Socialism and serial killers? Communism and Killers? In Poland in the 1960s and 1970s, this does not go together, contradicting the socialist ideology of the Eastern Bloc. After all, crimes are products of the capitalist West.
Nevertheless, a serial killer is moving through Poland at this time and murders 14 young women. What was it worth to the socialist system to stop this gruesome series of murders? Even the life of an innocent man?
Katowice, Poland (Silesia). From 1964 to 1972, the “Vampire of Silesia” spread fear and terror here: in 1965 alone, the serial killer attacked eleven women, six of them died, five barely escaped with their lives. The survivors describe their attacker as a man with piercing black eyes – like a vampire! The fear is great in Kattowitz, women no longer dare to go out on the street alone.
The authorities are trying to keep the gruesome series of murders secret for the time being. Until in 1966 the “Vampire of Silesia” murdered the niece of an important politician of the socialist system. Now the investigation is picking up speed, and the authorities are trying to catch the perpetrator under high pressure. For the good of women and the system! Yes: in vain.
The serial killer kept the Silesian region in suspense for seven years until Maria Marchwicki reported to the police in January 1972. She believes her husband, Zdzisław, to be the horrible killer, the “Vampire of Silesia”. The suspect is arrested and put in jail.
In the spring of 1977, 13 years after the start of the gruesome series of murders, Zdzisław Marchwicki was executed: death by hanging.
But after the fall of the socialist system, doubts about the actual identity of the “vampire of Silesia” are raised.
Today, almost 50 years after his execution, the “Tatort Deutschland” hosts, Toni Heyer and Mirko Kasimir, are investigating the question: Zdzisław Marchwicki – perpetrator, or scapegoat of the socialist system?
You can now hear the full case in the “Tatort Deutschland” podcast.
