*Characters who existed in real life in Weimar Germany
Berlin Criminal Police
Bernhard “Bernie” Gunther—the narrator; a detective, recently promoted from Vice to the Murder Commission (“the murder wagon”); aka “Helmut Zehr,” for a short period of undercover work
*Bernhard Weiss—Chief of the Criminal Police for Berlin and Gunther’s boss
*Ernst Gennat—a senior homicide detective with the Murder Commission, considered one of the best and the most senior after Weiss; Gunther’s supervisor and role model, aka “the Big Buddha”
Inspector Kurt Reichenbach—the detective that Gunther beat out for the position on the Murder Commission, presumably because Reichenbach was considered too quick to anger
Hans Gross—the police photographer on the murder wagon; nicknamed Cecil B. DeMorgue
Frau Eva Künstler—the police stenographer on the murder wagon
Miczek—uniformed beat cop at the scene of Kleiber’s murder
*Karl Zörgiebel—aka the ViPoPra; the Berlin chief of police and Weiss’s boss
*Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld—physician and sexologist who advised police on the Selesian Station case; his theories interest Weiss enough to recommend that Gunther speak to him
Commissar Johann Körner—lead detective at the scene of Eva Angerstein’s murder
Otto Trettin—detective who joins the team on the Gnadenschuss case following his return from a sanitarium where he was treated for drug addiction
Paul Mendel—expert in firearms and runs the police firearms lab
Victims
Frieda Ahrendt—a murdered woman in a cold case that Gunther had worked in Schöneberg the previous year; she was identified by fingerprints since all that was found of her were some body parts, including her hands, wrapped in brown paper and buried; no family had been found
Mathilde Luz—the first Selesian Station murder victim; in the case file Gunther reads when he first joins the Murder Commission
Helen Strauch—the second Selesian Station murder victim; in the case file Gunther reads when he first joins the Murder Commission; Reichenbach had been the detective on the case
Fritz/Louise Pabst—the third Selesian Station victim, a transvestite prostitute who survives the murderer’s attack; in the case file and described to Gunther soon after he joins the Murder Commission
“Mustermann”—cop-speak for an unnamed victim
Bruno Kleiber—the first murder case that Gunther is called out on with the murder wagon; Kleiber ran a street roulette wheel called Little Monte Carlo
Eva Angerstein—the second murder case that Gunther is called out on with the murder wagon; Eva Angerstein worked as a stenographer but was also thought to be a “payday” prostitute, so her murder is considered part of the Silesian Station cases, although there are troubling differences
Werner Schlichter-first victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; a former sergeant in 180th Infantry shot in the spine at the Battle of the Somme
Oskar Heyde—second victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; in 50th Reserve Division, blown up by a mine at the Third Battle of Ypres; received the Iron Cross
Werner Jugo—third victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; in 27th Field Artillery Division, hit by mortar fire at the Battle of Amiens
Walther Frölich—fourth victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; corporal in Third Army’s Ninth Landwehr Division, shot at Verdun
Johann Tetzel—fifth victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; a veteran who had given Gunther information on Prussian Emil
Willi Beckmann—a man killed in the street by a man with a machine gun; Gunther is an eye-witness to this murder
Murderers
Winnetou—the media nickname for a murderer suspected of killing prostitutes by hitting them in the head and scalping them; the official file name used by the police was Silesian Station; Winnetou was the name of a fictional Native American character in several novels written by real-life German author Karl May in the early 1900s
Herbert Kolbe—the man Bruno Kleiber paid to be his “watchdog”
Dr. Gnadenschuss—the pseudonym of an anonymous letter-writer (to the Berliner Tageblatt) who claims credit for a series of point-blank murders of disabled war veterans
Hugo Gediehn—kills a man in the street with a machine gun; Gunther is eye-witness and recognizes Gediehn from the bar where Gunther had gone looking for Prussian Emil
Important Witnesses
*Daisy Torrens—an American actress who had been seen with Eva Angerstein at the Kakadu the night she was murdered; Torrens claims Eva was her drug buyer; Torrens is also Albert Grzesinski’s secret mistress
Herbert Kolbe—the man Bruno Kleiber paid to be his “watchdog”
Stephan Rühle—a “resident” at the Palme (homeless shelter) who claims to be an eyewitness to one of the Dr. Gnadenschuss murders and to have recognized the murderer to have been a policeman
Emil Müller—aka Prussian Emil; a drug dealer, a lookout for burglars, and a sometime beggar who pretends to be a disabled veteran but is part of a criminal ring
Rudi Geise—Daisy Torrens’s former boyfriend (before Grzesinski); he works for Fritz Lang’s film company and seems to hate women; also, he was seen with Eva Angerstein the night she was murdered
Ernst Engelbrecht—a former cop with expertise on local crime syndicates, who gives Gunther information on Erich Angerstein and the German Middle Ring
Helga—the lover of the man killed in the street; Gunther recognizes her as Gediehn’s companion from the bar where Gunther had gone looking for Prussian Emil
Gunther’s Friends and Neighbors
Frau Weitendorf—Gunther’s landlady at the boarding house where he lives; aka “The Golem”
Robert Rankin—an English writer who rents the 3rd floor rooms directly below Gunther’s at Frau Weitendorf’s
Fischer—a Bavarian whom Gunther suspects is either a traveling salesman or a crook
Rosa Braun—a young woman who lives on the upper floor at Frau Weitendorf’s; she dresses in masculine clothing (a white tuxedo) to play saxophone in a dance band
Brigitte Mölbling—the make-up artist at Neues Theater who helps Gunther assume the disguise of a homeless, disabled veteran when he goes undercover
Berlin Politicians/Influencers
*Albert Grzesinski—Prussian Minister of the Interior, formerly Berlin’s chief of police; he has a secret mistress, the American actress Daisy Torrens
*Theodore Wolff—editor-in-chief of the Berliner Tageblatt
*Arthur Nebe—police commissioner of Prussian Police Officers’ Association
*Thea von Harbou—screenwriter for, and the wife of, Fritz Lang; Reichenbach asked Gunther to help her with police background on an idea she’s working on for a new film
*Fritz Lang—famous film director of such movies as Metropolis and M
Erich Angerstein—syndicate leader of the German Middle Ring; he is Eva Angerstein’s father
