German Man Starved Himself to Death in Forest

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February 12, 2008

TORTUOUS SUICIDE

German Man Starved Himself to Death in Forest

He was unemployed, his marriage had collapsed and he had lost touch with his daughter. A 58-year-old German man committed suicide by cycling deep into a forest and starving himself to death in a 24-day ordeal during which he kept a diary of his suffering.

An unemployed German man whose marriage had failed cycled into a forest where he starved himself to death over a period of 24 days, keeping a diary of his physical decline, German police said.

The 58-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was found by two hunters on Monday. He was lying on a mattress in an elevated hide in woodland in the Solling hill region of northern Germany, some 100 kilometers from the city of Hanover where he had lived. He had probably been dead since December.

He wrote in his diary about the collapse of his marriage, about how his grown-up daughter become estranged from him and his long period of unemployment, according to a local newspaper article, the contents of which were confirmed by police in the town of Northeim. He stopped being eligible for jobless benefit payments last October.

The man wrote about the pain he was in as he starved. He occasionally drank some water during his self-imposed ordeal. The last diary entry is on Dec. 13 last year. The diary also contains a note saying: "This notebook is to be given to my daughter (?) after my death," according to the report in the Hessisch/Niedersächsische Allgemeine newspaper.

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Give the diary of his suffering to the daughter? That's not a very encouraging legacy for her.

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The legacy of a lousy hunter who chose the easy way out (well, not that easy, but obviously, personal torture came naturally to him).

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The hunters found that 58-year-old mumified man, a former salesman, cjhsa.

I can't see why any of them chose the easy way out (okay, they could have repaired the raised hide earlier ...).

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Sorry, Walt. I'll explain.

Suicide is always the easy way out. I only support it in cases of terminally ill patients facing a long and painful death, however, it is illegal here in the U.S. under any circumstances. Obviously, you cannot punish a dead person, however, it will affect any life insurance settlement (basically, there won't be one).

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Thanks. That - "Suicide is always the easy way out ...is illegal here in the U.S. under any circumstances" - certainly explains

what you wrote:

The legacy of a lousy hunter who chose the easy way out....

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???

He obviously couldn't find any food! Laughing

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cjhsa wrote:

???

He obviously couldn't find any food!

Your sources must be better than mine - though I've looked up the local (Uslar/Northeim) edition of the Hannoversche Allgemeine as well ...

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cjhsa wrote:

Obviously, you cannot punish a dead person, however, it will affect any life insurance settlement (basically, there won't be one).

I have no idea what German life insurance policies say about suicide, but American policies typically pay out full benefits after the expiration of the contestable period (usually two years), even if the insured committed suicide.

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cjhsa,

The laws on suicide are aimed at being able to force a suicidal individual into treatment and get them help, they are not punitive in nature and do not substantiate the self-righteous condemnation of the suicidal.

This man's grief led him to choose to take his life. That you deride him for being a "lousy hunter" and get on your high horse about suicide says more about you, your immaturity, and your obsession with hunting than suicide.

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Sorry craven, gotta disagree.

In fact I think it's too bad he was able to contribute to the gene pool before he expired.

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Seriously, are we supposed to feel bad for this guy?

That's what he wanted. I refuse to give it to him.

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From the first published report:

Quote:

Er hatte ein bewegtes Leben. Die Ehe ging in die Brüche, die erwachsene Tochter sagte sich von ihm los und dann war er offenbar lange arbeitslos. Ab Oktober vergangenen Jahres gab es auch kein Arbeitslosengeld mehr. Dann setzte sich der 58-Jährige auf sein Fahrrad und fuhr los.

He had had a turbulent life. The marriage broke into pieces, the adult daughter seceded, and then he was apparently jobless over a long period. As of October last year, unemployment benefits stopped. Then the 58-year-old got on his bike and rode go.

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cjhsa wrote:

Sorry craven, gotta disagree.

In fact I think it's too bad he was able to contribute to the gene pool before he expired.

That's a bit harsh cjhsa. Not just because other than the fact that he took his life you know nothing about him and can't say anything about his contributions to the gene pool but also because the tree you are barking up with genetic cleansing is particularly ugly.

cjhsa wrote:

Seriously, are we supposed to feel bad for this guy?

That's what he wanted. I refuse to give it to him.

I don't think he cares whether you feel sorry for him. But he clearly did want his daughter to. But why should that irk you so? Empathy is a very human need. Why must you deride a dead man for his emotional suffering?

If you just don't want to feel sorry for him that's one thing. But going out of your way to mock him for nothing else than having suffered emotionally to the point of taking his own life is untoward.

You can feel good about yourself without needing to put this dead man further down.

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I would never have known about it if Walt hadn't posted it.

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Yeah, Walt's a bastard and all but I think he was posting it merely because it's an extremely odd and extremely difficult way of killing yourself, not because Walt thought your contempt was in order.

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Gala wrote:

Give the diary of his suffering to the daughter? That's not a very encouraging legacy for her.

No, but it's a document which perhaps could make her feel guilty (so according to latest news, she refused to take it and refused to take care of the funeral as well).

But certainly it is a document of Germany's social situation.

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I wonder if his diary will be published...

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Gala wrote:
But certainly it is a document of Germany's social situation.

Could you talk more about this, please?

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Craven de Kere wrote:

Yeah, Walt's a bastard and all but I think he was posting it merely because it's an extremely odd and extremely difficult way of killing yourself, not because Walt thought your contempt was in order.

He poops in my lawn. I throw mine in his.

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German Man Starved Himself to Death in Forest

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