"When I look back and think of the married life of my parents today I really think that had they not been married one would have had to think of it as rape.".-------------Peter Kurten talking about how his mentally ill and alcoholic father, used to viciously attack his mother and have violent sex with her, in front of Peter's eyes. Peter grew up in a one room apartment, together with 12 siblings, and was viciously assaulted by his daddy on a regular basis, throughout his childhood. His daddy also raped Peter's sisters. "The whole family suffered through his drinking, for when he was in drink, my father was terrible. I, being the eldest, had to suffer most. As you may well imagine, we suffered terrible poverty, all because the wages went on drink. We all lived in one room and you will appreciate what affect that had on me sexually. I, being the eldest, had to suffer most. Often have I hidden away from his rage, either in the woods or in the school buildings."-------------Peter Kurten.

"It was then that I became acquainted with disciplinary punishment in prison, and of the severest kinds. It was terrible what I suffered under it. I would describe it all as barbarous and I suppose most men would do so today. Hunger in adolescence is real torture...I do not condemn those sentences in themselves, but I do condemn the way they are carried out on young people...Fettering was a common form of punishment. Once I was fettered for three weeks...All that had a very bad effect on me, so I can tell of these things in full justification. Nothing is worse than the spiritual suffering of one who is tortured through the infliction of pain."-------------Peter, speaking about his early imprisonments for petty crimes, which began when he was a tortured child-slave of 16. "I had already finished with my life when I first knew the police were on my track. I wanted to fix up for my wife a carefree old age, for she is entitled to at least a part of the reward. That is why I entered a plea of guilty to all the crimes." "I have no remorse. As to whether recollection of my deeds makes me feel ashamed, I will tell you. Thinking back to all the details is not at all unpleasant. I rather enjoy it." "Never have I felt any misgiving in my soul; never did I think to myself that what I did was bad, even though human society condemns it. My blood and the blood of my victims will be on the heads of my torturers. There must be a Higher Being who gave in the first place the first vital spark to life. That Higher Being would deem my actions good since I revenged injustice. The punishments I have suffered have destroyed all my feelings as a human being. That was why I had no pity for my victims."-------------This last quote of Peter's is utterly brilliant and so courageously honest and insightful, as he expresses the Truth of how he was the supreme victim, how his society initiated and committed brutal injustice and victimization upon him. So how in the name of everything sane can anyone have the gall to label his actions as "bad", much less worthy of punitive punishment?? All Peter did was reflect the utterly evil, immoral malevolence and torment that his society chose to inflict upon him, as a child primarily, but also throughout his entire lifetime.

"So I said to myself in my youthful way `You just wait, you pack of scoundrels! ` That was more or less the kind of retaliation or revenge idea. For example, I kill someone who is innocent and not responsible for the fact that I had been badly treated, but if there really is such a thing on this earth as compensating justice, then my tormentors must feel it, even if they do not know that I have done it." "I cannot refrain from reproaching you, professor Sioli, for saying that the conditions of my home were not the decisive factor. On the contrary, you may well assume that youthful surroundings are decisive for the development of character. With silent longing I have sometimes in my early days glimpsed other families and asked myself why it could not be like that with us." "I committed my acts of arson for the same reasons – sadistic propensity. I got pleasure from the glow of the fire, the cries for help." "My relations with my wife were always good. I did not love her in the sensual way, but because of my admiration for her fine character." "After all, an execution does not achieve much. It is doubtful whether they can wash off with my blood the blood I have shed. It boils down in the end to an act of vengeance which the people have asked for...On the other hand, capital punishment itself is criticized even by the legal experts, so that one says to oneself; 'What, chop off a man's head simply because the people shout for it?'" "Tell me, after my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment, the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck? That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures."------------------Peter Kurten.