"Der Westen" on Kurtz Investigations Wuppertal and Tobias Rathjen

Holger E., private detective at Kurtz Detective Agency Wuppertal, met the alleged Hanau attacker, Tobias Rathjen, in October 2019 in Dortmund. A report by "Der Westen" (translated):

"Hanau: Detective Shocked: 'I Sat at the Table with the Attacker' – What He Demanded"

Hanau/Wuppertal. Tobias Rathjen killed ten people in Hanau – then himself. It has now emerged that last year he had sought contact with Angela Merkel and the Federal Intelligence Service.

 

For this purpose, the Hanau attacker contacted the Wuppertal-based Kurtz Detective Agency, which was to procure him contact with the highest authorities in Germany. This was stated by agency head Patrick Kurtz to DER WESTEN.

 

"He had become aware that we maintain very good contacts with authorities and wanted us to establish contact for him with the BND and various other state organisations," said Kurtz. The detective agency declined.

Hanau: Tobias Rathjen Sought Contact with Angela Merkel and BND

Accordingly, Rathjen reportedly made contact by telephone in June 2019. "He absolutely insisted on meeting me in person, which is not customary practice for us," said Kurtz. The case was therefore assigned to the experienced private detective Holger (name changed by the editorial team) from Unna, who "found his profile psychologically intriguing" and wanted to see whether he might somehow be able to help Rathjen.

 

In October 2019, the investigator met Rathjen at the Landhaus Dieckmanns in Dortmund. At most 1.80 metres tall, light-coloured shirt, black shoes, dark suit – this is how Rathjen appeared. "An average type," said the detective.

The Hanau "Manifesto" – Already in October 2019

"I sat with him for two and a half hours," recounts Holger, who works as a consulting private detective for the Kurtz Detective Agency. "He took the manifesto out of his briefcase and placed it on the table," Holger recalls.

 

In the 24-page manifesto, which the Hanau attacker had uploaded to a website, he speaks of "certain peoples having to be annihilated whose expulsion from Germany was no longer achievable." However, he also writes that he controlled politics with his thoughts and that Hollywood films were likewise based on his ideas.

 

Detective Holger did not read it himself but was only read excerpts from it by the attacker from Hanau.

"No Indications of a Willingness to Use Violence"

He reportedly stated that a secret organisation operating in the shadows controlled the world and that in Germany, apart from him, only Chancellor Angela Merkel and the head of the BND, Gerhard Schindler, were aware of it.

 

"I also asked him why he, of all people, had been chosen," Holger reports. Tobias Rathjen referred to his manifesto, in which everything was allegedly written down.

 

"However, during the meeting it quickly became clear that he was suffering from persecutory delusions and further psychological disorders," said Kurtz, who emphasised: "We encounter such problem cases almost daily, but of course one does not imagine that such a bloodshed will one day result from this, particularly as Mr Rathjen showed no indications whatsoever of a willingness to use violence."

 

He also did not express openly racist or right-wing extremist ideas during the meeting with the detective.

Was There an Accomplice?

However, one detail from the conversation with the detective is likely to be of particular interest to investigators in Hesse. He is said to have indicated that he exchanged ideas with a "brother in spirit." "He spoke of a friend who shared his thoughts," said Holger.

 

The question of accomplices and supporters is one of the issues that investigators will examine more closely in the coming days and weeks, announced Federal Public Prosecutor Peter Frank.

 

So far, there are no findings that the 43-year-old had previously "spoken with other persons or sought support," Frank said on Friday in Berlin.

Investigator Recognises Manifesto

On Thursday, Holger recognised the attacker's manifesto. "Of course I questioned myself: Did I do something wrong?" However, there are 20 to 30 enquiries per year from obvious conspiracy theorists.

 

"Such an act was not foreseeable for me," said the detective, who informed the authorities about his meeting with the attacker.

Correction

For better classification: The Kurtz Detective Agency records on average approximately one call per working day from various evidently mentally disturbed persons, with a rising trend. The figure of "20 to 30 enquiries" per year refers solely to our Unna-based detective Holger E.

 

According to Tobias Rathjen's statement in October 2019, it was not explicitly the President of the BND, Bruno Kahl, who was aware of the imagined "secret organisation," but rather the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang.

Comment by the Kurtz Detective Agency

According to our daily experience, mental illnesses constitute a steadily growing problem in the Federal Republic. If adequate solutions to combat the causes are not found, prevention of such offences as the Hanau attack must urgently be improved. Otherwise, similar subsequent offences are to be expected.

 

The Federal Prosecutor's Office's disregard of the Hanau attacker, the internal protocol within authorities for assessing and reviewing potential threats, particularly with regard to firearms possession, as well as the state's actual control authority over its firearms owners in real Germany, must necessarily and urgently be reconsidered.

Note

The original article by Marcel Storch appeared in "Der Westen". The emphases (bold type) and hyperlinks on this page may differ from the original.

Our condolences go to the victims and their families.

Kurtz Investigations Wuppertal

Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 55

D-42103 Wuppertal

Tel.: +49 202 5289 0063

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-wuppertal.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-wuppertal.de/en

Google: https://g.page/kurtz-detektei-wuppertal