Frieda's Fall

In 1904, there was a case that shook Switzerland: Frieda Keller was sentenced to death. A former victim of rape, the 25-year-old seamstress killed her son Ernstli, whose father was her attacker, and buried the five-year-old’s body in the forest. Shortly afterwards, the body was found, and the woman – a distraught mother, victim and perpetrator all at once – confessed to the crime. In addition to the authorities and her own family, the misogynistic laws of that time were also stacked against her. 　　Despite fierce protests from the populace, Frieda was first sentenced to death at the end of a public trial in St Gall in front of hundreds of onlookers, and was subsequently “pardoned” with a life sentence in solitary confinement. Not only was the bigoted pardon a disgrace, but the fact that her rapist, the married man Carl Zimmerli, was never brought to justice was shameful. Indeed, the law at the time protected married men who assaulted women. 　　The spectacular case raises the question of how much of a victim there is in the perpetrator. It significantly influenced debates on women's rights and a fairer society, as well as the development of the criminal justice system in Switzerland.