Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

This episode contains discussions of assault, rape, murder, child sexual abuse, and mutilation

that some listeners may find disturbing. Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

He was doing it again. Helena Itzik could hear it from the other side of the wall.

Karl Grossmann had brought another woman back to his apartment in the middle of the night,

and now the two of them were fighting. It was always the same, muffled shouting, thumping,

and the sound of a woman screaming. But what could she expect?

Helena and her husband Monheim lived in the Silesian train station district,

one of the poorest areas in Berlin. They shared a cramped building with dozens of other people

who were just trying to survive in post-World War I Germany. Even still, Grossmann was starting

to get on her nerves. First it was the unsavory houseguess. Then it was the shouting in the middle

of the night, but worst of all was the smell. The foul stench of rotting meat always slithered

its way into her apartment from his. Now in the midst of another sleepless night, Helena considered

getting up knocking on the door and asking her neighbor to keep it down, to give them some peace.

But just then the screaming suddenly stopped. The floor was filled with the heavy,

chilling sound of complete silence. It was just like always, Helena thought.

But lately she was starting to suspect that something was wrong, and maybe she was the one

who would finally get to the bottom of it.

Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Podcast.

Every episode we dive into the minds and madness of Serial Killers.

Today we're telling you the gruesome story of Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Grossmann,

also known as the Berlin Butcher. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson.

...