Six spectacular trials in the former Palace of Justice in the old town

Boutique hotel The Wellem in the former county and district court breathes history. We tell them to you.

The statue of Justitia, goddess of justice, towers above everything: anyone entering the huge, sophisticated reception hall immediately realizes that The Wellem at Mühlenstraße 23 is no "normal" hotel. The ambience conjures up images in the mind: Judges and public prosecutors strolling down the steps of the three-winged staircase on their way to the next hearing. Until 2010, the Düsseldorf Regional and District Court resided in the Palace of Justice, completed in 1923, with its neo-baroque façade and eye-catching entrance pillars. Today you can stay overnight here in around one hundred luxurious suites and studios. Contemporary art plays an important role in the concept of the boutique luxury hotel named after Elector Jan Wellem - both in the rooms and in the hotel's own gallery and six integrated restaurants and bars (including works by Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel).

Below, we present six court cases that caused a stir at this historic location far beyond the city limits of Düsseldorf. You may even recognize one or two of the cases.

The crossbow murder trial (1987)

A 21-year-old falls in love with the 58-year-old owner of a well-known ice cream parlor. He even rents her an apartment for their meetings, but she is jealous because the married man apparently has other affairs. Finally, the 21-year-old sees only one way to end the relationship: After a night spent together, she shoots her lover - as he lies asleep in bed in the morning. The fact that the case made national headlines and was followed with great interest by the public was probably mainly due to the unusual weapon used in the crime: a crossbow. Experts diagnose a personality disorder in the perpetrator. In the main trial, the judge sentences her to nine years in prison - for murder with limited criminal responsibility.  

The Mannesmann Process (2004-2006)

In what is probably the most spectacular court case in German economic history, a "takeover battle" is being dealt with: The Mannesmann company, including its successful and coveted mobile communications division D2, was taken over by the Vodafone Group at the turn of the millennium. Special payments and bonuses totaling 111 million Deutschmarks are said to have been made in close temporal connection. Members of the German business elite and high-ranking trade union representatives are in the dock. A photo showing the cheerful and confident defendants is circulating in the media. However, the business bosses do not get away without punishment. The judges hear 55 witnesses, even via video link to Hong Kong. In the end, it is a "draw": The case is dropped - in exchange for fines in the millions.

The "Goldmaker" from Hilden (1930)

Heinz Kurschildgen, a 32-year-old from Hilden, claimed that he had developed a method to artificially produce gold from sheet metal or sand. This won him investors who paid him up to 100,000 Reichsmarks. Naturally, the expert reports turned out to be against him and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison at the district court hearing. Even after his release, Kurschildgen kept the courts busy. His next scam was: "I can make petrol from water." The National Socialists, such as Heinrich Himmler, were also impressed and expressed interest. Once again, the scam was followed by the receipt: three years in prison for fraud. But that was not all: in the 1950s, the goldsmith sought a retrial. He wanted to be recognized as a "persecutee of the Nazi regime". And once again fails in the eyes of the law. The case also makes waves internationally: Today, even an English-language Wikipedia page documents the goings-on of the "Goldmaker of Hilden".

The Vampire of Düsseldorf (1931)

No criminal caused as much turmoil in the Weimar Republic as Peter Kürten, born in 1883. He was given his nickname after he cut off the head of a swan in the Hofgarten in 1929 and drank its blood. The "vampire" later tried to do the same to several of his human victims. The murder weapons: Hammer, dagger and scissors. The police are in the dark and Kürten repeatedly manages to evade arrest. A mass hysteria develops among the population. Even the English crime novelist Edgar Wallace is said to have intervened and offered his help to the Düsseldorf police. In 1930, Kürten falls into a trap in the Rochuskirche. At his trial, the court sentenced him to death for nine counts of murder and seven attempted murders. A plea for clemency was rejected and Kürten was executed in 1931. In the same year, director Fritz Lang was inspired by the case to make his famous film "M - A City in Search of a Murderer". This was the beginning of a whole series of works that artistically dealt with the case of the "vampire of Düsseldorf". Stephen King, for example, refers to Kürten in his horror novel "Brennen muss Salem", as does singer-songwriter Randy Newman in his play "Germany before the War". And in 2001, the BBC produced a TV documentary that got to the bottom of the serial killer's case in detail.

The missing Kö millionaire (1994)

In 1991, Otto-Erich Simon, the millionaire owner of two plots of land on Königsallee, disappears without a trace. Eventually, the building contractor who bought the properties at a bargain price, with what turns out to be a forged signature, comes under suspicion. But the Kö millionaire remains missing. Three years later, the case goes to court. 135 trial days, lots of witnesses. The unusual trial attracts court reporters from all over Germany to Mühlenstraße. Der Spiegel writes: "It is not a crime story, but reality, a case that surpasses all fiction." And unlike in a detective story, there is no satisfactory resolution here: the building contractor - now suffering from depression - remains silent, the public prosecutor cannot prove anything against him and has to abandon the murder trial without a body. The trial ends without a verdict. In 1997, the district court officially declares the Kö millionaire dead. The court proceedings against the building contractor are discontinued in 2002 due to his permanent inability to stand trial. And the two Kö properties are finally inherited by a nephew of the owner.

The Hells Angels trial (2002)

After 79 days of hearings and 68 witnesses, ten members of the motorcycle club will be sentenced after 20 months to a total of 22 years in prison for aggravated robbery, extortion, coercion, threats, theft and unauthorized possession of weapons. The atmosphere is tense: Immediately after the verdict is announced, two dozen Harley-Davidson bikes roll into the courtyard of the district court. Hundreds of police watch the demonstration of solidarity and power by the partly masked colleagues of the convicted rockers.

Cover picture: City archive, photographer: Hagemann, around 1930