Rudolf Zimmermann

Rudolf Max Zimmermann (16 April 1906 – 20 July 1940) was a German sex offender and serial killer who sexually abused and subsequently murdered four girls across Nazi Germany and Occupied Czechoslovakia during the summer of 1940. He was caught shortly after his final murder, convicted in a speedy trial, and subsequently executed.

Early life and crimes Zimmermann was born on 16 April 1906 in the village of Wilschdorf (now a district of Dresden), Kingdom of Saxony, the only son of locksmith Richard Max Zimmermann and his wife Olga Elvira Zimmermann (née Thieme). After successfully completing primary school, he began an apprenticeship as a gardener, but dropped out after a short time.

Little is known about his personal life, aside from the fact that he started committing petty crimes at an early age and that his first conviction was for aggravated theft. This prompted him to seek out young prepubescent girls, as he found them sexually attractive and easy to lure due to his outwardly friendly demeanour. An autopsy confirmed that Winkler had been strangled and sexually assaulted post-mortem. Special attention was brought to the man's choice of hat, as it was only common in southern Germany. Reportedly, he also introduced himself as "Hans" or "Hannes", and supposedly was an agricultural worker. A reward of 1,000 Reichsmarks was offered for any information leading to a potential arrest.

Similarly to the Winkler murder, the perpetrator was described as a man with a tanned face, wearing an oversized blue jacket and a distinctive hat with a tuft of chamois hair. The searchers combed over the districts east of the Elbe, and found independent eyewitnesses claiming that they had seen a man with a small girl near the Mudra Barracks at around 3:15 PM. Three hours later, the pair were seen again on a dirt road near Randau, in southeastern Magdeburg.

Investigation and arrest Following the Blatski murder, the investigation was taken over by the Reich Security Main Office. Its chief, Reinhard Heydrich, ordered a nation-wide manhunt for the murderer.

On the night of 8 July 1940, he broke into a local clothing store and stole some clothes and textiles, which he attempted to sell at a Volkswagen factory in Gifhorn on the next day. The man – introducing himself as "Wilhelm Wenzel" – was found not to have a valid license, and was quickly linked to the theft in Salzwedel. Authorities found a luggage ticket for a suitcase he had stored at the local train station, which they planned to retrieve to find more information about the detainee. When asked about what he did to her body, he said that he threw it into the Elbe. In his opening statement, the Reich Public Prosecutor emphasized Zimmermann's violent nature, confessions, and the autopsy results as overwhelming evidence for his guilt. Zimmermann himself repeated said confessions in court, again reiterating that he would have continued killing had he not been arrested. In addition, he was deprived of all his civil rights and ordered to pay restitution for the costs of the trial.

Aftermath and impact Zimmermann's crimes led to increased warnings from the government aimed at parents and educators to be more watchful of the children in their care, as well as the dangers of letting them approach strangers. The discovery contradicted Zimmermann's claims that he had thrown the body after killing the girl, as an autopsy suggested that she was still alive when thrown into the water.