Rosemarie Nitribitt
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Rosalie Marie Auguste Nitribitt (February 1, 1933 – October 29, 1957)[1] was a German call girl whose violent death caused a scandal in the Germany of the Wirtschaftswunder years.
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[edit] Career
Born in Mendig, Rhineland-Palatinate, Nitribitt and her two half-sisters were raised in poor conditions by their mother in Ratingen and Düsseldorf and Nitribitt was later sent to a juvenile correctional home. Still in her teenage years, she recognized the full potential her budding beauty might earn her and embarked on a life as a prostitute.
She then moved to Frankfurt am Main, where, after a brief interlude of waitressing and modelling, she took up prostitution again. According to people who knew her at the time, Nitribitt tried hard to disguise her humble origins in order to be able to keep up conversation in posh society and to attract more sophisticated customers. For example, she started learning English and French, though with little success.
Nevertheless she did succeed in getting male attention and in acquiring a stock of wealthy clients. One of her regular customers gave her a car — an Opel Kapitän — as a present, which at the time was quite an unusual possession for a woman in her early twenties. Others invited her to spend a Mediterranean holiday with them. Accordingly, she became very wealthy rather quickly, a fact which she demonstrated by driving a black Mercedes 190 SL (a roadster which was to be colloquially referred to as the Nitribitt-Mercedes) with red leather upholstery, and by throwing luxurious parties in upper-class restaurants.
[edit] Death
On November 1, 1957 she was found dead in her apartment in Frankfurt. Her death was alleged to have occurred three days earlier. Her body showed signs of strangulation and a head wound. Police investigations into the case exposed several respectable citizens as her personal acquaintances. When it became clear that the police would not be able to find the murderer it was insinuated in the media that high-ranking personalities were trying to thwart any attempts by the police at solving the crime.
She was interred at the Nordfriedhof (Northern cemetery), Düsseldorf.
[edit] Police investigations and the trial of Heinz Pohlmann
Heinz Pohlmann, a commercial traveller and friend of Nitribitt's, was the prime suspect. He was charged with her murder but acquitted in July 1960 on grounds of reasonable doubt. Pohlmann's lawyer had argued that the police had failed, on examining Nitribitt's apartment, to measure the precise temperature there, a fact which he claimed would have been essential in determining the exact time of her death. The prosecution did not appeal the acquittal.
[edit] Rosemarie Nitribitt in popular culture
In 1958 Erich Kuby published a book entitled Rosemarie. Des deutschen Wunders liebstes Kind, which was used as the basis for a 1958 black-and-white movie by Rolf Thiele, Das Mädchen Rosemarie. The film starred Nadja Tiller (in the title role), Peter van Eyck, Gert Fröbe, and Mario Adorf.
In the film, Nitribitt is presented as just one of many entrepreneurs during the Wirtschaftswunder who wants her piece of the new fortune. She uses her charms to bring members of the West German industrial elite to her bed. There she finds business secrets and later sells them to French competitors. However, when a scandal looms on the horizon, Rosemarie realizes that she cannot beat the system.
In a 1996 remake by Bernd Eichinger, Nina Hoss played Nitribitt. Other actors included Heiner Lauterbach, Hannelore Elsner, Katja Flint, and Til Schweiger.
2004 saw the première of the musical of the same title at the Capitol Theater, Düsseldorf.
[edit] External link
[edit] See also
- Christine Keeler and the Profumo affair
- List of murdered people
- List of people who became famous only in death
[edit] Notes
- ^ The exact day of her death was found to be unsatisfactorily determined during the trial of Heinz Pohlmann.
[edit] Bibliography
- Martina Keiffenheim (1998). Edelhure Nitribitt. Die Rosemarie aus Mendig. Helios: Aachen, ISBN 3-925087-85-0.
- Erich Kuby (1998). Das Mädchen Rosemarie. Liebe, Leben und Tod des Callgirls Rosemarie Nitribitt. Rowohlt: Reinbek, ISBN 3-499-26015-8.
- Wendelin Leweke (1991). Gretchen und die Nitribitt. Frankfurter Kriminalfälle. Societäts-Verlag: Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-7973-0493-5.
