Zdzislaw Marchwicki, nicknamed "Vampire of Zagłębie" was the most celebrated Polish serial killer after 1945. Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ...

Born 1927 in a low-class family, he saw his father go through five marriages that eventually produced four children - three brothers and a sister, all of whom later stood trial with Zdzislaw for conspiring, possessing stolen goods and obstructing justice.

Marchwicki committed all the killings in a relatively small area in the neighbourhoods of Czeladź, Bedzin, and adjoining towns in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie and Upper Silesia. He started his killing spree in 1964 and continued it, with occasional breaks, till late 1970. Having been apprehended in early 1972, he was tried in a show trial which lasted 10 months, and was sentenced to death in July 1975. The appeal upheld the verdict, with the execution taking place in late 1976. Czeladź is a town in south Poland with 36,600 inhabitants (1995). ... Będzin. ... Upper Silesia (Polish: Górny ÅšlÄ…sk, German: Oberschlesien, Czech: Horní Slezsko) is the south-eastern part of Silesia, a historical and geographical region of Poland (Opole Voivodship and Silesian Voivodship) and of the Czech Republic (Silesian-Moravian Region). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Marchwicki was charged with killing 14 women and attempting to kill another six, but one case of attempted murder was not proven.

Also sentenced to death was Zdzislaw's brother Jan, with the third brother Henryk receiving a 25-year prison sentence for murder conspiracy. The half-sister, Helena, received a three year sentence for storing small items such as watches and pens that she knew came from Zdzislaw's victims. Similar punishment was meted out to her son, also called Zdzislaw, for failing to inform the police about the conspiracy.

During and after the trial speculations abounded whether Marchwicki was the real vampire. He did not display typical serial killer behaviour, remaining rather passive and demure throughout the proceedings. While in prison awaiting the appeal, he reputedly wrote a diary in which he minutely described his killings and the associated emotional ups and downs. It is, however, firmly established today that the diary was dictated to him by police officers through a fellow prisoner. It seems barely possible that Marchwicki, who dropped out of school at an early age and was rather low on IQ, would write in a style that used complex sentences and included police jargon terms.

Incidentally, one of Marchwicki's fatal victims was the niece of Edward Gierek, then the Upper Silesian communist party leader, although both the prosecution and the police investigators denied being pressured by political forces. Edward Gierek Edward Gierek (January 6, 1913 - July 29, 2001) was a Polish Communist leader. ...