In the Amazon series “Luden”, Klaus Barkowsky (Aaron Hilmer) rides a gray horse to the party with his girls: he wanted to celebrate like the celebrities around artist Andy Warhol in the legendary Studio 54 in New York.
“First class jumbo jet” was the life motto of the pimp, who started out in a bar on the Reeperbahn and rose to become the dreaded pimp in the 1980s. The Hamburg neighborhood size, also known as “The Beautiful Klaus”, died on Tuesday in Hamburg at the age of 69, according to dpa information. Several media had previously reported. After that he is said to have been seriously ill and took his own life.
Barkowsky was the founder and leader of the “Nutella Gang”, a group of pimps in St. Pauli, particularly along Herbertstrasse and the Reeperbahn. Among other things, he rented establishments in the Eros Center and had up to 15 women hired for him. He also didn’t shy away from taking on competing pimps.
When business was not going so well because of the AIDS crisis, the gang also got involved in drug trafficking. Barkowsky later left the milieu and worked as an artist, but he also repeatedly fell mercilessly.
There are numerous legends surrounding the pimp. He is said to have borne the name “Lamborghini-Klaus” after he was overtaken by a Porsche 911 in his first car, a Corvette, in the early 1970s. He then wanted a car in which he could never be overtaken again.
imprisonment and alcohol problems
In 1989, he received a prison sentence after hosting a knife throw that caught a 21-year-old woman in the back. In a pub, he was accused of cheating by a pimp and shot. He later struggled with alcohol problems and was regularly to be found in Hamburg’s trendy bar “Elbschlosskeller”.
“Luden – Kings of the Reeperbahn”
Hamburg actor Aaron Hilmer, who plays Klaus Barkowsky in the six-part Amazon series “Luden – Könige der Reeperbahn”, describes Klaus as an “incredibly complex character”. “There are people who believe their own lies,” said Hilmer at the start of the series in March of the German Press Agency. The character Klaus is also such a person. “He’s incredibly calculating, but at the same time a sunny boy who always manages to put the problems aside and still carry on with confidence,” said the 23-year-old. In preparation, he used a few photos by Klaus Barkowsky, which are very expressive. “That was enough for me.”
Disclaimer: Do you have suicidal thoughts or have you noticed them in a relative/acquaintance? Help is available from the telephone counseling service: anonymous advice is available around the clock on the free numbers 0800 / 111 0 111 and 0800 / 111 0 222. Internet counseling is also possible at http://www.telefonseelsorge.de.
