Ernst Gennat

Ernst Gennat (1880 to 1939) was a German police official who served as director of the Berlin criminal police across three different political systems during a thirty year career. He organized the Kripo's dedicated homicide division, which under his leadership recorded a case resolution rate of nearly 95 percent in 1931, and he pioneered systematic crime scene preservation methods that shaped later criminal investigation practice. Gennat is widely credited with coining the German term for serial killer, reflecting his direct involvement in some of the era's most difficult murder investigations. His work made him one of the most respected criminal investigators of the German Reich.