Rudolph Moshammer

Rudolph Moshammer

Rudolph Moshammer with Daisy

Rudolph Moshammer with Daisy
Born (1940-09-27)27 September 1940
Munich, Germany
Died 14 January 2005(2005-01-14) (aged 64)
Nationality German
Occupation Fashion designer

Rudolph Moshammer (27 September 1940 – 14 January 2005) was a German fashion designer. He was murdered at the age of 64[1] in the Grünwald suburb of Munich, Germany.

Life

Born in Munich, Germany, Moshammer had an education in retail industry trading. He began to design fashion in the 1960s.

His base of existence was his boutique "Carnaval de Venise" in Munich's high society street, Maximilianstraße. There he created fashion for wealthy men from furs, cashmere, and silk. With this strategy he attracted the high society of Munich and Germany. His international clients included:

He had inherited the boutique from his mother, Else Moshammer. He had a strong relationship with her and frequently appeared in public with her. She died in 1993.

Moshammer was an eccentric and iridescent personality. He was well known for carrying his Yorkshire Terrier dog Daisy in public wherever he went, and even wrote a book about her.

Moshammer had a strong commitment to helping homeless people. For this he was awarded the "Martin's Coat 2000" of the radio station, "Sankt Michaelsbund".

Moshammer played in some made-for-TV movies like in the German crime series Tatort.

He collaborated with the musical band, "Münchner Zwietracht" ("The two garbs of Munich"),[2] with whom he was a contestant in the German Eurovision Song Contest preliminary round show in 2001. The song was entitled "Teilt Freud und Leid" ("Share Happiness and Sorrow").[3]

In 2002, Moshammer sold a shirt thought to have been worn by Napoleon I at the Battle of Waterloo at auction for more than 62,000 euros ($81,200), donating the proceeds to a Munich homeless charity.[4]

Death

On the morning of January 14, 2005, at 9am, his chauffeur found him dead in his mansion in Grünwald, a suburb south of Munich. According to first reports of the public prosecutors, Moshammer had been strangled with a black telephone cable. The cable was found near the dead body. Daisy was found unharmed in the living room of his mansion.

The Munich police gave a press conference at noon on Sunday January 16, reporting that a 25-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker Herisch Ali Abdullah, who had been tracked down through a DNA database, had admitted murdering Moshammer. It has been alleged that Moshammer had refused to pay €2000 to the man, who was in financial difficulties, in return for sexual favors. Abdullah was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.[5]

His legacy

Moshammer was one of Germany's most successful fashion designers after Karl Lagerfeld, Jil Sander and Wolfgang Joop. Furthermore, he committed his wealth to helping homeless people. He had recently begun to build a house for the homeless in Munich.

Daisy

Daisy, born as Irina de Pittacus, (20 September 1993 – 24 October 2006) was the dog of Moshammer. In an interview with the magazine Stern, Moshammer said that he had owned four dogs with this name.

The Yorkshire terrier Irina de Pittacus was born a puppy in Jockgrim to the male Drakula in the care of breeder Christel Nicklis. At the age of four months, Moshammer purchased the animal and gave it the name "Daisy". In the arm of the designer, always with a ribbon on her head, Daisy became a trademark of the extravagant designer and was often seen in the German media.

Moshammer devoted a book and a website to Daisy. She was also the namesake for a line of grooming products for dogs launched by Moshammer. In addition the designer developed a collection of dog clothing. In 2005, she had a short guest appearance on the RTL series Unter Uns.

On the night of 13 to 14 of January 2005, Daisy was probably the single "eyewitness" to Moshammer's murder. Subsequently, there were rumors that Moshammer had put in his will that Daisy should have lifelong living privileges in his villa in Munich. She was to be cared for there by Moshammer's chauffeur, Andreas Kaplan. Even before the opening of the will, the breeder Nicklis had offered to take the dog. In the long run, the dog was taken by Kaplan, who had cared for the animal before and was generously considered in the will.

Daisy died at the age of thirteen in Munich. She was cremated hours later in a Munich crematorium. The urn with the ashes Kaplan wants to keep in his residence.[6]

Books (in German)

References

  1. ↑ "German design guru 'was murdered'". BBC News. 14 January 2005.
  2. ↑ "Müchner Zwietracht homepage". Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  3. ↑ "German National Final 2001". Retrieved 2013-02-12.
  4. ↑ "Dog gets German designer's house". BBC. 2005-01-21. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
  5. ↑ BBC News, 21 November 2005, Life for German designer's killer. Accessed 2012-08-17.
  6. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung from 25 Oct. 2006 http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,imml3/muenchen/artikel/690/89601/
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