Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

http://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web ... -623026626

The guillotine frame was described as "reddish brown" in color. the execution took 6 minutes.

[fredric]

http://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web ... -623026626

The guillotine frame was described as "reddish brown" in color. the execution took 6 minutes.

Hardly a NZ era execution. I believe a photo of this wooden fallbeil has been posted on the Forum and is on Bois de Justice. Crude compared to the Mannhardts and Tegels used in NZ era.

[Pete26]

It could be the actual blade that killed the Scholls. I say "could" because we cannot conclusively state it was the very blade.
It does, of course, fit the sledge as seen in the video.
After correspondence with Dr. Sybe Wartena of the Bavarian National Museum, I can confirm
he found two (2) blades in their storage. One has large bolt holes; the other has smaller holes with "keys" for locking bolts.
The sharp edges of both blades fit into wooden edge guards which also secure the blades in each case. The cases also
have inset boxes which may contain the bolts. Both blades have straight sides.

Note the special bolts used to secure the blade to the sledge. The upper left bolt (viewed from the front of the machine) is longer that the other three bolts because it also secures the sledge lifting eye metal block. The bolts appear to have countersunk flat heads so they do not protrude much past the blade as the blade passes in close proximity to the closed wooden lunette on the bench side of the blade. Protruding bolt heads, like typical hex head bolts, would not clear the lunette. This blade definitely does not have keyed bolts or corresponding notches machined into the blade holes. This means that it is a later replacement blade made with simple round holes to simplify the machining process.

I am somewhat surprised that no flat washers plus split washers, or locking washers of any kind are used under the bolt nuts on the outer side.

[gordon anderson]

What picture are you referencing Pete?

[Pete26]

What picture are you referencing Pete?

The short clip I posted on previous page (Guillotine im Depot). In the first part of the clip you can see the bolts clearly, the upper ones are inserted in the blade already, and two others are on the table.

http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendun ... l-100.html

If you look at this sketch of a Mannhardt guillotine, you can see that the bolt heads are fully countersunk into the blade on the release claw side. Look at the extreme left drawing which shows the blade and sledge in side view. The sketch is labeled as "Fallschwert", meaning "falling sword".



http://boisdejustice.com/Germany/Mannhardt1854.JPG

[Pete26]

Several pages of Pankrac guillotined victims. Source: Zaluji: Pankracka Kalvarie, Volume II.



http://img15.rajce.idnes.cz/d1502/7/741 ... .jpg?ver=0



http://img15.rajce.idnes.cz/d1502/7/741 ... .jpg?ver=0

[Pete26]

In the lower left corner is Paul Soppa, the commander of the Pankrac Gestapo prison. After WWII he was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in Czechoslovakia. In the right lower corner is Wachtmeister Prey who used to beat those condemned prisoners who sang songs or expressed themselves loudly when led to their execution.

http://www.detektorweb.cz/images/storie ... /obr1b.jpg




http://www.detektorweb.cz/images/storie ... /obr2b.jpg

[history1]

[...] In the right lower corner is Wachtmeister Prey who used to beat those condemned prisoners who sang songs or expressed themselves loudly when led to their execution.[...]

Caption reads " Wachtmeister Prey, who bashed death row inmates prior their execution when they sang patriotic (literal National) songs".

[Pete26]

[...] In the right lower corner is Wachtmeister Prey who used to beat those condemned prisoners who sang songs or expressed themselves loudly when led to their execution.[...]

Caption reads " Wachtmeister Prey, who bashed death row inmates prior their execution when they sang patriotic (literal National) songs".

Thank you for your critique, but I was not translating the caption, nor did I state I was. There are pages of information in the Zaluji books on Wachtmeisters Prey, Fuchs and other guards who mistreated the prisoners, not just for singing National songs, but for loudly proclaiming their allegiance to their country and other reasons as well.

[Pete26]

These 15 prisoners (and more than 35 others) were saved from beheading by the Prague uprising in early May 1945. More than 50 prisoners were released from the death cells at that time by the Czech prison guards.


http://img15.rajce.idnes.cz/d1502/7/741 ... .jpg?ver=0

[Pete26]

This is the prison card for Pankrac prison death row inmate Vilem Neumann (pictured at lower left), who was sentenced to death for illegal possession of a gun. He was one of the lucky death row prisoners who were saved from death by Prague uprising.
The man on the lower right is Pankrac prison physician Dr Reim.



http://www.detektorweb.cz/images/storie ... 6/obr4.jpg

[Pete26]

Karl Sauer was the commander of Department IIA, or the Death Row of Pankrac Gestapo prison. After WWII he was tried, sentenced to death, and executed in Czechoslovakia. His photograph is in the upper right corner on page 158 of the linked document


http://www.ustrcr.cz/data/pdf/pamet-dej ... 55-161.pdf

[Pete26]

Dr. Jaroslav Lebeda, Czech academic painter, guillotined in Pankrac prison. Below is his wife and infant son that he never saw grow up.



http://img15.rajce.idnes.cz/d1502/7/741 ... .jpg?ver=0

[Pete26]

What picture are you referencing Pete?

The short clip I posted on previous page (Guillotine im Depot). In the first part of the clip you can see the bolts clearly, the upper ones are inserted in the blade already, and two others are on the table.

http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendun ... l-100.html

If you look at this sketch of a Mannhardt guillotine, you can see that the bolt heads are fully countersunk into the blade on the release claw side. Look at the extreme left drawing which shows the blade and sledge in side view. The sketch is labeled as "Fallschwert", meaning "falling sword".

http://boisdejustice.com/Germany/Mannhardt1854.JPG

The countersunk blade bolt heads, practically flush with the blade, can be clearly seen on Pankrac Tegel fallbeil as well:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... rac_02.JPG

Also, at the very beginning of the clip, you can see the bolt heads on the installed Stadelheim guillotine blade. They are completely recessed into the blade when tightened.

http://www.br.de/mediathek/video/sendun ... e-100.html

The obvious reason why the original Mannhardt fallbeil design had keyed bolts was to prevent the bolts from rotating when the nuts were being tightened on the other side of the blade. This of course necessitated machining of corresponding notches in the blade holes. These special bolts and notched blade holes were apparently abandoned during the Nazi years to make replacement blades cheaper to produce. Given the size of these bolts, the friction between the conical countersunk bolt head and the blade is apparently sufficient to keep the bolts from rotating when the nuts are being tightened (provided the surfaces are clean and dry.) There is no slot provided in the bolt heads to hold them in place with a screwdriver while the nuts are being tightened. The screwdriver slots apparently were not needed. Tegel fallbeils use very similar bolts in non slotted holes. I do believe the blade in the clip is a later Nazi era replacement blade, and quite possibly the very one that beheaded the Scholls.
If two blades were provided for the Stadelheim fallbeil, and each blade had to be resharpened after say 30 executions, then given a total of 1000 executions by this fallbeil, each blade would have had to be resharpened about 17 times.

[history1]

This is the prison card for Pankrac prison death row inmate Vilem Neumann (pictured at lower left), who was sentenced to death for illegal possession of a gun. He was one of the lucky death row prisoners who were saved from death by Prague uprising. [...]

Sorry that I throw again my opinion, Pete. But the prisoner card also states the crime "high treason", just to be mentioned.