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Fritz Honka: The Killer of Hamburg's 'Golden Glove'

Jun 16
3 min read

Updated: Jun 25

Fritz Honka is one of the grimmest figures in German criminal history — a pitiful, alcoholic loner who preyed on the most vulnerable women of Hamburg's red-light district. Between 1970 and 1975 he killed at least four women he met at a seedy bar called the Golden Glove (Der Goldene Handschuh), and he concealed their remains in his squalid attic flat. His case has since been immortalised, controversially, in a novel and an acclaimed film. Out of respect for the victims, this account avoids graphic detail.

Honka's story is a bleak portrait of how a predator can hide among society's outcasts, killing women whom almost no one was looking for.

Fritz Honka: The Killer of Hamburg's 'Golden Glove'

Key Facts at a Glance

Full name: Friedrich “Fritz” Honka
Born: 31 July 1935, Leipzig, Germany
Known as: The killer of the Golden Glove (Der Goldene Handschuh)
Victims: At least 4 women (1970–1975), Hamburg
Caught: 1975, when a fire exposed remains in his attic flat
Outcome: Convicted 1976; held in psychiatric care; died 1998

A wretched life

Born in Leipzig in 1935, the third of many children, Honka had a hard and unstable upbringing and grew into a physically unremarkable, even pitiable man, with a squint, a deformity from an accident, and a deepening dependence on alcohol. He worked menial jobs around Hamburg, including as a night watchman, and his life revolved around the bars of the St. Pauli district.

The Golden Glove

Honka found his victims at the Golden Glove, a notorious dive bar frequented by the down-and-out of Hamburg — alcoholic, lonely and marginalised women on the fringes of society. He lured them back to his cramped attic flat with the promise of drink and company. Impotent and abusive, he subjected them to humiliation and violence, and when encounters turned fatal, he killed them.

Bodies in the attic

Honka concealed the remains of his victims within his own flat, hiding them behind walls and partitions. The horror was masked, for a time, by the general squalor of the building and by an air freshener and cheap perfume he used to cover the smell. Because his victims were marginalised women whose absences were rarely reported, his crimes went undetected for years.

Discovery by fire

Honka's secret was exposed almost by accident in July 1975, when a fire broke out in his apartment building. As firefighters worked to put out the blaze, they discovered human remains hidden in his attic flat, unravelling a series of killings that had gone unnoticed in the heart of the city.

A psychiatric case

At trial, Honka was found to have acted with diminished responsibility, and rather than a standard prison sentence he was committed to a psychiatric institution. He was later released to a care home, where he lived out his final years under an assumed name, dying in 1998. His case inspired Heinz Strunk's novel 'The Golden Glove' and Fatih Akin's stark 2019 film of the same name.

The Honka case is unrelentingly bleak, and the film and novel it inspired have prompted debate about whether such stories sensationalise misery. What endures, beneath the grim fascination, are the women he killed — poor, lonely and overlooked in life, and too easily forgotten in death. Remembering them is the most important part of the story.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people did Fritz Honka kill?

He killed at least four women from Hamburg's red-light district between 1970 and 1975.

How were Honka's crimes discovered?

A fire in his apartment building in 1975 led firefighters to discover human remains he had hidden in his attic flat.

What happened to Fritz Honka?

Found to have diminished responsibility, he was confined to a psychiatric institution and later a care home, dying in 1998.

Discovery and Aftermath

Honka's crimes came to light almost by accident. In 1975 a fire broke out in the building where he lived, and firefighters searching the property discovered human remains he had concealed in his cramped attic flat. The victims — vulnerable women from the bars of Hamburg's St. Pauli district — had drawn little attention when they vanished. Honka was arrested and, in 1976, convicted; because of questions about his mental state he was held in a psychiatric institution rather than an ordinary prison. He later lived quietly under a new identity until his death in 1998. His grim story was popularised, controversially, in Heinz Strunk's novel and a subsequent acclaimed film, both titled Der Goldene Handschuh.