The experienced criminologist and profiler Axel Petermann took a seat on The Blue Sofa in Gütersloh last Wednesday evening. In front of a sold-out audience in the theater’s Skylobby, Bernd Volland, head of the editorial team at “Stern Crime,” led the conversation. Together, they explored the depths of the human psyche, the possibilities and limits of profiling – and discussed three spectacular real-life criminal cases that Petermann describes in his current book “Die Psyche des Bösen” (The Psyche of Evil).
Mysterious murder of an accountant at a cheese dairy
The event was part of the renowned Blue Sofa literary series, organized by Bertelsmann as part of its Culture@Bertelsmann activities. The format has already featured numerous well-known authors from a wide range of genres – this time, however, the focus was on the world of criminal investigation. In “Die Psyche des Bösen” published by Heyne Verlag, Axel Petermann focuses, among other cases, on the mysterious murder of an accountant at a cheese dairy, the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the disturbing development of an eleven-year-old boy who later became a triple murderer. Petermann said: “For this book, I selected three cases that left a lasting impression on me.” With precise analysis and decades of experience, he traces how perpetrators choose their victims – and why some investigations may have been concluded too quickly.
“People often approach me and ask for my help,” Petermann explained. “They want to understand why these crimes happen, why some people decide in certain moments to kill others. It is about understanding the crimes, not about condoning them.” Petermann added: “I have come to see that crimes always have a history and rarely happen out of nowhere. They are shaped by developments, disappointments, personal grievances, and the force of the situation. I believe I have gained a different perspective on crime.”
Advisor for ‘Tatort’ crime dramas and novelists
Axel Petermann, born in 1952, worked on more than 1,000 cases involving unnatural deaths during his time as head of a homicide unit in Bremen and deputy head of the department for violent crime. In 2000, he founded the “Operative Case Analysis” unit in Bremen, which he led until his retirement in 2014. Since then, he has worked as a lecturer in criminology at various German universities. He has also served since 2001 as a technical advisor for “Tatort” episodes from Bremen, Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Münster, as well as for TV documentaries and crime authors like Thea Dorn and Nele Neuhaus. He hosts the ZDF series “Aufgeklärt – Spektakuläre Kriminalfälle” (Solved – Spectacular Criminal Cases). His podcast “Das entscheidende Indiz” (The Decisive Clue), which he has produced together with Teresa Sickert since 2023, enjoys great popularity. Several of his books have appeared on the “Spiegel” bestseller list, including “Der Profiler” (2015) and “Im Auftrag der Toten” (On Behalf of the Dead, 2021). In addition to his work, Petermann is involved as an ambassador and patron of the victim support organization ANUAS, advocating for the rights of relatives of victims of violence.
