After the death of their child, the Hradschek couple consoled themselves with gambling and shopping orgies. After the creditor increases the pressure on them, Ursel and Abel decide to kill him.
Unterm Birnbaum is a novella written in 1885 by Theodor Fontane. It is a crime story in which the reader knows from the outset who commits a murder and why. While the details of the murder event itself remain mysterious, the narrative focuses on what others think happened, how a small town's community opinion vacillates over time, and how the community's opinions affect the perpetrators. The reader cannot easily predict whether the murderers will ever be caught.