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] Early life and career
Born in Mendig, Rhineland-Palatinate, "Rosemarie" Nitribitt and her two younger half-sisters were raised in poor conditions by their mother in Ratingen and Düsseldorf. The girls were placed in a juvenile home and since 1939 lived with foster parents. There she was raped at the age of 11.[2] 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 was later to juvenile correctional homes, from where she escaped several times. She then moved to Frankfurt am Main, where, after a brief interlude of waitressing and modelling, she took up prostitution again and was arrested at the Frankfurt railway station in 1951.
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 — a used 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 buying a black Mercedes 190 SL (a roadster which was to be colloquially referred to as the Nitribitt-Mercedes) with red leather upholstery in 1956; she would drive around in Frankfurt in this car to solicit customers.[3] Also in 1956, she moved into a luxurious apartment at Stiftstr. 36. The police later estimated that she had earned about 80,000 DM in 1956 (building a family house cost about 25,000 - 30,000 DM in Germany at the time).[3]
[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.
She was interred at the Nordfriedhof (Northern cemetery), Düsseldorf. Her head, however, was kept as evidence in police custody and later exhibited in the Kriminalmuseum (criminal museum) in Frankfurt;[2][3] it was eventually buried on February 10, 2008.[4]
[edit] Police investigations and the trial of Heinz Pohlmann
Police investigations into the case were conducted very sloppily, with much evidence being destroyed during the first days. Several prominent citizens are exposed as her personal acquaintances, including Gunter Sachs and her close friend and benefactor Harald von Bohlen und Halbach, brother of the head of the Krupp company.[5]
Heinz Pohlmann, a businessman and friend of Nitribitt's, became the prime suspect. He had visited her on October 29. A few days after the murder he was able to settle high debts and bought an expensive car, but could not explain the origins of the money; he provided contradictory information during questioning. He had embezzled money at his job.[3] 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.
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 at solving the crime.
[edit] Aftermath
Pohlmann, after having served prison time for embezzlement, wrote a book about the Nitribitt case,
Nine years after Nitribitt's murder, a very similar case occurred in Frankfurt. The high-class prostitute Helga Matura, who also solicited customers by driving a Mercedes, was murdered, and the case was never solved.
In 1968, a forged stamp circulated in Germany, showing a murdered Nitribitt and the text "Zehn Jahre Trauer um R. Nitribitt" ("10 years mourning for R. Nitribitt").[3]
[edit] Rosemarie Nitribitt in popular culture
In 1958 Erich Kuby published a novel entitled Rosemarie. Des deutschen Wunders liebstes Kind which was based on the Nitribitt case and 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 this fictional 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] See also
- Christine Keeler and the Profumo affair in England
- Prostitution in Germany
[edit] Notes
- ^ The exact day of her death was found to be unsatisfactorily determined during the trial of Heinz Pohlmann.
- ^ a b Edelhure Nitribitt, einestages, Spiegel Online, accessed 28 October 2007. (German)
- ^ a b c d e Robert Schneider, Das Mädchen Rosemarie, Revue 1/2005. (German)
- ^ Nitribitt-Kopf nach 50 Jahren beigesetzt, Focus Online, 11 February 2008. (German)
- ^ Die Schande der Ära Adenauer, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 28 October 2007
[edit] Bibliography
- Martina Keiffenheim (1998). Edelhure Nitribitt. Die Rosemarie aus Mendig. Helios: Aachen, ISBN 978-3-925087-85-1.
- Erich Kuby (1998). Das Mädchen Rosemarie. Liebe, Leben und Tod des Callgirls Rosemarie Nitribitt. Rowohlt: Reinbek, ISBN 978-3-499-26015-5.
- Wendelin Leweke (1991). Gretchen und die Nitribitt. Frankfurter Kriminalfälle. Societäts-Verlag: Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 978-3-7973-0493-3.
