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found to have been poisoned with a rare metallic poison, thallium. Martha’s son Peter, whose life she had recently insured, was also found to be slowly dying from the same poison. It was only speedy hospitalization that saved his life.
    Thallium is a similar element to lead, which, when mixed together, is poisonous. Thallium is so toxic that it is easily absorbed through the skin and handling its compounds without protective gloves can easily lead to loss of the fingernails. The symptoms of Thallium poisoning are lethargy, numbness, tingling hands and feet, tremor, slurred speech, debility, and hair loss. The poisoning can lead to cardiovascular collapse, delirium, convulsions, paralysis, and coma resulting in death in as little as one or two days.
    Martha was arrested and charged with four counts of murder. The press of the day dubbed Martha as the “Devil in Petticoats”. Martha denied all four charges. The prosecutor at her trial, Otto Wotowa, described Martha as a “human cobra who richly deserves the gallows”. Martha was found guilty of all four charges and sentenced to death by Adolf Hitler’s newly re-introduced guillotine.
     

    The Nazi Guillotine
     
    Martha Marek was executed by State Executioner Johann Reichhart on December 6 th 1938 at the age of thirty-four. She was the first woman executed in Austria since 1900.

ANNA MARIE HAHN
    " the beautiful blonde killer"
     
    Anna Marie Hahn, née Filser, was born on July 7th, 1906 in Fussen, Bavaria, Germany. Her father, George Filser, was a cabinet-maker and furniture manufacturer. Anna was the youngest of twelve children, nine of whom were boys. As the youngest she was spoiled, which led to disciplinary problems in her teen years. She would constantly sneak out of the parental home and go to parties and miss school. For a short time, Anna was sent to live with her older sister Katti in Holland, her parents hoping this might curb her ways. When she returned to Bavaria, she became pregnant by an Italian doctor. Her parents were scandalized and shortly after, a baby boy named Oscar, was born. Her parents, while keeping their grandson, sent Anna to stay with an aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio in the United States of America.
    Anna arrived in Cincinnati in 1929 at the age of twenty-three. In 1930, she met and married a telegraph operator, Philip Hahn, another German immigrant. Anna and Philip returned briefly to Bavaria to collect Oscar before returning to Cincinnati as a family. Anna and Philip opened two delicatessen stores, but Anna disliked running the stores as she found the work to be too much of a drudge. Anna insured the businesses and, shortly afterwards, one of the stores burned down, and Anna collected the insurance money.
    Two fires in their home, both of which were covered by an insurance company, followed . The insurance payouts may well have been the turning point in Anna’s life. Anna began to pester her husband Philip to take out a life insurance policy. He refused for what reason we do not know. Shortly after his refusal, Philip became ill, and Anna refused to take him to the hospital. Philip’s mother, against Anna’s protestations, had Philip removed to the hospital where he survived his inexplicable illness. Upon his release, Philip and Anna separated.
    With Philip gone , Anna, despite having no experience, set herself up as a nurse for elderly German patients. Ernst Kohler became Anna’s first client in the autumn of 1932. He became exceedingly fond of Anna and made out a new will in her favor. Once he had done this, he rapidly became ill and died on May 6, 1933. Anna quickly cremated his body and, for reasons unknown, kept his ashes on her mantelpiece.
    Anna , in February of 1936, began caring for 72-year-old Albert Parker. She persuaded him to lend her $4,000, a large amount of money in the 1930’s. For this, she wrote him an I.O.U. Albert died on March 27, 1936. The I.O.U was never honored.
    In 1937, Anna began visiting a