While World War II was raging and all of Europe was in a nightly blackout, Paul Ogorzow murdered eight women.

The day Germany attacked Poland Hitler instated dusk till dawn blackout over Berlin. People were forced to either tape paper over their windows or use special black out curtains that didn't allow any light out. Street lights were turned out and the lights on trains were lowered so the enemy would not have targets to bomb. At the same time, more women were leaving home and joining the work force, working shifts at factories to help produce war materials. Many women were forced to ride trains that had very little light on them and to walk home on dark streets and through dark alleys.

This creates the perfect setting for a sexual predator. Paul Ogorzow begins a two years reign of terror with verbal harassment and assaults, which become more violent assaults and eventually rapes and murders. Berlin is a city already living in fear of bombing, and having the women fear going to work is unacceptable. The police are under great pressure to find A SERIAL KILLER IN NAZI BERLIN.

The police officer in charge of the investigation, Wilhelm Ludtke, has to report to people known as being some of the worst criminals in history. Reading this well researched story and hearing how Ludtke keeps looking for the real killer instead of taking the easy way out by creating a scapegoat is very interesting. When you realize the lead investigator, Ludtke was reporting to the likes of SS Chief Heinrich Himmler and trying to get the cooperation of Minster of Propaganda Joseph Gobbels you have to respect his will to get to the truth. At times, you find it amazing that the police worked so hard to find the killer of eight women when some of the members of Ludtke's team, including his immediate supervisor, though not Ludtke himself, were later charged with the murder of millions.

A SERIAL KILLER IN NAZI BERLIN is a fascinating historical, nonfiction novel by Scott Andrew Shelby that comes across more as the story of Wilhelm Ludtke. Ludtke was a police officer determined to stop the killer he could and protect those he was capable of protecting in a time when society and humanity were most at risk of being lost. Ludtke used great police work and investigative skill to make a difference in the only way he could in a world that most likely broke his heart.