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December 9, 2018

The Cannibal Who Advertised: Armin Meiwes Ate What He Killed

Human flesh for lunch, dinner, and dessert — it’s certainly a taste you’ll never forget. On December 11, 2002, Armin Meiwes was arrested for the murder of Bernd Brandes. On May 10, 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison. But this is not where Armin’s story begins. How does someone become a cannibal? Was there always a monster lurking deep within him? Do we all have monsters lurking within us? This begins the story of Armin Meiwes.

Armin Meiwes was born on December 1, 1961. Armin’s father, Dieter Meiwes, was a police officer. He had saved up enough money to buy his family a thirty-six-room, 16,000 square-foot mansion in Wüstefeld, Germany. His parents, Dieter and Waltraud, married when he was 21 and she was 40. Armin’s birth was far from welcome. It was just one more attempt at manipulation by Waltraud, an aspect of her grand scheme to keep Dieter permanently by her side.1 Despite them having material comforts, emotional discomfort lingered in the household. Armin’s father was unhappy in his marriage, because Waltraud was so possessive of him. She constantly threatened his life and accused him of having affairs.  One afternoon in September 1969, 7-year-old Armin was playing hide and seek when he heard his parents arguing. His father stormed out of the house, got into his car and drove off, leaving a terrified and saddened young Armin. He never saw his father again. As time went on, Armin sought comfort reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales. His favorite story was Hansel and Gretel. He especially liked the passage in which the storybook witch “fattens up little Hansel” in the hope of cooking him and eating him.  As a child he used to act out the scene over and over again, playing the role of the witch and delighting in the idea of roasting and eating Hansel.2


Hansel and Gretel: Grimm Fairy Tales | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Grimm’s Fairy Tales were a popular children’s story in Germany during this time. The Grimm’s Fairy Tales were explicit tales that told the harsh outcomes if certain actions were taken. Germans admired these tales because they could see that the people who purposely and outwardly did wrong were punished to the extreme, before learning a lesson from these consequences. The Fairy Tales book embodied the German culture and captivated the German people. The Grimm brothers’ studied law and wanted to expand the knowledge by traveling around collecting stories, piecing them together and adding Germanic culture. The brothers’ folklore poetry expressed external joys, sorrow, and fears of humanity. The Grimms were keen German nationalists who wanted to see the multitude of German states united as one country, and they believed that folk tales revealed a national German identity. Even stories like ‘Red Riding Hood,’ told in different versions in many languages, originated from ancient Germanic tales. The tales identified themes, incidents in Germanic mythology and legends that they believed were echoed in folk tales. The Nazis warmly approved of the Grimms’ work, which, as Professor Jack Zipes explains, the Nazis exploited the harsh lessons from the tales ‘to uphold the racist and nationalist supremacy of the German people.’3


As Armin hit puberty at the age of thirteen, he began to view himself and the world differently. He was confused as to how to react to the sudden physical and mental changes occurring to his body. Ulla, a friend of Armin’s mother, volunteered to teach Armin about the world and its hidden depths. She encouraged him to indulge in his dark fantasies and introduced him to the world of Satanism. On the outside, Ulla seemed like a comical, friendly person helping out her friend’s son so that he could have hope in life. In reality, Ulla pushed Armin to revel in his darkest desires. She voiced Satan’s greatness, describing how he would come from the Atlantis and lead them to prosperity. Ulla was a witch that would cast different spells, including death spells, for a fee. Deep down, Armin was missing a mother’s love. His mother rarely hugged him or showed him any sign of emotion. She was verbally abusive. Armin delved deeper into his fantasies; he would lay in bed for hours with dismembered Barbie dolls. Armin would smear ketchup and some pork on his belly to resemble torn flesh. Armin began to realize he was a cannibal at the age of thirteen. As he continued developing, he became sexually confused. He liked women, but he also had desires for men. He felt that he was bisexual, but he mostly wanted to eat men rather than have sex with them. Armin continued to awkwardly develop until the age of nineteen.Wanting to be free of his mother’s and Ulla’s influences, and to exterminate his dark desires on January 1, 1981 at the age of nineteen, Armin decided to enlist in the West German Army, the Bundeswehr. He enlisted when tensions between nations were high, especially toward Germans because of World War II and its devastating outcomes of the millions dead and the exorbitant cost of the war.4


In the West German Army, men socialized, aware that anything could happen. The Bundeswehr was the backbone of NATO’s conventional defense in Central Europe. The Bundeswehr had a strength of 495,000 soldiers, about double the strength of reserve forces and 170,000 civilian personnel. The West German Army was under scrutiny due to the fact that there were controversies about remilitarizing Germany, especially after World War II. During the wars, the Bundeswehr saw many horrific sights. Their fellow soldiers were being shot down and killed. Death was a horrible thing that haunted all of them and seemed to always lurk around.  To add insult to injury, German soldiers were not really trusted because of incidents during World War II, especially linked to the Nazis and their experiments and annihilation of millions of Jews. Trying to fight with armies that seem to hate you and dealing with defending yourself and fellow soldiers was a lot to handle.5

West German Army (Bundeswehr) | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Armin initially prospered in his military career, even though he was not social. He received numerous promotions, and was given positions of trust. Still troubled with his secret desires and unable to communicate with anyone, he started drinking, which ultimately led to his relief from the military. Through all this, the people in his life dwindled. In 1992, after he was relieved from the military, Ulla turned from Satanism to Christianity, and she died six years later. One year after Ulla’s death, Armin’s mother passed away. To observers, it seemed as though Armin was unaffected; but in reality, he was affected deeply, just not the way people thought. He was happy for the freedom he had gained. Armin appeared to be put together. However, internally, everything was in shambles. The home he lived in was falling apart, and Armin still held on to his childhood, afraid to part with it. This included his childlike demeanor and toys from when he was little. Armin disintegrated fast; he began wearing his mother’s clothing and acting like her in front of neighbors. It seemed like his world was frozen in time.6

Armin started participating in chatrooms about cannibalism, feeding into his desires. Armin finally decided to act on his desires to eat human flesh. He created a slaughter room, adding a bed, ropes connected to the bed, and gallon size buckets to collect blood. All he needed now was a victim. Armin decided to advertise on German and English-language cannibal websites: “I am Franky from Germany,” he wrote in halting, ungrammatical English, “and I search for a young Boy, between 18 and 30 y/o.  Have you a normal build body and will you di [sic], than come to me, [I] butchering you and eat your horny flesh.” Armin not only wanted to obtain a victim, but he wanted them to be willing to die. After several, males came forward, he went through an interview like process to find the perfect one for him. But to Armin’s disappointment, the ones he found took it as a joke and backed out at least second when things turned serious.7


Cannibalism is the eating of human flesh. Though many early accounts of cannibalism probably were exaggerated or were misunderstood, the practice prevailed until modern times in parts of West and Central Africa and Melanesia (especially Fiji). In other cases, the consumption of particular portions of organs was a ritual means by which certain qualities of the person eaten might be obtained or by which powers of witchcraft or sorcery might be employed. There is not a single satisfactory explanation for cannibalism, but the reasons for it varied with context. Different peoples have practiced it for different reasons, and one group may practice cannibalism in one context and view it with horror in another. In any case, the spread of modernization largely resulted in the prohibition of such practices. In modern society, cannibalism does occasionally occur as the result of extreme physical necessity in isolated surroundings.8


Armin Meiwes (left) and Bernd Brandes (right) | Courtesy of Lost Media Archives

Finally, Armin found a willing victim. On February 2001, Bernd Brandes, who was having the same struggles as Armin, signed himself up as a volunteer for dinner. Bernd was sexually confused. He informed Armin that “he had had the desire since he was a child to be slaughtered and eaten.” He assured Armin, “It was the same with me as with you.” As their communication went back and forth, Bernd kept upping the antics. He encouraged Armin “to rip out my vitals with your teeth.”9

It finally came time for them to meet. Armin and Bernd drove from Kassel to Wüstefeld had coffee together at Armin’s mansion. Armin severed one of Bernd’s vital organs. Bernd was bleeding profusely and Armin gave him sleeping pills and cough syrup to numb the pain. Armin put Bernd in the bath tub to wash off the blood.  Bernd requested that as soon as he fell asleep that Armin cut his throat. When Bernd feel asleep, Armin cut his throat severed his other parts and organs and froze them for later dinners. The next day was Sunday, and Armin had planned ahead for a fine Sunday feast. He selected a steak from Armin’s thigh and “flavoured [it] with garlic and Muscat wine.” He dressed for the occasion, in a jacket and necktie. Armin described what happened next: “The eating took place in the living room.  Quite ceremoniously, with a candelabra.  I got out the black porcelain and the finest tablecloth from the china cabinet.  I sat down at the table and enjoyed the solemn moment.”10

On December 11, 2002, Armin Meiwes was arrested for the murder of Bernd Brandes, and four years later, he was sentenced to life in prison. But this is not where Armin’s story begins. Are people born with these dark thoughts that can manifest overtime and cause them to commit heinous crimes, or are these ideas something that develop out of life experiences? Armin Miewes will always be known as “The Cannibal who Advertised.” But we will never know what was going through his mind as he was eating Bernd Brandes.

  1. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 428-429.
  2. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 434-435; The Brothers Grimm, Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Champaign, IL: Project Gutenberg, 1971).
  3. Encyclopædia Britannica. November 17, 2017, s.v. “Brothers Grimm.” by Ludwig Denecke, Accessed October 12, 2018.
  4. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 437–445.
  5. “German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr),” NATO. Accessed October 14,2018.https://www.nato.int/nrf  c/database/germany.pdf
  6. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 448-454.
  7. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 448-460.
  8. Encyclopædia Britannica. November 17, 2017, s.v. “Cannablism: Human Behavior;” Bill Schutt, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2017).
  9. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 460–521.
  10. Charles J. Reid, “Eat What You Kill: Or, A Strange and Gothic Tale of Cannibalism by Consent,” North Carolina Journal of International Law & Commercial Regulation 39, no. 2 (Winter 2014): 460–521.

Tags from the story

Armin Meiwes

Bernd Brandes

Bundeswehr

cannibalism

Germany

Hansel and Gretl

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Recent Comments

Briana Montes

Ive never heard of this man before, but it is honestly so terrifying that someone can actually like being like this and do crazy things like eating their own kind. Its sad that he was alone and maybe wasn’t in the right mind but still thinking about someone human doing this is terrifying. Overall this story was interesting and well written.

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14/09/2019

9:18 am

Hannah Hennon

The thought of someone fantasying and desiring to someone makes me feel so weirded out. I think the weirdest thing is the guy, Bernd, wanted to be eaten because that is just too much for me to even think about. It is hard to think that there are some people out there that actually fantasize about eating someone. I can’t wrap my head around it.

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15/09/2019

9:18 am

Samantha Bonillas

Every time I hear about cannibalism, I always think about the movie “The Silence of the Lamb.” Cannibalism is so scary and it is shocking to me some individuals are cannibalistic. From other cannibalism cases that I have heard of, none of the victims were willing, and that is what makes this case stand out from the rest. Even if Meiwes only committed the act once, the fact that he still did it is something, especially if is victim was willing to be eaten and tortured. No one is in a right state of mind if they want to be eaten alive.

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15/09/2019

9:18 am

Briley Perkins

This article was very interesting, but at the same time it was really weird. The fact that someone could eat human flesh…and enjoy it. EWW! I have never heard of this guy beforehand, but his childhood was not the greatest beforehand. Which probably then messed him up in the head and affected him in the later years in life.

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17/09/2019

9:18 am

Juan Arceo

After reading this article, all I can say is wow. I have heard about cannibalism and interesting stories about it but not once have I heard about Armin Meiwes and I don’t want to hear about him again. The fact that he used to fantasize about eating a human by reading Hansel and Gretel as well as The Little Red Riding Hood and used these books to cope with the pain is sickening. I think that what is more sickening is the fact that his victim was willing to be eaten and this is an article that truly gave me goosebumps.

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19/09/2019

9:18 am

Sabrina Doyon

This article was very interesting. I wish the topic was more centered on the actual story and less so on minor explanations of terms mentioned. The overall story, however, is super strange but it does beg the question of how often this may happen. Since it overall was a consensual act is it even murder? I’ve heard in other stories and documentaries of this story that they videotaped the act. Wild.

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22/09/2019

9:18 am

Isabella Torres

This article shocked me so many times. It is unbelievable to think that these types of desires exist, and it is weird to me that Armin wasn’t caught as he was advertising for someone that he could kill. I really liked that the author included the details about the Fairy Tales Book and its significance in Germany. After reading this article, I’m still not sure if people are born with these thoughts of if they develop them over time. I also wasn’t aware that there are people who have desires to be killed and cannibalized.

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24/09/2019

9:18 am

Brisella Olivares

I am curious as to why people would have such desires to eat or be eaten by other people, it doesn’t make sense. Just the thought of cannibalism horrifies me that someone can actual kill and eat another HUMAN being. It leaves me to wonder, would Armin have done this if his father would’ve stayed with the family? Was this some kind of weird coping mechanism his mind came up with? and did he actually do this because his mothers friend actually encourage him to do it?

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26/09/2019

9:18 am

Cristianna Tovar

This was a very interesting read because I had the opportunity to formulate my own opinion on how Armin Meiwes came to be a cannibal. The fact that the Meiwes family had a huge mansion yet lacked emotional contentment goes to show that material things cannot buy and individual(s) happiness. Also, the fact that young Armin was fascinated with the part of Hansel and Gretel where the witch is preparing to cook and eat them suggests that he was using it as a coping mechanism for his childhood traumas. It also didn’t help that his mother’s friend, Ulla, introduced him to Satanism and urged him to follow through with his darkest desires. Based on this information, I believe that it was Armin’s life experiences that made him want to act out his desire for killing and eating a human being.

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29/09/2019

9:18 am

Cynthia Perez

After reading this article, I was able to see how a cannibal became a cannibal. Of course it’s absolutely disturbing and sickening. However Armin Meiwes is someone who had experiences that encouraged this behavior and allowed him to believe what he felt was okay. The whole satanism thing and validating the Hanzel and Gretel story can truly portray that idea of normality in human consumption. It really grosses me out but at least there’s some things to be understood about this upbringing, despite is being immoral regardless of it overall.

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29/09/2019

9:18 am

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