous parts: 1, 2, 3

Haarmann's Sausages part 3

Here comes another piece inspired by the notorious character (look here and here).

This one was written by Erich Weinert, who regarded the case of Fritz Haarmann and the way society reacted to it, as the final proof of the Weimar Republic's degeneration. The text is a little obscure, I leave it in its original form without translation (taken from the book Serial Killers. Das Buch der blutigen Taten by Annette Keck and Ralph J. Poole):

Wie blubbert doch die Volkesseele

Mit schaurig zugeschnürter Kehle

Bei jedem Polizeibericht,

Wenn man was Neues aus der Haarmannshöhle

Zu lesen kriegt.

Vom Nachttopf bis zum Küchenmesser,

Je detaillerter, desto besser!

Mit sanften Graun betrachtest du

Inkriminierte Marmeladenfässer

Mit Hirnragout. -

Daß, der die Sünde widers Fleisch tat

Im sozialen Polizeistaat

Seit Jahren wirkte ungestört

Hat jeden Untertan im deutschen Freistaat

Zutiefst empört.

Doch nein, das wäre Unterschätzung

Der Polizei und Volksverhetzung.

Er schlachtete nicht offiziell.

So was tat nur, in Zeiten der Besetzung

Die O.H.L. (= Oberste Heeresleitung)

Hier dämmert mir des Rätsels Lösung:

Ein Individuum der Verwesung

Erhebt, symbolisch ins Quadrat,

Was man in großer Zeit zur Volksgenesung

Im ganzen tat.

Nimmt man den Sünder ins Examen,

So fällt er gar nicht aus dem Rahmen

Im Gegenteil, er ähnelt ganz

Den Helden, die uns massakriert im Namer

Des Vaterlands.

So mancher Champion im Morden

Ist damals ausgezeichnet worden,

So mancher Recke comme il faut

Erhielt den Haarmann-der-Cherusker-Orden

Für Mord en gros.

Was? Übereifer? Kriegspsychose?

Macht euch man bloß nicht in die Hose!

Ihr habt sechs Jahre Friedensmord!

Auch hierin schlagen wir, in Heldenpose,

Den Weltrekord.

Wenn heute, mit perverser Kälte,

Der höchste aller Staatsanwälte

Am liebsten, wie es früher Brauch,

Den Proletarier an die Mauer stellte,

Ist das nicht auch…?

Der sich in Bajonetten sonnte,

Der ungestraft tranchieren konnte,

Der deutsche Haarmann lebt. Gebt acht!

Er wittert schon am fernen Horizonte

Die Haarmannsschlacht.

1924

Es ist mein Teil

The case of Armin Meiwes has become famous over the years with movies, novels and songs to depict the story of the Metzgermeister. Many were fascinated by the fact that both the killer and the victim shared the first bites of the latter's penis as entrée (in culinary terms, it wasn't satisfying; most of the penis - chopped - was later served to Meiwes' dog).

Now though, Meiwes has a follower (sui generis, I should say) in Poland. 

source

Here's a man, who has bitten off a part of his friend's penis. 

"'He began hitting me with a chain - and then pulled down my trousers and started biting. It was agony,' said the victim (from Metro.co.uk).

Police and medics could find no trace of Marian's missing genitalia, and believe his attacker Wojciech Sowinski - now facing 10 years in jail - may have eaten it. 

'If we'd had the other bit of his penis we could have sewn it back on,' said Dr Adam Domanasiewicz from the hospital in nearby Trzebnica, where Marian is recovering".

Here's the story with more details (in Polish).

source

Among many songs inspired by Meiwes' story, this one is  probably the most famous: Rammstein, Mein Teil (My Piece; can be translated as My Member as well).

The lyrics translate as (from rammstein-europe.com):

'Looking for a well-built 18 to 30-year-old

to be slaughtered'

The Master Butcher 

Today I will meet a gentleman

He likes me so much he could eat me up

Soft parts and even hard ones

are on the menu

Because you are what you eat

and you know what it is

It is my part – no

My part – no

There that's my part – no

My part – no

The dull blade good and proper

I'm bleeding heavily and feeling sick

Although I have to fight to stay awake

I keep eating while in convulsions

It's just so well seasoned

and so nicely flambéed

and so lovingly served on porcelain

And with it, a good wine

and gentle candlelight

Yeah I'll take my time

You've got to have some culture

Because you are what you eat

and you know what it is

It is my part – no

My part – no

Because that's my part – no

Yes it's my part – no

A cry will ascend to heaven

It will cut through hosts of angels

Feather-flesh will shriekingly fall

from the top of the clouds onto my childhood.

The exact course of events that took place in the old house in Rotenburg an der Fulda, where Meiwes consumed the genitals of Bernd Jürgen Brandes is known from the video, the killer made at the scene of the action. 

source (dpa)

Also Patrick Bateman, the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho is videotaping an orgy with two prostitutes. Here a still from Mary Harron's movie based on the novel:

One of them will witness later Bateman bitting off and swallowing another girl's nipples.

Superorganism

The 1000 Swiss franc note might not be seen often (it's the equivalent of roughly $900), and the one beneath is no longer in circulation (replaced by a new note in 1998). It gives homage to Auguste Forel (1848-1931), famous Swiss myrmecologist and sexologist. And pioneer of eugenics in Switzerland and Europe. While directing Burghölzli asylum in the 1890's, he favored the sterilization of mentally retarded, disformed or otherwise socially "unadapted". 

Forel's disciple Alfred Ploetz developped eugenics in Germany and coined the term of "racial hygiene". Ernst Rüdin, another Forel's pupil has become a leading Nazi Rassenhygieniker as well. 

As notes Philippe Ehrenström, "sterilization thus became the most common feature of negative eugenics in Switzerland. Introduced in Zurich in the 1890s, it was thought of as a therapeutic measure which did not require explicit legalization. The existing legal framework allowed such an operation to be performed as long as it was in the best interest of the patient. Communes, which were confronted during the 1930s with an ever worsening economic crisis, thought otherwise. The numerous compulsory sterilizations of the poor and the destitute which followed forced cantons to adopt stricter administrative frameworks. The only canton which went as far as to adopt a new statute on the matter was once again the canton of Vaud in 1928.8 It is somewhat ironical that this famous and much vilified example of a eugenic health policy was adopted to protect the mentally insane from the communes’ unrestricted desire to sterilize their poor and destitute".

Auguste Forel's portrait by Oskar Kokoschka 1909/10 (source)

However my point is not to blame Auguste Forel for the consequences of his ideas. Professor Regina Wecker  of the University of Basel points out that he was a pacifist, advocated full equality of the sexes, recognition of unmarried mothers, gay marriages etc. Many of his ideas were revolutionary indeed, but his highly utilitarian and rational outlook was well in phase with modernist philosophyof the time. One must remember, that his advancements in the field of sexology and myrmecology were never questionned.

By the way, it seems that the study of ant colonies might have helped him develop eugenic ideas. Ant colonies - often described as superorganisms - could have served him as a model of perfect society, which in the minds of many eugenicists was more valuable than the lives of individuals (especially if they were "unfit"). It's interesting to note, that his most important work in myrmecology was entitled The social world of the ants compared with that of man (Genève, Kundig, 1921-1923, 5 volumes). 

As I wrote in one of my previous posts, I don't try to prove, that the popularity of eugenics among Western societies of the early 20th Century could serve as the explanation for Karl Denke's killings. Nevertheless it seemed more than likely that the widespread reception of eugenics catalyzed atavistic behavior, which in this case took the form of killing vagabonds, beggars and homeless - people regarded as unfit by the eugenicists. Also the fact that none of the killer's neighbors had ever noticed Denke's crimes seems highly symptomatic.

I will come back soon with more posts about the reception of eugenics.

Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen...

The oginial version of the popular song by Walter Kollo Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen... (look here for the alternative versions) is on YouTube at last (thanks to RetroMarkD):

Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about the singers Ina Broscow & Rudolf Scherfling on internet.

Haarmann's Sausages part 2

A comic entitled "Kiełbasy Harmanna" (Harmann's Sausages) by Sara Sapkowska & Bartek Biedrzycki has just been published in Kolektyw#4 magazine. The story has little to do with real Fritz Haarmann (except the name of the character and the city of Hannover). In general, it was based on a song by Polish rock band T-Love (take a look at my previous post). It seems a little odd, as the factual story of Haarmann was way more surprising and interesting, than what the song describes (according to the latter, Haarmann was a butcher, who used to make sausages out of people). 

I made a very brief interview with writer Bartek Biedrzycki

Foodfirstblog: what was the source of inspiration for your comic? I presume, the song by T-Love, but anything else?

B.B.: In fact, this was the result of my readings about the Weimar Republic and its fall. When working on the comic, I was freshly after "The Black Obelisk" by Erich Maria Remarque. This is where my interest in that particular legend and these times came from. The dialogues and constant references to bankruptcies and suicides were inspired by the book. 

Foodfirstblog: When did you get the idea for the story?

B.B.: During works on Kolektyw #3, which was about urban legends. The comic was ready by then, but somehow it wasn't included in the magazine. 

Foodfirstblog: How did you work on the script? Did you research the archives, old newspapers or other sources?

B.B.: As far as I remember, we have seen just a picture of the street, that we used as a model. Otherwise we didn't do any research. I only checked some facts about the "Butcher of Hannover", who has little to do with the character from the song by Staszczyk [T-Love's leader].

Foodfirstblog: Were you interested in the real Fritz Haarmann?

B.B.: Yes and no. I was intrigued by him in the context of my minimal interest in serial killers, like for instance the "Vampire of Rostov". But this interest is really negligible, a spin-off of my research concerning interesting historical figures.

Foodfirstblog: Did you research on other similar stories from the 1920's?

B.B.: No.

Foodfirstblog: Do you know other works (comics, movies etc) about Haarmann or similar stories?

B.B.: No.

Haarmann's Sausages part 1

Just some links to other works inspired by Fritz Haarmann.

Haarmann's Sausages: Hamburg based group Reel Banditos included this instrumental piece on their CD Raspberry Ripples. Listen here.

Kiełbasy Harmanna (Polish for Haarmann's Sausages, although the killer's surname is a little misspelled): a song by Polish rock group T-Love. Listen here (hat tip to Maciej K. and Maciej Z. for this link).

The Oi group Rabauken published a CD entitled Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen... in 1993. With the picture of Fritz Haarmann being conducted to the prison on the cover and an Oi version of the well known song.

The American extreme metal group Macabre went even further by recording two songs about the "Werewolf from Hannover": Fritz Haarman The Butcher in 1989 and Fritz Haarmann der Metzger in 2003 (this is not a German version of the previous song, but rather yet another paraphrase of the already classic Warte, warte...). 

And last not least, Wumpscut's leader Rudolf "Rudy" Ratzinger (also founder of Beton Kopf Media) seems obsessed with Fritz Haarmann and other cannibal stories. In fact the label's logo uses a picture of Haarmann:

And obviously Wumscut quotes the famous lines in one of its songs: Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen...

Guido Zurli's movie The Mad Butcher (1970) starring Victor Buono has sometimes been described as inspired by the story of Fritz Haarmann, but its plot is rather an amalgam of mythicized biographies of Carl Grossmann and Adolph Luetgert with many other aditions.

Mikita Brottman's Meat Is Murder: An Illustrated Guide To Cannibal Culture is an excellent read if someone is interested in more cannibal related movies.