A fiftyish native of Walterhausen, in East Germany, Rudloff was a registered nurse, known for his kindly demeanor, who "took real pride in healing the sick." 

Unknown to his acquaintances, however, Rudloff harbored lethal resentment toward licensed physicians more qualified than himself... and against one physician in particular. 

In early 1954, the stuffy chief surgeon at Walterhausen's Municipal Hospital discovered Rudloff's love affair with a female nurse on staff, confronting them with a demand that they decide between romance and their employment. Rudloff grudgingly agreed, but in the next few weeks, three of the surgeon's patients died in the aftermath of routine surgery, the cause of death unspecified, their remains cremated as a matter of course. 

That August, Rudloff huddled with the wife of a recuperating patient, requesting her telephone number as a hedge against post-operative difficulties. When she informed him that her husband would be discharged soon, the nurse replied, "You never know." This time, the patient's sudden death produced demands for an investigation, and lethal traces of arsenic were found by the autopsy surgeon. 

Under questioning by police, Rudloff confessed to four counts of homicide and was sentenced to die on the guillotine in October 1954.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans

Nurse's Resentment

Time.com

Monday, Nov. 01, 1954

Among his many patients in the East German town of Waltershausen, fiftyish Fritz Rudloff was known as a kind and gentle man. "He took real pride in healing the sick," said one of Rudloff's friends. But because he was only a male nurse and not a licensed doctor, Rudloff nursed a deep-seated resentment against those more qualified to heal than he. Beyond all of them, Rudloff resented most the stiffly disciplinarian chief surgeon at Waltershausen Municipal Hospital.

One day early this year, the chief surgeon, a stern moralist as well as a martinet, learned that Rudloff was involved in a clandestine love affair with a female nurse on the staff. The chief surgeon told them bluntly to break off their romance or get out. Rudloff bowed to the edict, but his resentment deepened. Soon bad luck began to attend the chief surgeon's practice. Three of his patients, well on the road to recovery after their operations, suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. In each case, death was attributed to postoperative complications and the bodies were cremated. Nobody noticed that shortly before each death Nurse Rudloff had withdrawn a small amount of arsenic from the hospital stores.

Two months ago, as a fourth patient of the chief surgeon's returned to robust health, Rudloff was particularly careful to make a note of his home telephone number, in case of unforeseen accident. "That won't be necessary," the patient's wife told the nurse. "My husband will be coming home very soon." But Rudloff was persistent. "One never knows," he said darkly. A day or two later, when the patient suddenly died, his widow demanded an autopsy. A lethal dose of arsenic was discovered in the corpse. Confronted, Nurse Rudloff confessed to killing all four patients, just to discredit the chief surgeon. From East Germany last week came word that Rudloff the resentful nurse had been sentenced to death by guillotine.

SEX: M RACE: W TYPE: S MOTIVE: PC-revenge

MO: Hospital nurse who killed three patients to spite their doctor, a personal enemy.

DISPOSITION: Executed, 1954.