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De zaak Arbogast
Fictieve reconstructie van de geruchtmakende moord op een liftster, de veroordeling van Hans Arbogast als dader in 1953 en diens vrijlating zestien jaar later.
- GenresGermany
365 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 1, 2014
RATING: 3.5
Hans Arbogast is a 28-year-old traveling salesman who lives up to all of the stereotypes associated with that profession. Whenever he is on the road, he takes advantage of every opportunity he finds to engage in casual sex, despite the fact that he is married. In September of 1953, he picks up a female hitchhiker by the name of Marie Gurth. As they travel through the Black Forest, they stop to eat and find they can easily communicate with one another. As they continue, the inevitable happens and they stop in a wooded area to engage in "rough" sex, with Marie demanding that Hans increase the violence of the act. At the conclusion of their second round of intercourse, Hans finds that Marie is no longer moving. In fact, she is dead. In a panic, he takes her body and hides it in a blackberry patch in a remote area.
A few days later, Hans feels remorse and informs the police about Marie's death. He is immediately suspected of having murdered her. The attorney who represents him during his trial makes a very bad mistake by not challenging the testimony of an expert forensic pathologist who has drawn several erroneous conclusions that don't even match up to the results of the autopsy, forming his opinion merely by looking at photographs and not the actual body. As a result, Arbogast is imprisoned.
It is 14 years later before someone takes an interest in what happened with Arbogast and is able to reopen the case. It would appear that the first trial was a complete travesty. The problem that Hans' new lawyer, Dr. Angsar Klein, has now is finding another forensic expert willing to contradict the testimony of the first expert. Eventually, he is able to convince Dr. Katja Lavans to review the evidence. She travels from East Germany to testify in the second trial. As the result of an encounter that she has with Arbogast, the reader is left to wonder whether he is as innocent as everyone is proclaiming.
THE ARBOGAST CASE is based on an actual criminal case which caused an uproar in the German press. Although the book was slow paced and at times overly detailed, it remained an engrossing read. The first half of the book detailed Hans Arbogast's incarceration, the impact on a human being of being detained in a place with no stimulation, his decline into less than what he had been. The second half of the book covered the retrial, and a sense of tension remained throughout. I wished that some more focus had been placed on Arbogast's transition back into a civilized life.
The language of the book was eloquent, all the more amazing since it was translated from the German. The legal aspects of the book are very interesting to those coming from a different governmental system. The depiction of postwar Germany and its political environment is equally intriguing. A solidly engaging read that doesn't go for the gimmick.
Hans Arbogast is a 28-year-old traveling salesman who lives up to all of the stereotypes associated with that profession. Whenever he is on the road, he takes advantage of every opportunity he finds to engage in casual sex, despite the fact that he is married. In September of 1953, he picks up a female hitchhiker by the name of Marie Gurth. As they travel through the Black Forest, they stop to eat and find they can easily communicate with one another. As they continue, the inevitable happens and they stop in a wooded area to engage in "rough" sex, with Marie demanding that Hans increase the violence of the act. At the conclusion of their second round of intercourse, Hans finds that Marie is no longer moving. In fact, she is dead. In a panic, he takes her body and hides it in a blackberry patch in a remote area.
A few days later, Hans feels remorse and informs the police about Marie's death. He is immediately suspected of having murdered her. The attorney who represents him during his trial makes a very bad mistake by not challenging the testimony of an expert forensic pathologist who has drawn several erroneous conclusions that don't even match up to the results of the autopsy, forming his opinion merely by looking at photographs and not the actual body. As a result, Arbogast is imprisoned.
It is 14 years later before someone takes an interest in what happened with Arbogast and is able to reopen the case. It would appear that the first trial was a complete travesty. The problem that Hans' new lawyer, Dr. Angsar Klein, has now is finding another forensic expert willing to contradict the testimony of the first expert. Eventually, he is able to convince Dr. Katja Lavans to review the evidence. She travels from East Germany to testify in the second trial. As the result of an encounter that she has with Arbogast, the reader is left to wonder whether he is as innocent as everyone is proclaiming.
THE ARBOGAST CASE is based on an actual criminal case which caused an uproar in the German press. Although the book was slow paced and at times overly detailed, it remained an engrossing read. The first half of the book detailed Hans Arbogast's incarceration, the impact on a human being of being detained in a place with no stimulation, his decline into less than what he had been. The second half of the book covered the retrial, and a sense of tension remained throughout. I wished that some more focus had been placed on Arbogast's transition back into a civilized life.
The language of the book was eloquent, all the more amazing since it was translated from the German. The legal aspects of the book are very interesting to those coming from a different governmental system. The depiction of postwar Germany and its political environment is equally intriguing. A solidly engaging read that doesn't go for the gimmick.
October 3, 2020
A very good read. Based on a true story, we get a bird’s eye view of post war German life narrated in story form by an extremely accomplished writer in a magnificent English translation. It seems a little gruesome initially but that aspect it seems to me is part of the ambiguity of the whole case. Recommended!
May 8, 2025
Gelesen für ein Uni-Seminar.
Das Buch beruht auf einer wahren geschichte, wurde aber durch die Fiktionalisierung angereichert. Einige der zwischenmenschlichen Aspekte am Ende haben mich massivst gestört. Und auch bei all den Sex-Szenen am Ende fragte ich mich inwiefern sie der erzählten Geschichte gedient hatten, gerade weil die Hauptbegutachterin in der realen Geschichte ein Mann war und es sicher nicht zu den Stell-Dich-Eins gekommen ist. Diese empfand ich als eher ablenkend und ziemlich unnötig. Ebenso wie all die Eifersucht zwischen einzelnen Charakteren. 5 Sterne für den Fall, 2 Sterne Abzug für das unnötige Interpersonelle. Das Buch hätte auch ohne diese extra Einlagen funktioniert.
Das Buch beruht auf einer wahren geschichte, wurde aber durch die Fiktionalisierung angereichert. Einige der zwischenmenschlichen Aspekte am Ende haben mich massivst gestört. Und auch bei all den Sex-Szenen am Ende fragte ich mich inwiefern sie der erzählten Geschichte gedient hatten, gerade weil die Hauptbegutachterin in der realen Geschichte ein Mann war und es sicher nicht zu den Stell-Dich-Eins gekommen ist. Diese empfand ich als eher ablenkend und ziemlich unnötig. Ebenso wie all die Eifersucht zwischen einzelnen Charakteren. 5 Sterne für den Fall, 2 Sterne Abzug für das unnötige Interpersonelle. Das Buch hätte auch ohne diese extra Einlagen funktioniert.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2024
War ein solides Buch, aber nicht mein Schreibstil und ich hatte immense Schwierigkeiten die Charaktere auseinander zu halten und mich in sie hinein zu fühlen. Die Beschreibungen haben sich teilweise sehr ausschweifend und unnötig angefühlt und ich hatte das Gefühl, dass eine gewisse Ästhetik zwar angestrebt, aber nicht erreicht wurde.
Alles in allem ein interessanter Einblick in einen Kriminalfall, von dem ich nie vorher gehört habe, und in die Arbeit des Rechtsapparates, aber durch die Umsetzung fiel mir das Lesen etwas schwer, deswegen nur zwei Sterne.
Alles in allem ein interessanter Einblick in einen Kriminalfall, von dem ich nie vorher gehört habe, und in die Arbeit des Rechtsapparates, aber durch die Umsetzung fiel mir das Lesen etwas schwer, deswegen nur zwei Sterne.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews