Gustav “Bubi” Scholz, one of Germany’s greatest boxers, passed away 25 years ago today. But at the time of his death, Scholz was no longer an idol. Alcohol, his aggression and a shot through a door were to blame.
On July 22, 1984, his fate was finally reversed. Bubi Scholz, the brilliant European middleweight champion of old, had become a complete loser. A “murderer”, as it was popularly known. Apparently in a drunken stupor, he had shot his wife Helga in the villa they shared in Berlin’s posh Grunewald district – through the closed door of the guest toilet. According to the court, Helga Scholz had locked herself in there at around 10 p.m. and Scholz had shot at the closed door from a distance of five centimeters. The murder weapon: a small-caliber rifle. The bullet hit the 49-year-old in the right ear and penetrated her head. Whether Scholz was really heavily intoxicated at the time of the fatal crime or only hours later when the police found him disoriented at the crime scene – it is still not known.
Mysterious deed
What had happened before the rifle shot and how it came about was never fully explained. Scholz claimed that the bullet had accidentally come loose while he was cleaning the rifle. Nobody actually believed him, not to this day. A few days later, in custody, he tried to slit his wrists – with the blade of his razor. According to Der Spiegel, Scholz had previously fantasized wildly, saying to the guards: “Helga is alive. She’s not dead. I want to see her!” In January 1985, this broken man had to stand trial. A whole host of reporters attended the Scholz trial in Berlin. The whole of Germany watched spellbound in the then still divided city. How could such a man fall so low …?
Text by Rolf Heßbrügge
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