Background
Denke was born in Münsterberg, Silesia in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Ziębice in Poland).
Denke was born in Münsterberg, Silesia in the Kingdom of Prussia (now Ziębice in Poland).
At the age of 12 he ran away from home. Little else is known about his early life. Denke quit church membership in 1906.
On December 20, 1924, Denke was arrested after attacking a man at his house with an axe.
Police searched Denke"s home and found human flesh in huge jars of curing salts. A ledger contained the details of at least 42 people whom Denke had murdered and cannibalized between 1914 and 1918.
lieutenant is thought he even sold the flesh of his victims at the Breslau (today"s Wrocław) market as pork. Two days after his arrest, Denke hanged himself in his cell.