German house where cannibal killed and ate volunteer victim burns down

German house of horrors where victim bled to death when cannibal killer hacked off his penis and ate his body parts is destroyed by fire

• Armin Meiwes killed engineer Bernd Juergen Brandes at the house in 2001
• The case appalled German, and made the house an attraction for crime fans
• WARNING: Contains graphic description

A German house of horrors where a cannibal killer cut off his volunteer victim’s penis before eating his body parts has been destroyed in a fire.

Armin Meiwes, 61, also known as the ‘Cannibal of Rotenburg’, killed engineer Bernd Juergen Brandes, 43, at the house, in the small town of Rotenburg an der Fulda, on 10th March 2001, in a case that appalled Germany two decades ago.

Police said the house burned down early on Monday, at about 3.20am, according to local media, with fire brigades from at least five towns sent to the scene.

Pictures overnight of the large once picturesque house – behind a fence and a gate – showed large flames bursting through the roof as it collapsed in on itself.

Nearly 80 firefighters tackled the blaze but they were reportedly unable to put it out and could only allow the building to burn in a controlled manner. 

A German house of horrors where a cannibal killer cut off his volunteer victim’s penis before eating his body parts has been destroyed in a fire

Armin Meiwes (pictured in 2006), 61, also known as the ‘Cannibal of Rotenburg’, killed engineer Bernd Juergen Brandes, 43, at the house, in the small town of Rotenburg an der Fulda, on 10th March 2001, in a case that appalled Germany two decades ago

The cause of the overnight blaze in the small central town of Rotenburg an der Fulda was not immediately clear, but police said they are not ruling out arson, German news agency dpa reported.

A police spokeswoman reportedly said: ‘At present, arson cannot be ruled out.’ 

The building had been empty for years and long been in a state of disrepair, with crime fans often visiting it out of morbid curiosity, according to local media. 

The remains of the building are now reportedly set to be torn down after the blaze for safety reasons. Investigators have asked potential witnesses to contact them.

Mayor Christian Grunwald said he hoped the fire would put an end to frequent trips to the site by people visiting out of curiosity and for other reasons. ‘The ruin must be removed permanently; it must not become a pilgrimage site,’ he said.

The half-timbered house belonged to Armin Meiwes, who was convicted of murder and disturbing the peace of the dead, and was the scene of the crime. 

Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 over the death the previous year of Bernd Juergen Brandes.

The pair had met on the now-defunct website ‘The Cannibal Cafe’ – a website frequented at the time by people with a cannibalism fetish. Meiwes had posted an advert looking for a ‘well-built’ man who wanted to be killed and eaten.

Brandes, from Berlin, answered the advertisement in March 2021.

The killer cannibal picked up his victim from the train station and took him to his home where he had set up a ‘battle room’. 

The victim wanted the cannibal to cut off his penis and for them to eat his genitals together – while he was still alive. He swallowed 20 sleeping pills to withstand the pain, before  they continued with the act.

The court heard that the victim was unable to eat his own body part, possibly on account of the sleeping pills he had taken, or because of blood loss.

The following morning, Meiwes killed his victim by stabbing him in a bath, before dismembering his body and storing parts in a freezer to be eaten later.

Police said the house (pictured) burned down early on Monday, at about 3.20am, according to local media, with fire brigades from at least five towns including Rotenburg, Muendershausen, Lispenhausen, Braach and Bebra sent to the scene

Pictured: The house is pictured with police tape outside in 2002 (file photo)

Bernd Juergen Brandes (pictured) answered an advertisement on a cannibalism fetish forum, through which Meiwes was looking for a volunteer to be killed and eaten

Meiwes captured the killing in a four-hour video tape, which has never been released to the public on account of it being too gruesome.

In 2004, Meiwes was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison, but prosecutors appealed.

Federal judges overturned that ruling and ordered a retrial, arguing that the lower court, in rejecting murder charges, failed to give sufficient consideration to the sexual motive behind the killing.

Meiwes was convicted of murder and given a life sentence at a retrial in 2006.

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