Rosemarie Nitribitt

Maria Rosalia Auguste Nitribitt (1 February 1933 – 29 October 1957), better known as Rosemarie Nitribitt, was a German luxury call girl whose violent death caused a scandal in West Germany during the Wirtschaftswunder years. The case gave rise to a novel, three movies and a musical.

On 1 November 1957, Nitribitt was found dead in her apartment in Frankfurt, Stiftstraße 36. Her death was alleged to have occurred three days earlier. Her body showed signs of strangulation and a head wound. Heinz Pohlmann, a businessman and friend of Nitribitt's, became the prime suspect. He had visited her on 29 October. A few days after the murder, Pohlmann was able to settle high debts and bought an expensive car, but could not explain the origins of the money; he provided contradictory information during questioning. He had embezzled money at his job. Pohlmann was charged with Nitribitt's murder but acquitted in July 1960 on grounds of reasonable doubt.

Early life and career

Born in Düsseldorf, Rhine Province, Prussia, "Rosemarie" Nitribitt and her two younger half-sisters were raised in low-income conditions by their mother in Ratingen and Düsseldorf. The girls were placed in a juvenile home and after 1939 lived with foster parents. There Nitribitt was raped at the age of 11. Still in her teenage years, she began to work as a prostitute. She was later sent to juvenile correctional homes, from where she escaped on several occasions. She then moved to Frankfurt am Main, where, after a brief interlude as a waitress and model, she took up prostitution again and was arrested at the Frankfurt railway station in 1951.