Bernd Brandes was an executive at Siemens Corp., but despite considerable professional accomplishments, had long desired annihilation. His victim had to meet certain standards, be talkative, interested in becoming lifelong friends, and willing to give repeated, voluntary consent to making himself a sacrificial offering.Īs luck would have it, there was someone out there who satisfied these exacting criteria. But he could not cannibalize just anyone.
This led him to fixate on cannibalism as the one sure way of internalizing that brother who would never, ever depart. He had been raised in a lonely and troubled family and had always craved a brother who would never leave him. One man, Armin Meiwes, had long harbored a desire, ever since childhood, to eat someone. In 20, two German computer scientists became acquainted with each other over the Internet. Several years ago, while doing some reading on European law, I stumbled across a fascinating case that seemed to present questions of autonomy and consent so starkly that it almost seemed made up.
