By Til Biermann
Nora P.* (32) was raped by her father at the age of 14 and forced into prostitution. When she wanted to get out at 17, he put a killer on her and had her run over in the middle of Berlin.
In the BZ she speaks publicly about her martyrdom for the first time: “I had countless clients, including well-known businessmen and politicians. All that ever mattered to me was my freedom. No law and no punishment here in Germany could ever adequately punish my father’s crimes. Still, I can’t hate him.”
We changed her name, photographed her anonymously. She has three school-age children. This story is not one to be proud of. She still wants to talk about how it was all.
Nora P., seriously injured after being almost killed by a speeder. Father Dieter Harbecke is said to have paid the speeder for it Photo: BZ
Her father Dieter Harbecke (died in 2020 at the age of 74) was an underworld figure, online archives are still full of stories about him. In the West Berlin swamp he ran brothels and murdered. “Bring it to the flypaper,” he called it.
Nora P. says: “My father was made into this monster. He had a tough childhood himself in the post-war period.”
She still has articles about the amok accident in 2007, which almost cost P. his life. Almost all of her bones were broken in her body at the time, the car was about 90 km/h fast, and she had to be revived twice. The car and driver were never found.
Now she reveals: “While still in the hospital, my father told me that he had commissioned the rampage, that I should better keep my mouth shut. I was too cheeky for him and then I was sent back home to him again.”
Particularly perfidious: Harbecke then appeared in the newspapers as a worried father, insulted the “cowardly racer” and called for a search.
Nora P. was then held in his house in Berlin-Spandau. Ultimately, three weeks after the alleged murder, she was saved by an SOS text message to an acquaintance: “My father is holding me and wants to kill me, I need help!”. He reported to the police that a young woman might be in danger and the SEK freed her. She then testified to the authorities.
A report from 1988 about Dieter Harbecke and a CDU man shows the criminal’s involvement in politics. Here Harbecke had apparently accepted a bribe – but had done nothing for it. According to contemporary witnesses, these involvements gave him the opportunity to influence investigations Photo: Private
Her father Harbecke was then jailed for four years for abuse and forced prostitution. It was never possible to prove that he was responsible for the rampage, and the crime car and driver were never found.
Harbecke died in 2020, and now Nora P. can speak more openly about her father and his actions. He had told her a lot about his business. “My father taught me a lot about people and money,” she says. She can prove a lot with old articles, arrest warrants, court documents, old interviews on tapes.
“He also committed several murders, like Naim T., who wanted to open up about a drug lord,” she says. “My father’s lawyer, S., who also represented the drug lord, was behind it, because for S. it was about a lot of money, the main witness for the prosecution had to go. My father made T overdose on sleeping pills.”
Among other things, Harbecke also told her about his involvement in a mysterious murder of a diamond dealer couple in Berlin-Grunewald in 1987.
Ronald “Ronny” Krüger (died in 2015 at the age of 75), the son of the murdered couple, was then convicted as a double murderer. A confession recorded by Harbecke had convicted him. Krüger had retracted this confession and maintained until his death that it was not he but Harbecke himself who had shot. Contemporary witnesses confirmed this version of the story to BZ – and now Harbecke’s own daughter is talking about it for the first time.
Gerhard and Ernestina Krüger – they were shot in their villa in October 1987 Photo: Private
Nora P. says: “Krüger was known to have rich parents, owners of jewelry stores. They wanted to disinherit him because he didn’t have a real job. So he went to my father and told him that he had problems. Then the three of them went to my parents’ property, together with my father’s partner. Krüger shot his parents and then they packed all their valuables in blue garbage bags. They gave none of it to Krueger.”
Her father then received a warning from the police because of his work as an informant. A neighbor saw him on the Krugers’ property with a blue garbage bag, a police colonel said.
P. recounts: “My father then persuaded Krüger to make a confession – only as security, he had that explained to Krüger.” With this confession, Harbecke ran straight to the police.
After his conviction, Krüger told a journalist how he believed this confession had come about. BZ was able to listen to a tape of it.
Krüger says that Harbecke was the shooter and reports on a memorable meeting after the crime: “Harbecke took me to his brothel. Then he said: Be careful, Ronny, you are the number one risk for us. They come to you first. You must now say on tape that it was you so that I can be sure that you will not reveal anything during the interrogation.” Krüger then said to Harbecke: “But it wasn’t me! I will not do that.”
Ronald Krüger shortly before his death in 2015 Photo: Private
Then, according to the tape, Harbecke’s partner Z. entered the room. Harbecke said to Z.: “Look, did you actually see that Ronny came here?” That was supposed to be a threat: If he didn’t get out of there alive, nobody would notice.
Finally, Krüger made the confession. Harbecke also demanded the 15,000 DM from Krüger, which he had offered as an alibi for catching his parents’ murderer.
In her apartment, where she lives with her three children, her boyfriend and her mother, Nora P. tells more stories about her father, who was also closely associated with the big names in Berlin politics.
Due to her horror years in youth, P. was certified as having an 80 percent disability. Living off her Victims’ Compensation Pension, she beat a heroin addiction and is now at peace as best she can. Unlike her father, she is affectionate towards her three children.
“There are still triggers: tenderness, for example, or when a father yells at his child,” she says. “But I’ve got to live with it for the rest of my life now. I’m in the fifth stage of grief: acceptance.”
⇥*Name changed