Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

This photo shows bodies and heads of guillotined Polish victims.

http://www.fpp.co.uk/Letters/Auschwitz/ ... 00909.html

[Paul53]

If you look closely, you may recognize some of the faces from a link posted a long time ago,dealing with the experiments of Dr. Spanner.By the way,I was very surprised to learn that Spanner simply continued his lecturing after the war and that hardly any accusations were made in relation to his activities in Danzig during the war.Info from Internet.

[Paul53]

On the yard in the meantime, the fat, oblated figure of Scharfrichter Gröpler has popped up, in civil life owner of a laundry shop, with him two lean assistants.Gröpler undid himself from his Jackett and wore for this festive moment a Frack( Vest)Around the Richtblock were gathered Judges, State Attourneys, Ministers and a flock of Sa-and SS-men.Rohrbach is in the meantime dragged to the scaffold, in a few minutes the verdict has been read out to him as well as the declanation of his mercy plea.Both of the executioners assistants threw themselves on the delinquent,dragged him onto a wide, heavy bench, tied him up ..The head was pressed into the basket,while Gröpler has taken his Handbeil(somewhat larger than an usual butchers ax) from its case.He jumps onto the rear side of the scaffold, then places himself sideways, lifts the Beil and hacks off with one blow the head of the still hollering Rohrbach.

[Pete26]

http://www.infocenters.co.il/gfh/multim ... _1_web.jpg

[Marcus Wendel]

Everyone, please don't forget to list the source of the images you post.

/Marcus

[Pete26]

If you look closely, you may recognize some of the faces from a link posted a long time ago,dealing with the experiments of Dr. Spanner.By the way,I was very surprised to learn that Spanner simply continued his lecturing after the war and that hardly any accusations were made in relation to his activities in Danzig during the war.Info from Internet.

I am not sure if this photo was one of them:

http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forum ... gheads.jpg

The head in the front shows a definite cut line meaning that the skull has been opened and the brain removed.

[Pete26]

The most remarkable in this photo are the expressions of two heads with their mouth open, reflecting the horror of the final moments before the beheading. Their features seem to be frozen in a silent scream.

http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/09/09/image ... orpses.jpg

[Paul53]

Several of the heads are recognisable,the one with the open mouth and the head right next to him. They were displayed at some later time on a table,see the Spanner section of this forum, in the 140 -160 range.

[Paul53]

The beasts had eagerly witnessed the procedure. When the head fell, the older employees lifted their hats . The heads of all those who wanted freedom and pacivism in Germany, so Goebbels,who were considered a danger to the belligerent political course that Germany was on were to be removed from their trunks before the Hitlerregime set out to unleash the fire in the world.

"He(Gröpler) washes the blood from his hands and cleans the Beil with his fingers in the waterbucket.Hardly has he dried his hands,they are already dragging Kanitz through the corridor and through the yard.Kanitz is silent;not a syllable uttered.Scharfrichter Gröplers fingers are dripping with blood;even his white manchettes show deep red points;quickly,he takes position together with his two assistants;operates the Beil-a second head rolls into a box filled with sawdust.This time, the blood spurt from the condemneds head sprays over the face of the executioner and besmearches his arm..

A few minutes later the car with the two coffins rolls out of the prison yard.Executioner Gröpler stands watching...the witnessess sharing their implressions...Gröpler permits himself a cigar, lits it, takes a few puffs...he cleans his fingernails with a pocketknife...fat bloodstains are on his Handbeil...his assistants clean up the mess... a few minutes after the execution, Gröpler has a lively conversation with the Guards and some SS-men...smokes his cigar..every head earned him 850 Reichsmark,he earned 1700 Mark in 5 minutes.

Later,we prisoners told eachother stories about the incessant urge to wash our hands...

[Pete26]

.. a few minutes after the execution, Gröpler has a lively conversation with the Guards and some SS-men...smokes his cigar..every head earned him 850 Reichsmark,he earned 1700 Mark in 5 minutes.

850 Reichsmarks per head sounds awfully high. Unless he was not receiving any base salary at that time and the executions were a rare event.

[Pete26]

Here is a description of guillotine execution of 30 year old murderer Claus Moller on 14 June 1865. He poisoned two of his wives with arsenic.

There is something odd in the article. It mentions "placing a black hood over the head of the condemned". This makes no sense for a guillotine execution as the neck had to be bare and the hood would certainly cover the neck.

http://www.leselupe.de/lw/titel-Eine-Hi ... g-3031.htm

[Pete26]

Numerous references were made to the Pankrac and Vienna fallbeils as "Tegelettes" in this forum, meaning that these fallbeils have the essential Tegel features, but a horizontal blade actuating lever, a head basin located below the level of the leather strap, and thin rear bench legs. The original blade shield is also missing.

Some time ago we came to a conclusion that there never was a "Tegelette" in use. Both the Pankrac and Vienna fallbeils have been improperly restored and it is unclear which one was restored to its present shape first. We know that Pankrac fallbeil was fished out of Vltava river after the War and most likely only the vertical frame and the sledge/blade were retrieved from the river. The head basin was most likely lost and the wooden parts were supposedly burned in the Pankrac prison boiler room furnace.

After the war the Pankrac fallbeil was restored, but with an improper bench and rear legs, wrong release lever, and improper basin. On the original Pankrac Tegel, the blade release lever was a vertical pull type rod, the head basin was located much higher and the rim was above the leather strap. In fact the leather strap was routed through the cutouts in the basin sides. Also, the original Tegel was equipped with a blade shield.

The assumption that the original Panrac Tegel was at some point replaced with a "Tegelette" proved to be incorrect. It is the same machine, except with odd features added as described above.

What do we know about the Vienna fallbeil? Was it too taken apart and parts of it lost? Which fallbeil (Pankrac or Vienna) were restored first and what model was used for the restoration? Can we safely conclude that the Pankrac and Vienna fallbeils are the only "Tegelettes" in existence? Is it possible that the Vienna fallbeil is the only as built "Tegelette" instead of being an improperly restored Tegel?

So are we in agreement that only one type Tegel fallbeil was built in Tegel prison and both Pankrac and Vienna fallbeil were of this design originally? What about the hook? Was that supplied with any other original Tegel fallbeils?

Anybody who can contribute to this , please do. I would like to solve the mystery of the Vienna fallbeil.

[wm]

If you look closely, you may recognize some of the faces from a link posted a long time ago,dealing with the experiments of Dr. Spanner.By the way,I was very surprised to learn that Spanner simply continued his lecturing after the war and that hardly any accusations were made in relation to his activities in Danzig during the war.Info from Internet.

The Spanner affair was a case of moral panic caused by the horrors of the war and reactions of ignorant people to the inner workings of an anatomical institute.
The institute main job was production of very accurate anatomical models of complicated parts of the human body for the benefit of the fast track war surgeons as a reference material during operations in field hospitals. The models were made from human material but there is nothing wrong with this practice. They always were and are made this way.

They used refuse from the process as soap for their own purposes simply because soap was totally unavailable. It is possible that some of this soap was bartered or sold during the last hellish months of the war as a means of survival for the workers of the Institute but Spanner was not working there at that time.

Spanner himself is one of the best German anatomists of all times. His Anatomical Atlas has been unsurpassed to this day.

[Grootendorst]

Sorry, the professor is mentioned in a horrible story. In the Institute the heads and bodies were dilivered seperate from the execution centre. The story tells us that he then played a game with his students: which head belongs to which body?
In your opinion a normal game? And ofcourse, it's quit normal to use human fat to make soap. Specially when it's your own fault to start a war and losing it.
Get a life....

[wm]

According to Spanner and his assistant Berger the so called "soap" was used during preparations of the anatomic specimens made in his institute. This is completely valid and legal.
He never admitted that he used this "soap" as cleaning or washing agent but it is certain that it was used as such by his employees.
And that game of heads is simply a myth...