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Greta Overbeck

Greta Overbeck (14 June 1907-1929) was a German domestic servant who lived in Berlin during the 1920s. Born in Groeningshusen on Darss, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, she was childhood friends with Charlotte Ritter. In May 1929, she came to Berlin in search of work after her lover abandoned her, and, after refusing to become a prostitute like Ritter, she instead found work as a maid at the home of political police chief August Benda. While she was initially happy with Benda, she was deceived by the undercover Nazi Horst Kessler into believing that Benda's Berlin Police had killed her boyfriend Richard Pechtmann during a communist demonstration, causing her to plant a bomb that killed Benda and his daughter Margot. Overbeck was remorseful on learning that Pechtmann was still alive and that she had been duped, and, while she was defended in court by Hans Litten, she was ultimately executed for her crime.

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