Late October, 1957, and twenty-four-year-old Rosemarie Nitribitt was living the high life in postwar Germany. Despite her humble origins—she had spent most of her childhood and teenage years in foster homes and juvenile correctional facilities—she had eventually clawed her way to wealth and notoriety, establishing herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid call girls in Frankfurt.
Rosemarie, who reportedly raked in over eleven-thousand Deutsch marks per month, owned a grand apartment in which she entertained men from the highest echelons of politics and finance, who showered her with cash and expensive gifts. She was a common sight around town, as she cruised the streets in her distinctive black Mercedes, forever on the prowl for posh new clients.
Evidently, however, someone was on the prowl for her as well. On the first of November, the body of Rosemarie Nitribitt was found in her apartment. She had been strangled and beaten in the head, and investigators determined that her death had likely occurred three days before.
Members of Frankfurt’s high society reeled at her death, mainly because Rosemarie had a book in which she kept track of all of her clients, most of whom did not want their association with her to be made public. There were even rumors circulating that Rosemarie had recorded all of her encounters via a hidden camera in her bedroom.
Though Rosemarie’s high profile and possession of ample blackmail material made her a target for murder by any number of powerful people, one name seemed to have been at the top of the authorities’ list of suspects. This was Heinz Pohlmann, a down on his luck businessman who nonetheless spent a great deal of money on Rosemarie’s services.
Pohlmann was known to have visited Rosemarie’s apartment on October 29th, and police found it odd that this previously financially strapped gentleman was able to clear his outstanding debts and purchase a new car in cash only days after Rosemarie’s body was found. When investigators asked him where he had suddenly obtained this large sum of money, he was unable to tell them. It also seemed significant that he had previously been imprisoned for embezzlement.
Pohlmann was later arrested and tried for the murder, but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. One of the main sticking points at the trial was the fact that the crime scene investigation had been somewhat sloppy, and that the establishment of time of death had not been accurate.
After Pohlmann walked, no further arrests were made in the case, and the killing remained unsolved. Interest in the murder was rekindled nine years later when another high-class, Mercedes-driving call girl, Helga Matura, was killed in Frankfurt in a similar fashion, but a definitive link between the two crimes was never able to be established.
To this day, the mysterious murder of Rosemarie Nitribitt remains a popular topic in Germany for novels and films, and was even the subject of a musical in 2004.
Crime Immemorial 