ARMIN MEIWES: THE ROTENBURG CANNIBAL

Armin Meiwes was born in 1961 in Germany to a neglectful father and an over- dominating mother. His mother would follow him on play dates and later on romantic dates. In return, he had a lonely childhood which produced an imaginary brother named Franky.

In his teenage years, Meiwes started to have issues with relationships; assuming if a person was a true friend they needed to be ‘a part of him’, or in his mind, eating them. It wasn’t until his mother died in 1999 that he would act on these images he held so close. Meiwes stayed in the house where he was raised and held a small shrine to his mother thought to be held on a pillow in the house. It is also the house where things were built to include his fantasies of before-eating those to be part of him, such as a slaughter room.

The year 2000 started Meiwes first personal ad that said he wanted a blonde man whose delicious flesh he could eat. His belief was that in order for someone to be a part of him they not only had to be eaten, but they had to be a willing partner. Many people had answered his ads that followed.

The first was a man named Jose. Jose came to meet him, removed his clothes, allowed Meiwes to put him on the meat hook located in his ‘slaughter room’ and lowered onto the table to be covered in oil for preparation to be cut and eaten. However, Jose started to feel ill and told Meiwes this. Meiwes let him go.

There was another man whose name was Matteo. Matteo wanted Meiwes to burn his testicles with a blow torch and then wanting Meiwes to lower him to the floor whipping him to death. Meiwes denied this one as he found it a bit too weird. There were a few other men as well that answered Meiwes ad, but none that either went through with it or that Meiwes thought were worthy until Bernd Brandes answered one of Meiwes ads.

“Looking for a well-built 18-30 year old to be slaughtered and consumed,” was the ad placed on the website Cannibal Café. Bernd Brandes answered it. The Cannibal Café allowed those with extreme interests in Cannibalism to place ads, even request applications to be live stock or trained to be. This website was one Meiwes frequented.

Bernd met Meiwes on March 9th 2001 in his home at Rotenburg. Here is where Bernd took off his clothes, displayed himself for Meiwes , drank alcohol and took drugs in order for him to not feel the pain-to feel comfortable. The first thing they tried together was cutting off Bernd’s penis and frying it. After it was fried, the two tried to consume it but found it too tough to eat.

Bernd was bleeding badly from the experience. Meiwes helped him into the bathtub. It was there that Meiwes thought that Bernd would bleed to death. It was also thought that Meiwes had read a Star Trek book waiting for Bernd to bleed to death. After what seemed like hours, he slit Bernd’s throat after placing him on the meat hook in the slaughter room and removed pieces of his flesh. He also tried to use Bernd’s bones as flour. The whole process of Bernd’s demise was recorded on video tape.

In 2002, after a college student though weird occurrences was going on at the Meiwes house and called in, investigators went to the home. They discovered body parts, the video tape of the whole scenario, and meat placed into sections under pizza boxes in a freezer.

In 2004, Meiwes was convicted on manslaughter for 8-8 ½ years in prison. There was no law on cannibalism in Germany and saying because the victim was willing. However, in April of 2005, a German court ordered a retrial after prosecutors appealed sentence saying he could re-offend after a psychiatric assessment was done. Meiwes was then sentenced in 2006 to life imprisonment, convicted of murder.

In an interview and assessment of Meiwes sometime later, it was found that he had taken 65lbs of flesh off Bernd’s body. When police had found the parts, there were only 15lbs left. Meiwes had eaten Bernd’s flesh through a period of months. His first meal was steak, potatoes and wine. He claimed the meat “tasted like pork.”

Meiwes is still in jail. The website where the ad was placed and he met Bernd, The Cannibal Café still exits. The video of the incident with Bernd and Meiwes was never released to the public.