Robber

A robber is a person who commits or has committed a robbery. In legal parlance, the robber, unlike the thief, uses or threatens violence.

History

Robbers have existed at all times. Grave thieves, so-called grave robbers, were already known in Pharaonic times in Egypt, and human robbers are known from Roman times with the legendary robbery of the Sabine women. The New Testament speaks of the Good Samaritan, who helped a person who fell among the robbers. Barrabas, who was released in place of Jesus at the Passover, was also a robber.

There have also been buccaneers or pirates since ancient times, who were fought by Greek and Roman fleets even then. The most famous German pirate was Klaus Störtebeker. By contrast, pirates legalized by states, so-called privateers like Francis Drake, were used to improve the state finances.

Until the late Middle Ages, robbers were often organized in robber bands, if necessary also on horses (moreover, if necessary also with [own, robbed] armor and even castles) - the latter, in its entirety (later, however, rather without [obvious] armor or also only in the figurative sense) also called "robber baronialism". These often represented authoritarian-led communities that continued to exist into the 17th and into the 18th centuries. Such a band of robbers usually consisted of a robber chief and his followers, who were bound to each other by an oath to the death. The members of the band of robbers had previously usually been lepers, outcasts or deserters, and bird-dodgers. Often these robbers were desperate people who saw no other way out to survive.

This structure of the robber gangs changed over time. Later, the term robber band can be understood more as a loose community that joined together for an action, such as a street robbery, and then disbanded again. In the 19th century, this was the only type of robber band that was usually found. The leader was usually the one who stood out through his deeds or his skills, or who knew the place or person to be robbed best or who had scouted it out.

In Germany, especially after the Seven Years' War and during the Revolutionary Wars, there was an increased occurrence of robber gangs. The permanent social and economic crisis as a result of these wars uprooted many people and prompted them to join a band of robbers. Especially in the Spessart, but also in wide areas of Central and Southern Germany as well as in the Rhine area, organized crime increased around 1800. Even today, not only in poorer countries, there are gangs of robbers and also pirate raids, as in East Africa (Somalia) and in Southeast Asia (Strait of Malacca).

Until the 19th century, there were numerous special terms for the classification of robbers and thieves, most of which originated in the criminal milieu. Thus Jomakener were robbers who raided villages at harvest time, Schränker were thieves who entered houses silently at night, Stänkerer were casual thieves, also robbers, in residential areas. Stratekehrer (also Strählekehrer) were highwaymen, and Serfer (also Rezoirsärfner) were thieves/robbers who committed their crimes in connection with arson.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was mainly stagecoach robberies and spectacular bank robbers that became famous through the press and audiovisual media. These include criminals such as the bank-robbing Dalton brothers, John Dillinger or the robber couple Bonnie and Clyde. The legendary 1963 mail robbery in England also falls under this category.

In Germany, the cash messenger robbers caused a sensation. In southern Germany, Johannes Bückler, the "Schinderhannes" from the Hunsrück region of the late 18th century, was the model for Bernhard Kimmel and his Kimmel Gang, named after him, who undertook raids and burglaries in the Palatinate Forest from 1957 to 1961.

Handbag snatching is almost commonplace in many major cities as part of acquisitive crime.

Known robbers

Known robbers and robber gangs were:

• Wenceslas Babinsky, Czech robber
• Gaspard de Besse, French highwayman
• Johannes Bückler, called Schinderhannes
• Cartouche, French bandit
• Carmine Crocco, called Donatelli, Italian Brigand
• Fra Diavolo, an Italian street hustler
• Claude Duval, French-born mugger in England
• Johann Georg Grasel, the (false) Austrian Robin Hood
• Jasper Hanebuth, robbery killer in Hanover
• Robber Heigl (1816-1857), Bavaria
• Johann Baptist Herrenberger, called Constance Hanß
• Robin Hood
• Xaver Hohenleiter, called Der Schwarze Veri (Upper Swabia)

• Christian Andreas Käsebier, who is said to have even "stolen" the city of Prague from Frederick the Great
• Jánošík, a Slovak robber and folk hero from the Beskydy Mountains
• Johannes Karasek
• Ned Kelly, an Australian street hustler...
• Matthias Klostermayr, called Bavarian Hiasl
• Mathias Kneißl, called Kneißl Hias
• Johann Lutter von Kobern, robber baron, executed in Koblenz in 1536
• Simon Kramer
• Nikol List, Saxon robber chief
• Jakob Reinhard, called Hannikel (1742-1787), one of the most feared robbers in Württemberg
• Nikolaus Schmidhofer, called Holzknechtseppl (1794-1828), leader of the Stradafüßler, executed in Pinkafeld/Austria
• Große Siechenbande, band of robbers in the Rhineland (17th or 18th century) who disguised themselves as lepers.
• The Bockreiter were bands of robbers in Limburg between 1730 and 1780.
• Jack Sheppard (1702-1724), London robber,
• Karl Stülpner, called Robin Hood of the Erzgebirge or also Saxon Robin Hood
• Nikola Šuhaj, a popular Ukrainian brigand in the forest Carpathians.
• Franz Troglauer, Robbers in Upper Palatinate and Franconia. Also a leader of the "Great Franconian Band of Thieves and Robbers".
• Lips Tullian
• Pintea Viteazul, Romanian Robin Hood
• Carl Wallmann, called robber chief Rose
• Mathias Weber, called The Fetzer
• Philip Witt
• Hölzerlips, notorious robber from the Odenwald in the 18th/19th century
• Mannefriedrich, real name Philipp Friedrich Schütz, notorious robber from the Odenwald in the 18th/19th century
• Dolf Mohr was a notorious robber from Dortmund around 1850
• Great Franconian gang of thieves and robbers, also called Fürth gang of thieves and robbers or Meusel gang. Was broken up in 1798.
• Wetterauer und Vogelsberger Bande, which operated in varying size and personnel composition in Upper Hesse until about 1810/12.

The eye roller at the old department store in Koblenz is supposed to represent Johann Lutter von Kobern.