Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
79 – The Christmas Episode
51 Plays3 months ago
On this week’s show, Jeff shares the heartbreaking and relentless story of Andre and Kalinka Bamberski. Kalinka was just 14 years old when she died under suspicious circumstances. What followed was not closure, but a 40-year fight for justice, as her father Andre refused to let her story be forgotten.
This episode is a powerful reminder of persistence, parental love, and the long road toward accountability.
⚠️Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault.
Happy Holidays,
Jeff and Sam 🎄
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at jeffandsamshow@gmail.com.
Sources
- My Daughter’s Killer (Netflix Documentary)
- My Daughter’s Killer — Rogan Productions
https://roganproductions.co.uk/project/my-daughters-killer/ - Thirty-year search for justice — The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/24/thirty-year-search-justice - The Kalinka Affair — Atavist Magazine
https://magazine.atavist.com/2012/the-kalinka-affair - Kalinka Bamberski Case — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinka_Bamberski_case - Into the Shadows: For You, Kalinka — Simon Whistler (YouTube)
https://youtu.be/vS6jobnVEHI?si=-mMjuxy2kOytUULx
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Goals
00:00:00
Speaker
hey sam hey jeff
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome to the Jeff and Sam show. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam. And we're here to podcast for you. We're going to give you a podcast. or What's it was your dad say? Your vlog? We're going to give you a vlog. Without the V. Without the V or the blog. Or the log, yeah.
00:00:43
Speaker
We're here to talk to you, to entertain you, to make you smile, to make you laugh.
Social Media and Listener Engagement
00:00:48
Speaker
um apparently today you're gonna try and make me cry no don't know i'm not gonna try i might i don't know we'll see we shall see where can we uh where can we be found instagram the jeff and sam show all the stuff is in our show notes right it's always there along with all the sources that we do that we use for all of our stories and the most important thing let's have a conversation Okay, let's have a conversation about what it means when you hit the like, subscribe, and then you rate and review us. True, true, true, true, true. What does that mean, Sam?
00:01:23
Speaker
It changes the algorithm, and it does something that neither of us knows, um but somehow that makes us show up on other people's thingamabobbers, and then next thing you know, um people are listening to us who have never had the pleasure or honor of meeting us.
00:01:43
Speaker
conversation had true but share with all of your friends and family you can find us on spotify apple i heart radio and amazon music um listen to us rate us review us anywhere you get look you will find us we're there we're always there lurking in the shadows there we are you're more like just You have your own personal sunshine.
Contrasting Personalities and Trivia Night Fun
00:02:10
Speaker
I lurk in the shadows. You walk in and it's like ah the brightest spotlight with glitter like just shimmering.
00:02:19
Speaker
dan dan Dan was at work one day when I walked in. He was already there. He was working like in the daytime for whatever reason. i hate it when he does that. He was like, you walk in just so woo.
00:02:31
Speaker
but What was that sound? I can't do it on demand like that, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to brush her. Anyway, he was like, you just walk in and it's a lot. Something like that he said. I can't remember exactly what he said. Dan is like my spirit animal. I was like, an entire I can't control this Dan. and are very similar. It is what it is.
00:02:51
Speaker
ah Speaking of Dan. Speaking of Dan, who do we have to talk about today? know what? Let's jump to a subject real quick, okay? Okay, ask me a question. The subject of who Jack and r Quinn. And Quinn. Jack and Quinn. We finally got to meet Jack and Quinn. Oh my God.
00:03:10
Speaker
Love you guys. Honestly, you're fantastic. And we had such a great time with you the other night. We did, and we had a we had a trivia thing where 12-year-old Jack was on our team, me, you, Chris, and Jack, so we named it Team Jack. Chris, duh. Fittingly, it had to be Team Jack, and we were like, yeah, has to be, right?
00:03:32
Speaker
And um right off the bat, as he comes over there and sits beside us- Just confidently, too. like No hesitation. All that confidence. I'm on that team. Please. Hell yeah. I am this team.
00:03:44
Speaker
He comes over there, he sits down beside me, and behind us is the all the TVs at the bar,
Trivia Night Highlights and Celebrations
00:03:50
Speaker
right? So he is looking behind me at the TVs. So I glance to see what 12-year-old Jack is looking at on the TV, and I'm like, oh, so you like basketball?
00:04:03
Speaker
So just like off the cuff, Jack said, that's volleyball. He really did. Flat face. Flat face. No emotion at all.
00:04:14
Speaker
Me and you and Kristen, I think we were laughing so hard. You said, go sports! Well, because it's it is just, that is the most Jeff thing. Like, sweet of you, sweet just you trying to...
00:04:28
Speaker
like form a connection and build this relationship with this kid who, um, as you know, because we adopted ourselves into their family, now our brother, obviously. Um, and for him to just totally Dan you, he did. hey dan he did You got Dan by son me and he really is a little mini Dan, but do you know who else got Dan and,
00:04:49
Speaker
Everyone else there. Dan. Dan did danned. But do you know why Dan got danned? Which time? Because of Jack. Because Jack was on our team. Yeah. and there was a question about, um it's something like in 20 meters,
00:05:05
Speaker
How fast did Usain Bolt run? It's a record speed for a runner in a marathon in a 20 meter mark stretch of time. How fast did Usain Bolt run?
00:05:19
Speaker
Now, people were like, 10 miles per hour? i i have no reference. So I was like, let's go with 60. I don't know. you That seems fast. Jack. yeah Jack. Our boy Jack was like, I'm going to go with 27. feel like it's 8. And boom, 27.8.
00:05:38
Speaker
i feel like it's eight and boom twenty seven point eight Which, by the way, is apparently slower than a house cat, which is terrifying. Also, you can be stopped for going that fast in the school zone. You can. So, Jack, boy, we beat your dad.
00:05:55
Speaker
We did. Okay. It was just glorious. We will never let him live that down, Jack. Never let him live that down. So we'll do it from our side, but Jack, you and Quinn both have to do it from your side, okay? Just remind him constantly and continuously. But I also know Jack has a birthday coming up soon. I don't think we're going to say on this show, but it's coming up soon. We'll say it on the next one. We we see you, Jack.
00:06:17
Speaker
We see you, Jack. right. I think that's... What else? Why did you just throw your pen? He just threw his pen. it was a very... i was excited about Jack's birthday. I don't know. okay I don't know why I do what I do.
00:06:29
Speaker
we can't help it. can't. Okay. What are we drinking? Okay. We are drinking your homemade concoction, which is lovely, by the way, which is turmeric, ginger, lemon, and hot honey tea.
00:06:46
Speaker
Does it count as tea? Is this tea? I don't know. it's delicious. I put a little pepper in it so that that would kind of activate the turmeric. They said yes. Yes. put the pepper in it. Wait, were we having that conversation? i don't know.
00:07:00
Speaker
We've had so many. I don't know. No. Oh, I was just having this conversation, right? Okay. So turmeric, right? um it and It is activated in the body by black pepper, but um few people know that. So Nick's parents were visiting
Health Tips and Festive Conversations
00:07:17
Speaker
and I was talking to his mom who, I don't know if i've said this before, but just the most magnificent and magical woman. She's lovely.
00:07:25
Speaker
And she was mentioning that to me, how she's been taking this like turmeric supplement for so long and It was for her arthritis and stuff. And she was like, I don't know. I don't really think I noticed a difference. And then she said, and then after a little while, I just started craving black pepper on everything.
00:07:44
Speaker
i needed it on everything. And it was because she was taking so much of the turmeric that it the body was telling her what it needed in order to actually absorb and process it. How fucking a wild is that? That's pretty cool Bonkers. The body knows. Yeah.
00:08:00
Speaker
Oh, we forgot to mention this at the top of the show. It's Christmas. It's December 25th when this show drops. It is. It's Christmas. And Sam walked in.
00:08:13
Speaker
And this is all of you people. I'm just going to, I just have to. And all of those people that. I think probably just like a just the one second, yeah like a little one second because copyright.
00:08:26
Speaker
You know or you don't? Yes. Well, if we reference it, I mean, cite it. Oh, I thought you were going to play it on the phone into the microphone. Well, we're going to play just a bit, but we've played songs before on here. I know, but I think that might be like a copyright thing.
00:08:44
Speaker
Okay. I don't think we need to get in trouble. Okay. But just one second. Do one second. No, I don't want to now because what if I get in trouble? and i don't want to do that. we get We go down together. Okay? We do this together.
00:08:56
Speaker
We're in it to win it. Together. go down together. Together. um So it is Christmas. Merry Christmas, everybody. Happy Christmas, Jeff. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you. Happy Christmas. Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad.
00:09:10
Speaker
It's Norwegian. It's also Swedish. Say it one more time. oh How is it in Italian?
00:09:23
Speaker
i don't know, but what is it in Italian? Do we know Italian? I'm working on it. I'm taking my lessons. It's great. I can order in a restaurant. can you Until they speak back to you. and then you're like...
00:09:39
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know what you're saying. Leave me alone. This wasn't in my lessons. This is an interrogation. Stop. Did it just get in here? You see those lights?
00:09:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So Merry Christmas, everybody. um Yeah. That's it. That's all we got to say about that. That's it. Cheers, queers. Oh, somebody said we forgot to say it. ah You know you are. proved them wrong.
00:10:05
Speaker
Okay. I'm drinking out of my um absolutely fabulous mug that Lena bought me.
Aesthetic Admiration and Tragic Story Introduction
00:10:11
Speaker
um drink isn't Isn't this the Norwegian one? But, you know, I'm looking at it more, like and it looks very, I love it. It's like witchy, pagan. like um There are, on either side, there are two multi-point bucks standing very proudly.
00:10:31
Speaker
um And then some sort of bird, which I doubt it's a crow, but I'm going to say it is because I like them. And a whole bunch of tree branches, but they're in such a shape or design that now that I'm looking at it more, it really does look very pagan. And I love it. Because you know I love that shit. I do. I do. I do.
00:10:54
Speaker
Okay. We are not flipping a coin today because for the next couple of weeks we're doing one story apiece because we're both extremely busy. Life is coming at us hard and fast. soe Did you know that we're going to be in Egypt in a month and I haven't packed?
00:11:11
Speaker
It's a month away. sh It's a month of away. we We're good. We're good. and one month In one month from the time that we we're recording this now, not the 25th,
00:11:23
Speaker
We will you and I will be in Cairo waking up in Cairo. Isn't that crazy? Okay, stop talking about it. I'm freaking out. Cairo. I'm gonna go ahead and pack tomorrow. Cairo. I'm packing tomorrow.
00:11:35
Speaker
No, you're not. Why not? No, you won't. Why? I know you. i know you so well. Actually, tomorrow I have so much to do. What did I tell you? i just told you guys. And then thank you.
00:11:47
Speaker
yeah Okay, tell me your story. Are you ready for a
Kalinka's Suspicious Death and Andre's Quest for Justice
00:11:50
Speaker
story? That have told me is potentially going to make me cry? I don't know. Now that you're saying it, I probably won't. Okay. Okay. So I sources from...
00:12:00
Speaker
my sources from ah The Guardian, magazine Atavast, Wikipedia, and Simon Whistler on YouTube.
00:12:12
Speaker
Okay. Also, there's a documentary called My Daughter's Killer on Netflix, which is so beautifully made. It is in French, though.
00:12:24
Speaker
and But it's beautifully made. You ready? Mm-hmm.
00:12:31
Speaker
Yoo-hoo. Just popping in really quickly, because after we finished the show, I realized that I did not provide a trigger warning for you. Um, this, the story that I'm going to tell you is incredible. It's powerful.
00:12:47
Speaker
And it's the story of. a man who fought for justice for his daughter for 30 years. It's... I mean, he's an amazing human being.
00:12:59
Speaker
This is definitely a story worth telling. i think that you will appreciate the story. But there is a brief mention or mentions of Child S.A. So I wanted to say that before the story started.
00:13:13
Speaker
um But I hope you... enjoy the story um as much as I thought it was worth telling. So thank you very much and I'm out.
00:13:27
Speaker
Bye-bye.
00:13:31
Speaker
Okay, in 1982, Andre Bambersky's teenage daughter died inir or suspicious circumstances. Andre spent three decades campaigning for a conviction and justice for his daughter.
00:13:45
Speaker
Then, finally, Andre was driven to take the law into his own hands. Do it, dude. And that's what I'm going to tell you about. So on the morning of june July 10, 1982, we're in Lindau, Germany. A nurse responds to an emergency call. A teenage girl was found non-responsive.
00:14:04
Speaker
The stepfather was a respected local doctor in Lindau, and the teenage girl was healthy. She had just been windsurfing the day before on the lake. When the nurse took a look at the teenager named Kalinka, she realized that rigor mortis had already set in.
00:14:21
Speaker
So any attempt to revive her would be fruitless. The nurse noticed a needle mark in Kalinka's arm, so she asked the doctor what he had given her. He told the nurse that he had given Kalinka a cobalt iron injection.
00:14:36
Speaker
Kalinka was pronounced dead at the age 14.
00:14:41
Speaker
Okay, we're going to get into the cobalt iron thing, right? We're going to get into it. Over in the French city of Toulouse, André, the father of Kalinka, received a phone call from his ex, Danielle. They didn't get along, so he knew this wasn't a good call. Like, any call from her is probably just not good, right? Yeah.
00:15:01
Speaker
And it wasn't. He heard the horrific news. Their teenage daughter had died. Andre met Danielle years earlier when they lived in Casablanca. Both were standing at a crepe stand.
00:15:14
Speaker
It's the most French thing ever. Soon they were married. Crepe? Like crepes? Did I say it wrong? No, I don't know. I've never heard it said. You probably said it right because you're cultured. i am not. Y'all know what we mean.
00:15:27
Speaker
The French thing. Crepes, like thin little pancakes. Yes. Kelsey will love that. She and I hunted all over this. See, that sounds good. I don't know. It's probably way wrong. like that. Clap.
00:15:38
Speaker
Clap. Clap. Clap o Okay, so and they met years earlier in Casablanca. Soon after they met, they were married. They had two children, the oldest he named after his Polish roots and after a flower. Her name was Kalinka.
00:15:55
Speaker
The marriage, the family was happy in Casablanca, but Andrzej started noticing strange things about their neighbor. His wife had died of a brain hemorrhage, and he was left with two kids.
00:16:08
Speaker
The doctor was coming around to their house. The doctor was the neighbor, was coming around to their house a lot. And Danielle, his wife, seemed like she was trying to learn German because the doctor was German.
00:16:20
Speaker
Andre asked his wife straight up, are you having an affair with him? And she did not deny it. She immediately told him that she was. oh i mean, ick, but yeah I like the direct... Yeah, I mean, props, right? But also just don't have an affair. Yeah, number one. Andre took his family, including his wife, to a lovely little town in the south of France called Toulouse, where they were happy for a while.
00:16:46
Speaker
But Danielle said that she had found a job in real estate and was going to require her to travel a lot. Lion sack of shit. Andre thought, yeah, that's good. Until Andre became suspicious.
00:16:59
Speaker
One day, Danielle had a trip to Nice, she said. So when she left the house, Andre followed her. And he followed her right to an apartment complex where the German doctor lived.
00:17:11
Speaker
Dr. Kronbach is the name of that German doctor. Dr. Kronbach had followed them to France to keep seeing Danielle. Ew! Yeah, that's good. Wow.
00:17:21
Speaker
You are going to fucking hate Dr. Kronbach. already do. What a shit bag. Andre was pissed, so he filed for divorce. Now he was a single parent of their two children because the court had awarded him custody.
00:17:35
Speaker
But after about five years, he got the itch to move back to Casablanca. The cost of living was better, and he loved that place. like He was genuinely happy in Casablanca. But when his ex-wife Danielle heard about this, she took him back to court, and she was awarded full custody.
00:17:52
Speaker
Why? Just because he was... Never mind, don't care. Yeah. You're going to kind of hate Danielle too? i mean, I already do. Cheaters suck. This new blended family consisted of Danielle, her two kids, Dr. Kronbach, and his two kids. They lived in Lindau, Germany.
00:18:09
Speaker
From the beginning, the kids wanted to be with their dad. Kalinka's parents agreed that Andre could regain custody of the kids at the beginning of the next school year. But this is when 14-year-old Kalinka sadly died that morning, July 10, 1982.
00:18:25
Speaker
She was found dead in her bedroom with that injection mark in her arm. Kalinka's mom, Danielle, was sure that this was accidental. Maybe it was a heat stroke because that day before she had been out in the sun, had been like 90, 95 degrees. it was a hot summer.
00:18:42
Speaker
But Kalinka was very active. She also had lived in Morocco, the south of France, where it was a lot hotter there. Andre So this wasn't like new It wasn't something that out of character. She was a healthy 14-year-old. I do love a helteen. I love a helteen too. Most teens are helteens.
00:18:59
Speaker
or me mep Andre was not buying the heat stroke thing though. And Andre traveled to Germany to be with his family because of the death of his daughter. a local funeral home was in possession of Kalinka's body, but they would not release it until the autopsy had been done.
00:19:15
Speaker
Now they had to decide where Kalinka would be buried. Andre kept having this nagging feeling, though, like something just was not right, like the math was not mathing.
00:19:27
Speaker
He asked Kalinka's brother Nicholas if Kalinka was acting strange the night before her death. Nicholas said no, like she seemed normal. He said all the siblings ate dinner while the parents went out and walked the dogs.
00:19:38
Speaker
But then there were these rumors in town, rumors that Kalinka hadn't died from a sunstroke, but that she had died of these iron injections that her stepfather was giving her to make her appear like she had a suntan.
00:19:50
Speaker
And this was crazy to Andre. Andre, ain't having none of this shit. Good. Andre is iron in from the beginning. But Andre had to go back to France to go back to work.
00:20:02
Speaker
So he asked for a copy of the autopsy report once it came back. Kalinka was laid to rest in Toulouse, France, where she had spent most of her life, and a couple of weeks went by with no autopsy report. He called his ex-wife and asked her about it, and she brushed him off, and she said, quote, our daughter is dead, and knowing why it happened wouldn't change that. Oh, I'm gonna fucking kill this bitch. Andre blew the fuck up on Danielle. Andre was pissed.
00:20:27
Speaker
He said, Kalinka died with you. Your husband is a doctor. Now, three months later, neither are neither of you are interested in the cause of death. So Andre calls the German authorities himself. And after three months of waiting, he finally received the autopsy report.
00:20:45
Speaker
It was in German, so he had to hire somebody to translate it to French. This would change his life forever. Okay. He learned from the report that Dr. Homan, apparently a forensic physician in a nearby town, and carried out the procedure, joined by the police superintendent of Lindau, the local prosecutor, and in the most unusual breach of protocol, Kronbach. dr chromembach The autopsy stated that Kalinka had aspirated stomach contents in the night. So essentially, they she was unconscious. She vomited and she choked on her own vomit.
00:21:22
Speaker
She aspirated. And it indicated that she had never woken up that morning, which we already know because she had rigor mortis. That doesn't just happen immediately. That takes some time.
00:21:33
Speaker
And that's what all that's what the nurse said that was the first responder. Okay. The autopsy didn't determine why she was unconscious, but the people doing the autopsy took Dr. Kronbach's word that it wasn't because of his cobalt iron injection that caused Kalinka to become and incapacitated.
00:21:52
Speaker
And there was this part. Kalinka's right vulva had a tear in it as well as blood around her genitals. There was also a whitish substance in her vagina, and this was not found to be out of the ordinary.
00:22:07
Speaker
Like, how the fuck is that not found you to be out of the ordinary, right? Yeah. How was sexual assault not considered, not even looked at, not even mentioned, right?
00:22:18
Speaker
Kalinka's cause of death was natural causes. Oh my God. Case closed.
Uncovering Evidence and Legal Battles
00:22:24
Speaker
After reading the report, now three months old, Bambersky, Andre, so he was consumed with questions.
00:22:31
Speaker
The first was, what the fuck was Kronbach doing at the autopsy of his stepdaughter? Like, that's a breach of every protocol you can ever think of. Like, I don't care if you're the fucking president of the United States. You don't get to be a part of that. well Also, the whole time I'm doing this, I'm like, he had to know somebody high up.
00:22:48
Speaker
Yeah, like he Like, definitely did know people He like well-known, respected doctor. And he pulled strings. Yep. Andre knew that something was wrong. than Things seemed suspicious. Perhaps Kalinka had been drugged and left to die in her own vomit.
00:23:04
Speaker
And somebody had gotten away with it. Andre was determined to get justice for his daughter, but that justice would take 30 years and most of his life savings, but there was nothing more important to him. That's a good dad. First, he contacted the Lindau prosecutor. Dr. Kronbach had admitted to giving Kalinka injections of cobalt iron, but no toxic toxicology tests were done.
00:23:28
Speaker
Also, Kronbach admitted to injecting her with dopamine, cortisone, and a narcotic, all to resuscitate her. Want to talk about that?
00:23:39
Speaker
He gave her dopamine, cortisone, and a narcotic to resuscitate her. So he gave her something that is a known type of sedative. To resuscitate her. To bring her back to life. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah.
00:23:58
Speaker
And dopamine. Okay, so Andre knew that the medical people in Lindau still had samples of Kalinka's tissue. So he asked that they run a talk screen to see what was there.
00:24:09
Speaker
The German prosecutor politely declined, and he refused to open the case. He asked his wife, Danielle, to help him by being united in this. That's what I have to say about that. That's coming up.
00:24:22
Speaker
And Danielle was pissed. She thought Andre was still upset about the affair that he was seeking revenge on Dr. Kronbach somehow. god Danielle believed her ex-husband was crazy and bitter and was just using Kalinka's death as some sort of sick kind of thing to use.
00:24:38
Speaker
It was then that Andre realized that he would have to do this all alone. He then hired a German lawyer to get the authorities to take a second look. And in November of 1982, Lindau, the city, agreed to a forensic review of the autopsy.
00:24:53
Speaker
They hired three doctors from the Munich Institute, and those doctors analyzed skin from the injection shot site on Kalinka's arm. The test came back negative for poison, but the doctors had never heard of cobalt iron being used to tan someone.
00:25:09
Speaker
The only time this medication was used was to treat iron deficiency anemia. Kalinka did not have that iron deficiency anemia, though. But her mom said that Kronbach had unofficially diagnosed them with that so that he could give them injections.
00:25:27
Speaker
Now, teenage girls and women can often have a low iron level. This is not uncommon. So that didn't ring any alarm bells initially. Usually a person is prescribed a pill, though, or they're told to eat foods rich in iron.
00:25:41
Speaker
The Munich doctors also found it odd that Dr. Kronbach had tried to resuscitate Kalinka at all. After all, the nurse said rigor mortis had already set in. And if he was trying to resuscitate her with dopamine, narcotics, and cortisol, those are the exact wrong drugs to do that with.
00:25:59
Speaker
The Munich team agreed that this was very suspicious, but the report was inconclusive. This was enough for the Lindau police to agree to interview Dr. Kronbach's family. And everyone agreed that Kalinka had been perfectly healthy until the very moment of her death.
00:26:15
Speaker
But now the police wanted to interview Dr. Kronbach, but he insisted he was far too busy to be bothered with that because he had too many patients. I like your almost accent there. Thank you.
00:26:26
Speaker
They gave him a questions in writing and allowed him to answer when he could. good. Most of the stuff aligned with Kronbach's initial statement, but there was a little bit of a difference.
00:26:36
Speaker
He said he had given Kalinka iron injections because she suffered from anemia, not because she wanted a tan. He also said that he had given her a sedative to help her sleep because she had insomnia.
00:26:49
Speaker
So it sounded like a backtrack, like now he's trying to cover his tracks a little He's making excuses for what he did. So he's fabricating the story around that. Andre now believed that Dr. Kronbach hadn't given his daughter iron injections, but he had given her a sedative.
00:27:07
Speaker
And Andre believed that he did this because this would keep her from fighting back as Dr. Kronbach sexually assaulted her. To Kalinka's dad, this was a sexual assault and a murder.
00:27:20
Speaker
But the German authorities closed the case again, citing that there wasn't enough evidence there. So Kronbach was going to get away with this. Andre thought if only the town and the world knew about the monster living in their midst.
00:27:36
Speaker
So he had an idea. He traveled from France back to Lindau with a stack of leaflets that he had made. It was the last day of their Oktoberfest. So the streets were packed. So Andre was like, you get a leaflet. You get a leaflet. You get a leaflet. He was passing those the sons of bitches out. Everybody's going to know.
00:27:57
Speaker
Everybody's going to know. The leaflet read, quote, You should know that a criminal lives in Lindau. It's Dr. Kronbach who practices at twenty three a Braganza Street.
00:28:09
Speaker
On the evening of Friday, July 9, 1982, he killed my splendid daughter Kalinka in his own home. In about two hours, the police show up, and they arrest Andre for disturbing the peace and for defaming Dr. Kronbach's character.
00:28:23
Speaker
The police let Andre go, and Dr. Kronbach sued him for defamation, and the court ordered Andre to pay Kronbach 500,000 German marks. however off Andre traveled back to France. So basically, this was like a fuck you to the German authorities. Andre was able to return to Germany for five years, but he continued to write letters to German authorities.
00:28:48
Speaker
Most were ignored. Some were read. And it was decided that further investigation was necessary. Finally, but that's all he wants. That's all the man is asking for. Right.
00:28:59
Speaker
He they did it. They did it. They investigated it and then they closed it again. So now they're saying, sure, we'll do it again. Right. Something. It's something, though. It's a piece of hope, right? Yeah. One of the unsettling details from the autopsy was the white substance inside of Kalinka, which was never tested.
Missing Evidence and International Legal Challenges
00:29:18
Speaker
And the vaginal trauma. Mm-hmm. If it was tested and came back belonging to Dr. Kronbach, then there was his motive for murder. The autopsy stated that any organs that had been removed during the examination had been returned. Yeah.
00:29:33
Speaker
The officials in order to test the fluid, they would need to exhume Kalinka's body. Her father immediately signed the paperwork, and in 1985, they exhumed her body.
00:29:45
Speaker
However, the organs that had been removed during the autopsy had not been returned. Kalinka's genitals and the most important evidence in the case had disappeared.
00:29:59
Speaker
To this day, nobody knows what happened to them. I bet you people do know. i bet you Dr. Kronbach knows what happened to him. Bet you he's responsible for it. even fucking knows yep There was no new evidence.
00:30:12
Speaker
The case against Dr. Kronbach hit a wall and Germany closed the case again. Andre was at a loss, but he remembered somebody saying that since Kalinka was also or was a French citizen, he might be able to pursue charges in France.
00:30:28
Speaker
He brought the case to a French court in 1988, so now French experts looked at the evidence and compared what they had... compared to what the German authorities had and their autopsy report.
00:30:40
Speaker
Based on all the evidence, the French team decided that Kolinka had died of an injection that may or may not have been cobalt iron that resulted in aspirated stomach contents that ultimately caused her death.
00:30:53
Speaker
And considering Kronbach's strange attempts to revive her and his changing stories, he looked fucking guilty. They referred the case to the Assis court in Paris, who...
00:31:06
Speaker
did what the German government had not done. They charged Cronbach with a crime. Yeah. Right. But with Kalinka's genitals missing, the French court decided not to try Dr. Kronbach for sexually assaulting Kalinka because his lawyers were insisting that the damage to her genitals was caused by the funeral home after the death, during the autopsy.
00:31:30
Speaker
Dr. Kronbach was charged with inflicting inflicting bodily harm which caused unintentional death, also known as manslaughter. The German government agreed to hand over the case files but refused to allow French investigators into the country.
00:31:46
Speaker
The Assis Court of Paris requested that the defendant come to France and argue his case. Dr. Kronbach declined, obviously. I'm far too busy. But he sent a lawyer to agree to argue for him.
00:32:00
Speaker
And finally, in 1995, there was a verdict. Dr. Kronbach was found guilty in absentia and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the max for manslaughter.
00:32:13
Speaker
Andre was right. Now the killer would face justice for his daughter. But Germany wanted no part of that. When France asked to extradite Kronbach, Germany refused.
00:32:25
Speaker
What the fuck? Germany claimed that because this case had, quote, essentially been tried, this was double jeopardy. No! He had never been charged. But the case eventually made its way to the European Court of Human Rights, which said, nope, this is not double jeopardy. Yeah, dumbasses.
00:32:44
Speaker
But they also said trying Kronbach in absentia did not allow Kronbach to properly end like properly defend himself. Yeah. And if France wanted to put the man in prison, they'd have to try him with him in France.
00:32:57
Speaker
And this was like 97,
Allegations Against Kronbach and Legal Reforms
00:32:59
Speaker
right? Danielle had caught Dr. Kronbach cheating on her. Oh, shocking. She filed for divorce. Bitch. All the kids were growing up now and they got a say in what was going on. People were starting to speak up more and more about sexual assault and,
00:33:15
Speaker
Do I pause it? No. People were starting to speak up more and more about sexual assault. They had stories of their own about Dr. Kronbach. ah And on February 11th, 1997, a 16-year-old girl named Laura came in for an endoscopy to Dr. Kronbach's office. She was given anesthesia to sleep.
00:33:35
Speaker
When the procedure was over, Laura had a hard time waking up. Laura said that when she did wake up, Dr. Kronbach returned to her room and began to kiss her. She tried to push him away, but the drugs made her feel really weak.
00:33:49
Speaker
Dr. Kronbach locked the door and then sexually assaulted her. When he was done, he wiped her off and then he wiped himself off. He dressed her and he drove home.
00:34:01
Speaker
When she got home, she immediately told her parents. They immediately called the police. And he was immediately arrested and charged with sexual abuse of someone who was unable to resist.
00:34:14
Speaker
But of course, Kronbach said that he was innocent and that Laura was lying. But that genie was out of the bottle already. Other women came forward and all of these stories started to form a pattern.
00:34:26
Speaker
One woman spoke out and said that when she met Dr. Kronbach, he diagnosed her with iron deficiency and started treating her with cobalt iron injections. She had a rough home life, so Dr. Kronbach's sort of started acting like a father figure, grooming, such a diabolical man. He ended up taking her to France for the night, just over the border to France for the night.
00:34:48
Speaker
It was her her sister and surprised there was only one bed in the hotel room. It was a double bed. Then he told them that they were late for their iron injections, so he gave them injections and they immediately went to sleep.
00:35:02
Speaker
At one point, one of the sisters woke up to find that he was sexually assaulting her. She couldn't move or she couldn't speak. She even started to disassociate from the situation.
00:35:14
Speaker
They later told their mom, but the mom didn't believe them. Because was a bad home life. That, and he was a doctor. Yeah. Of course he's not going to do that. He's a doctor. Yeah. Another woman met Dr. Kronbach in 1993.
00:35:28
Speaker
She was in her 20s and he diagnosed her with what? Anemia. Iron deficiency. So then he also learned about her financial problem financial problems and he suggested that she start working for him and cleaning the office.
00:35:43
Speaker
One day when all of the other docs were at lunch, Kronbach stayed behind and he suggested to her that he give her an iron injection. But what he gave her was definitely not iron because she remembers feeling almost paralyzed.
00:35:56
Speaker
He then laid her back onto the exam table and he sexually assaulted her. This woman didn't go to the police this time because she thought, who would believe the cleaning lady over the doctor?
00:36:09
Speaker
There's such a like power dynamic that this man is using.
00:36:14
Speaker
He's sick. Yeah. But remember, the 16-year-old victim, Laura, she had a sexual assault exam done, and the DNA from her matched perfectly to that of Dr. Kronbach.
00:36:27
Speaker
Oh, but then Dr. Kronbach, when he was confronted with this, he said. it was consensual. that She forced herself on him. He was under the impression that Laura had given consent. That the 16-year-old Laura had given consent the then 61-year-old Dr. ah The punishment that Dr. Kronbach received was a two-year suspended medical license.
00:36:56
Speaker
That motherfucker knows people, right? He has to. This had even more people talking. At a time that the system saw sexual assault as only extramarital and if the threat of violence was used.
00:37:11
Speaker
We've had this discussion before. Yes. And women and men were coming forward saying that this is not working for us. Like, you know, we're getting sexually assaulted. you guys aren't seeing it that way, but that's what it is.
00:37:23
Speaker
It's wrong. It was a movement of people demanding that the fucking law needed to be changed. And it was around this time that a journalist named Barbara Volk uncovered a story about a Lindau doctor who had his license suspended for two years.
00:37:38
Speaker
I love Barbara Volk. In her opinion, this doctor should never be allowed to touch another goddamn person. So she politely requested an interview. Politely. Play that game, Barbara.
00:37:52
Speaker
Play it. I love it. She's badass. This was the only interview that Dr. Kronbach ever gave. And right as the interview started, he said he'd only agreed to do this interview because, quote, Barbara was an attractive blonde woman. i want to throw something.
00:38:09
Speaker
okay ah He doubled down on the claims that Laura, the 16-year-old, had consented. And Barbara said... Under the influence of these sedatives. Honey, listen to this. Barbara said, quote, Did you ever think that it may be because of the drugs?
00:38:25
Speaker
To which Dr. Kronbach replied, quote, Like they say in ancient Rome, those who remain silent seem to agree. What? I bet you, Barbara Valk, wanted to come across that table...
00:38:41
Speaker
And just choke the life of him. Tear into that motherfucker. You said what? I bet, you know? No, one of those just like, go to the bathroom, find some poison, put in his drink, and be like, here, have some tea. And then go meditate.
00:38:55
Speaker
Watch him die while you're drinking your own unpoisoned tea. It was then that Dr. Kronbach's medical license was permanently revoked, and people fucking hated him. And the stories of all the other women established a pattern that fitted...
00:39:11
Speaker
that of Kalinka. I mean, but you also got to wonder how many times he assaulted Kalinka right before the point where she died. You know what I mean? Because he had been giving her these regular injections. Right.
00:39:25
Speaker
Cobalt iron injection. I said with air quotes. And by now Kalinka's dad Andre had quit his job and he had hired a detective.
Pursuing Justice through Unconventional Means
00:39:32
Speaker
The detective was following Kronbach, who was by this time moving all through Germany. And if Dr. Kronbach left Germany at all, there was an Interpol warrant that would kick in and he would be extradited to France. Hell yeah. So they waited.
00:39:48
Speaker
And now it's 2006. Keep in mind that the statute of limitations runs out in 2012. You got six years. one murder? oh sorry. Manslaughter. You got six years. Andre is working on his daughter's murder in France. He's organizing documents. He's organizing files. One of the people interviewed in the documentary said that man has the most...
00:40:10
Speaker
the craziest talent of making something so overly complicated. It's unreal, but he was doing it. He was doing it. You know, I know people like that.
00:40:21
Speaker
right and the librarian ah okay so now we go back to germany and there's a librarian in a different town in germany received a phone call from her doctor's office saying that her doc had recently passed away and that she was going to be signed assigned a new temporary doctor she asked the name of the doctor and where he was from the office told her it was dr kronbach from lindal now the woman opened up her little bitty computer she got on the googler she typed in dr kronbach from lindal And did she get some results? She found articles about Kalinka's death, the sexual assault allegations, and the 16-year-old patient who had accused him of sexual assault. She even read an article about Kronbach's first wife, who had a brain hemorrhage, yeah but her mother believed it was the result of an injection. And the police had named Kronbach the prime suspect, but there was a lack of evidence, so that was dropped. Okay.
00:41:16
Speaker
And the librarian was like, ain't no way this is the same dude at my doctor's office. His license was revoked. She went on into the doctor's office just to see for herself. And lo and behold, it was him. Motherfucker. And she was pissed.
00:41:31
Speaker
And when she got home, she started emailing. She emailed the mayor. She emailed the newspaper. She emailed some board of medical doctors. He's practicing without a license. And he's more than likely a rapist and a murderer.
00:41:44
Speaker
Turns out that Dr. Kronbach had photocopied his license before handing it to the authorities and he had been using these copies to find work So, I mean, that in itself, like the amount of stuff that we have to go through, like to get hired somewhere as nurses, like you have to have your references, your licenses, your all your stuff. Right. And the fact that this dude just took a photocopy then turns in the original and is like, oh, sure. Yeah, I lost my license. Oh, darn. And then these people are hiring him. They're like, yeah, that passes. It's insane, right?
00:42:20
Speaker
It worked. It worked. He was a locum doctor, which means contracted. It's easy to travel. Yeah. um Turns out he had photocopied it. um He went to trial for this working without a license and it was in the news again. So this brought more publicity about him and more women came out with their own stories about him.
00:42:43
Speaker
He was found guilty of working without without a license and sentenced to two years in the slammer, but released after 18 months of good behavior. Meanwhile, Andre the dad the dad is over here slugging away.
00:42:54
Speaker
He found out that the French government wasn't, they were not pushing for extradition because they didn't want tension between France and Germany. Also, he just knew that Kronbach had to have somebody high up in the German government protecting his ass. That's what I think. That's what you think. Yeah.
00:43:10
Speaker
Others think that him getting away with Kalinka's death is a perfect storm of respect for doctors, and everyone presumed that the man was innocent, mixed with incompetent police work. And then when France wanted him extradited, Germany, if they did that, that would mean that France was right, Germany was wrong. So essentially it was like a male ego pride thing between countries.
00:43:33
Speaker
It's pretty big fucking deal. Crazy, right? Germany continued to allow this horrible fucker to run free, but not ah Andre. Andre tracked his ass down to a town called Schiedig close to the Austrian border. Schiedig? Schiedig. Schiedig. Schiedig. I don't know. I'm pronouncing it 10 different ways. because' like I like the Schiedig. Just go with me. and in Okay, so he tracked him down to Schiedig, which is close to Austria, the Austria-German border.
00:44:02
Speaker
And ah it's now 2009. He has three years left to catch the dude and have him tried. So Andre traveled to Germany, to all of the Germany-Austria border towns, hanging flyers everywhere and passing out leaflets, leaflets just in case Dr. Kronbach at some point crossed over that border.
00:44:24
Speaker
Andre was in a town called Bregan's when Andre met a bartender. This is where you're going to sit up and you're going to enjoy yourself. Andre was in a small town called Bregan's where Andre met a bartender, a Ukrainian named man named Anton Khmicki.
00:44:40
Speaker
Anton was a dad himself, and Anton knew of Andre and his fight for justice. Anton said if it had been his daughter that this happened to, it wouldn't have taken 30 years. It would have been tidy, short, and quick. Oh, God.
00:44:57
Speaker
Anton doesn't fuck around. His name's Anton. I feel like with a name like that, you can't fuck around. It would be tidy, short, quick. Very quick. Andre told Anton all of the details about how he just needed Kronbach to cross the border.
00:45:12
Speaker
Now, Anton had spent a little time in prison, and he still had connections with the Russian gang. This story is insane, isn't it? It just takes turn after turn. So now and Anton calls up like those people in the Russian gang... He's like, hey, I need some help. Can we get an amen for Anton? Just a dad doing his thing. Joe, dad to dad, right?
00:45:36
Speaker
Andre thought about it and asked what Anton wanted in return. And Anton simply wanted to do him a favor from one father to another father. There are good people in the world. Yeah, there are.
00:45:47
Speaker
Way to go, Anton. The ex-mobster. We love you. we do. ah So on the evening of October 17, 2009, Anton and his two Russian acquaintances drove to the home in Schittich, Germany.
00:46:01
Speaker
Nobody was home, so they waited until about 9 p.m. when a car pulled into the garage. And once the light came on inside of the house, the three of them headed to the front door. Now the Russians kind of hit off to the side, and Anton politely knocks on the door. So when the older man started opening the door, Anton took a step back to make the man step outside just a little bit.
00:46:24
Speaker
Anton asked if he was Dr. Kronbach, and the man answered, yes, yes I am. I mean, the arrogance though for him to just continue to use the name and like not shy away from it. Listen, I'm loving it for him. i'm You'd be arrogant. If I'm being accused of all of this shit, like you can be damn sure that if someone says, hey, are you Dr. Kronbach? going to be like, no i don't know who it is. But if you're...
00:46:44
Speaker
Right? But if you're Dr. Kronbach, you're so arrogant. I mean, you've gotten away with everything. just please keep being like that for just a little while longer, Dr. Kronbach. Anyway, so antwan said Anton said, is this you He's like, yes.
00:46:58
Speaker
Andre had been very clear to Anton that Kronbach needed to arrive in France alive. He didn't specify unharmed. So the two Russian men roughed him up and then threw his ass in the car.
00:47:11
Speaker
Anton got into the front. The Russians got into the back with Kronbach. Kronbach immediately knew that he was being taken to France. yeah He asked if they were going to hurt him, and nobody responded. He tried to bribe them, and Anton said, dude, this isn't about money.
00:47:25
Speaker
Kronbach asked if they were going to kill him. Anton said, of course not. Then Anton looked in the back seat, like through the rearview mirror, and one of the Russian men had a knife.
00:47:36
Speaker
The Russian man had heard that Kronbach... liked underage girls, and the Russian man wanted to make sure that Kronbach would never do anything like that again. Because you don't fuck with kids. Okay. Okay, tell me what happened. So Anton, being a decent human being, said no, no, no, no. He asked the Russian guy to get out of the car.
00:47:55
Speaker
He paid him, and then off Anton went. So there's still one Russian man in the backseat with Kronbach, right? So they drove 150 miles, crossing the border into Alsace, the Alsace region of France.
00:48:07
Speaker
With Kronbach stretched out on the floor between the seats, the car stopped in the town of Mullhaus. An accomplice called the local police, saying on stayed on the line just long enough to deliver but was bizarre instructions.
00:48:22
Speaker
go to the Rue de Tulleil across the street from the customs office," the anonymous caller said. You'll find a man tied up. A few minutes later, two police cars arrived at the scene.
00:48:35
Speaker
Their red and blue patrol lights illuminating the street. Behind an iron gate in a dingy courtyard between two four-story buildings, Kronbach lay on the ground. His hands and feet were bound and his mouth was gagged.
00:48:47
Speaker
He was roughed up, but very much alive. When the police removed the covering from his mouth, the first thing he said was, Bambersky behind this, meaning Andre. like He knows who did this to him.
00:49:01
Speaker
Police were happy to have a criminal basically dropped off at their doorstep, but kidnapping? I would have tied his ass up, stripped him down, cut off his manhood, obviously, and then like provided enough medical care that he didn't bleed out and die from that. But like he would have lost his manhood. and then And he would have been just delivered just like that. Yep.
00:49:23
Speaker
So police were happy to have a criminal basically, especially this criminal because everybody knew him, yeah dropped off at their doorstep. But kidnapping is still a crime.
Trial and Conviction of Kronbach
00:49:32
Speaker
So they went to speak with Andre. But at first, Andre denied it, said he had no knowledge of it.
00:49:37
Speaker
But when they were checking Andre's belongings, they found 19,000 German marks that he was going to use to reimburse Anton for any money that Anton had spent. I mean, that doesn't prove shit.
00:49:48
Speaker
an Anton was identified as the one who kidnapped Kronbach. The Russian men were never identified. Good. And France was happy to try that son of a bitch for the murder of Kalinka 29 years earlier. 2011, the trial began in Paris.
00:50:06
Speaker
It was sensational. It was a really, like, all over the news. Especially since the doctor had been kidnapped and brought to France. I fucking love that. oh dad This is Andre. Okay. He's the dad doing the work. Yeah.
00:50:24
Speaker
Danielle came into town. Andre's ex. She's the ex of both of them, actually. She's cheating sack of shit. She defended Kronbach. Yeah. were Kronbach tried to say he was unfit for trial because he was roughed up during the kidnapping. french The French doctors were like, no, you're good.
00:50:44
Speaker
The prosecutors wanted to move forward with the sexual assault allegations as well, including the murder. They claimed that Kalinka's vulva hadn't been injured during the exhumation and reexamination of the body. That the injury was indeed caused by sexual assault, but like that was impossible to prove.
00:51:03
Speaker
But also it was documented in the original autopsy, which means that it was present before. yes Yes. It was documented while Kronbach was in the room. They didn't say anything about it, but it was documented that it was damaged. Right. So...
00:51:18
Speaker
But this opened the door for several other victims to come forward and tell their stories of being assaulted by Kronbach. And the court welcomed it. One of the women who testified said that she had started having a having an affair with Kronbach while he was married to Danielle.
00:51:33
Speaker
Danielle is sitting in the audience for this. Fuck you, Danielle. The affair started when she, the person talking, was 16 years old. And according to her, the good old doc would slip sedatives into Danielle's drink so that she would sleep through the night and they would have sex in the living room while Danielle was asleep.
00:51:52
Speaker
don't think that counts as a asleep. I think that counts as sedating. Yeah, absolutely. and But for the first time in 30 years, Danielle had realized the man that she loved, the stepfather to her kids, was indeed that horrible monster that everybody was saying. Danielle, you had so many chances. like i don't I feel zero sorrow for her. yeah like Your husband knew this and you didn't believe it because you're a piece of shit.
00:52:18
Speaker
It was your child. Another thing happened at the trial. Because of the new technology, they could now test samples for substances. They used this technology to test the sample they had taken from Kalinka during the autopsy, and it was positive for benzodiazepines, the class of medications that include meds like Xanax and Klonopin. And Valium. And Valium. These medicines can be deadly if given in large enough doses. What do they do? Knock you out. They knock you out. They knock you the fuck out. So this, it was the benzo that led to the death of Kalinka. The benzo, the aspiration, the death of Kalinka. Yeah.
00:52:56
Speaker
The French court decided that there wasn't enough evidence to convict the doctor of sexual assault, but he did administer the drugs that led to her death. And on October 22, 2011, Dieter Kronbach was charged with voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of Kalinka Bemberski, 29 years earlier.
00:53:19
Speaker
André finally had justice for his daughter. Anton was returned to Austria, tried for the kidnapping of Kronbach, and received a year behind bars. Anton said was visited prison by his own father, who told Anton that he was very proud of him. they're smoking a cigarette behind bars like, worth it. I'm very proud of you.
00:53:39
Speaker
Worth every second. Yeah. Andre Kalinka's father was tried for instigating the kidnapping in 2014 and he pleaded guilty. He was like, yeah, I did it and I'd do it again and I'd do it again.
00:53:52
Speaker
Germany asked him to be extra. France asked him to be extradited to Germany. no sorry. Let me repeat that. Germany asked for him to be extradited back to Germany. France said, fuck fuck all the way off. And he received one year of suspended jail sentence.
00:54:11
Speaker
I mean, come the fuck on. We asked you to extradite this piece of human garbage. And you are like, no, thank you. So France will not be extraditing him. This fantastic human being. Have a lovely day. Thank you very much.
00:54:29
Speaker
Andre said he had zero regrets for anything that he did.
Closure and Reflections on Justice
00:54:32
Speaker
He's a devout Christian and he believes that Kalinka is in heaven watching over him. Andre generally visits the grave several times a month, but the one visit that is planted most firmly in his mind took place just after Kronbach was convicted of her death.
00:54:48
Speaker
Placing flowers on the simple granite headstone at the rustic cemetery behind the church, Andre bent down and spoke a few words to his daughter, who's been dead now for 30 years. He told her, Kalinka, you see, i promised that I would give you justice.
00:55:03
Speaker
Now you can rest in peace. And that is the story of the murder of Kalinka and her father's fight for justice. That's good.
00:55:14
Speaker
That's good. It almost got me. Yeah, me too. Okay. i I just, the the bond formed between Andre and Anton. just love it.
00:55:29
Speaker
And the Russian dudes went on about their business. They went on. Nobody ever saw them. I mean, I still would have castrated him, but... He had it coming.
00:55:40
Speaker
Just saying. He ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times. times. What a story, though. What a story. Way to go, Andre. it's Such a badass for doing that. Yeah. and And fuck you, Danielle. I cannot say it enough. You piece of shit. Right? she And this is what the French lawyers were saying when they met Danielle. Like, she really...
00:56:06
Speaker
could not comprehend that Dr. Kronbach was anything but a good person. ah Yeah. So she's dumb. She's dumb.
00:56:17
Speaker
Didn't show much of her in the documentary, but it did show Andre. She'd probably be a mouth-breathing drooler. Andre was great. He was so great. And then they also interview Anton. Oh, yay!
00:56:31
Speaker
I love that. it would have been my daughter, quick, tidy, short. I love him. That was very well done. Did you like was good. I'm glad you liked it. I loved it. It was good.
00:56:44
Speaker
Okay, can we call that one... wrap it up let's wrap it merry christmas guys merry christmas i don't know why i chose that story for christmas but but it's there's there's redemption there's redemption in it there's a fight for justice and the whole the also the thing that i like about that story is a lot of people assumed that he wanted revenge that was never the case it was for andre it was never the He didn't want to just kill him. He wanted justice. yeah for col It was about Kalinka to him. Yeah.
00:57:18
Speaker
Not about revenge. Yeah. ah Okay, guys. That's good. That's it for today. ah And remember, we're only here for a good time. Not a long time. Merry Christmas. Bye.