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Anna Margaretha Zwanziger (7 August 1760 – 17 September 1811) was a German serial killer. She used arsenic, which she referred to as "her truest friend".

From 1801 until 1811, Zwanziger was employed as a housekeeper at the home of several judges in Germany. She would poison her employers with arsenic, and then nurse them back to health to gain their favour. She poisoned three people and attempted to poison several others She killed four people, one of whom was a baby.

Zwanziger was judged guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Before she was beheaded, she said it was probably a good thing she was to be executed, as she did not think she would be able to stop.

Wilkie Collins referenced her in his 1880 thriller “Jezebel’s Daughter”.

See also

• List of German serial killers

References

1. ^ Dan Norder, Wolf Vanderlinden and Paul Begg, Ripper Notes: Madmen, Myths and Magic, Inklings Press, 2004, p. 17
2. ^ "Anna Marie Zwanziger at Serial Killer True Crime Library". Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2015.

• 1760 births
• 1811 deaths
• 19th-century executions by Germany
• 19th-century German criminals
• Criminals from Bavaria
• Executed female serial killers
• Executed German serial killers
• Executed German women
• German female serial killers
• Poisoners
• People executed by Bavaria
• People executed by Germany by decapitation
• People from Nuremberg
• 18th-century German criminals