Fritz Honka

Fritz Friedrich Paul Honka (31 July 1935 – 19 October 1998) was a German serial killer. Between 1970 and 1975, he killed at least four prostitutes from Hamburg's red light district, keeping the bodies in his flat.

At 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), Fritz Honka was extremely sensitive about his height. He liked his women shorter, and he also liked them toothless, to alleviate his fears of mutilation during oral sex. He found relief with aging prostitutes from Hamburg's red light district, killing at least four of them in his small attic room in the Zeißstraße 74 of Ottensen, Hamburg. Disposal was a problem, given Honka's size and basic laziness. He kept the bodies in his flat, and fortified himself with alcohol against the stench. When neighbours griped about unpleasant smells, he doused the place with quarts of cheap deodorant.

On 15 July 1975, the mummified remains were found by firemen after a fire in the house. Honka was not present, being on shift as a night watchman. He was arrested when he returned home. In custody, Honka said he killed the women after they mocked his preference for oral sex over "straight" intercourse. He was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment, significantly milder than the prosecutors recommendations. The court found him guilty of one case of murder and three cases of manslaughter. His habitual abuse of alcohol was considered a mitigating factor, as it has seen as a cause for diminished mental capacity.^[1]

Honka was released from prison in 1993 and spent his last years under the name of Peter Jensen in a nursing home. He died in a hospital in Langenhorn, Hamburg on 19 October 1998.

Legacy

In 1975, German musician Karl-Heinz Blumenberg recorded the black humor single Gern hab ich die Frau'n gesägt ("How I loved to see-saw all those women", a titular reference to the 1920s Schlager Gern hab ich die Frau'n geküßt, "How I loved to kiss all those women", sung by Richard Tauber) under the pseudonym of Harry Horror, in reference to Honka. The song quickly became an underground hit in Hamburg clubs, but Blumenberg's record company RCA Records refused to officially release it due to its controversial theme.

German director Andreas Schnaas has said that his film Violent Shit (1989) series is very loosely based on the exploits of Honka, who is mentioned in Violent Shit II, which states he was once cellmates with the fictional serial killer Karl Berger.

References

External links