Death in the Rubble: The Elisabeth Kusian Murders in 1949 Berlin

In 1949, the year of the Berlin airlift and the founding of the two post—war German states, Elisabeth Kusian (nurse, black marketeer, morphine and methamphetamine addict, and pathological liar) garroted and dismembered two people in a mini crime spree. Her actions both fascinated and terrified the public – how could this woman, a nurse, commit such a violent act?

West Berlin detectives attempted to run an efficient investigation under new democratic rules. Their East Berlin counterparts, new...