Armin Meiwes (born December 1, 1961) is a German who achieved international notoriety for killing and eating a voluntary victim he had found via the Internet. After jointly attempting to eat the detached penis, Meiwes killed his victim, and continued to eat a large amount of his flesh. Because of his deeds, Meiwes is also known as the "Rotenburg Cannibal" or "Metzgermeister" (The Master Butcher).

Murder and cannibalism
Meiwes was arrested in December 2002, after a man in Innsbruck phoned the police after seeing new advertisements for victims and details about the killing on the Internet. Investigators searched his home and found body parts and the videotaped killing.
Meiwes was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight and half years in prison. The case attracted considerable media attention and led to a debate over whether Meiwes could be convicted at all, given that Bernd Jürgen Brandes had voluntarily and knowingly participated in the act; there were also complications as cannibalism itself was not illegal in Germany at the time.

Similar case
The song "Mein Teil" by German Tanz-Metal band Rammstein was inspired by the case. "Teil" translates literally to "part" or "member," but is German slang for penis. The chorus of "Mein Teil" (My Part) includes the line, "Denn du bist was du isst und ihr wisst was es ist ," which translates to "You are what you eat and you know what it is."
Other songs inspired by Meiwes' story include "The Wüstenfeld Man Eater" by American death/thrash metal band Macabre, "Eaten" by Swedish death metal band Bloodbath
Feature film Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (aka Rohtenburg) was scheduled for German release in March 2006. However, it was banned in that country after Meiwes complained that his "personality rights" had been violated. The American film, which is fictionalized, stars Keri Russell and, in the role inspired by Meiwes, Thomas Kretschmann. The film won multiple awards at the 2006 Festival de Cine de Sitges, including Best Director, Best Actor for the two male leads, and Best Cinematography.
Other films based on the case include Rosa von Praunheim's 'Dein Herz in Meinem Hirn' (Your Heart in My Brain); Marian Dora's Cannibal; and Uli Lommel's Cannibal. The 2005 Australian horror/thriller film Feed (film) contains a short scene depicting Meiwes and his victim sitting in a blood-filled bathtub together.
In 2005, the French author and actor Olivier Lejeune penned and acted a farce entitled Dévorez-moi (Devour me), loosely based on the case.
Hit British comedy The IT Crowd parodied this story as part of a plot for the third episode of series 2.