http://rote-spuren.gpa-djp.at/2014/05/1 ... gruppe-40/In den Schachtgräbern dieser Gruppe wurden während der NS-Herrschaft im Wiener Landesgericht durch das Fallbeil hingerichteten Menschen verscharrt.
Blessed Maria Restituta, the only Sister to be condemned to death under the national-socialist regime, was commemorated on the evening of 4 March 2013, in the Basilica of St Bartholomew on Tiber Island, with a liturgy of the word at which Cardinal Christoph Schönborn presided. During the rite the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity gave to the Basilica a small cross which Maria Restituta carried on the belt of her habit. The relic was placed in the chapel which remembers the martyrs of nationalist socialism.
They were executed for membership in an early Underground organization, about 1000 strong, created in a part of the annexed into the Third Reich territories. The organization was almost completely wiped out by the Gestapo in 1940. That happened frequently in the early, naive years of the occupation, although the loses were replaced almost immediately.Pete26 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyUnzuzv ... e=youtu.be
http://spm.salezjanie.pl/2014/06/11/12- ... poznanska/
They were beheaded at the Regional Court at Münchner Platz, in Dresden on 24th August 1942.
I do not have a copy of this book but your comments confirm my guess that it is full of inaccurate information.Pete26 wrote:I got my copy and read some chapters. I am surprised that the author forgot to make a distinction between Mannhardt fallbeils and Tegel fallbeils. Plotzensee, Wolfenbuttel, Stadelheim and Wroclaw prisons all had Mannhardt fallbeils. These fallbeils were manufactured back in 1850's and continued to be used due to their highly robust construction and high reliability. The tipping board (bascule) was removed on all except for the Wroclaw Mannhardt. Holstenglacis prison had a modified Mannhardt with a unique blade and no tipping board. Bruchsal prison had a unique all metal Mannhardt lookalike fallbeil. Tegel fallbeils were significantly shorter than Mannhardts mostly due to removing the upper frame pulley and encapsulating the winch cable pulleys within the upper frame itself. Tegel fallbeils were never designed nor equipped with tipping boards. Tegel fallbeils were designed to be cheaper to manufacture, and to be more compact to fit into rooms with low ceilings. All Tegel fallbeils were built in 1930's by inmates of Tegel prison in Berlin, hence the name Tegel. The blade release mechanism on a Tegel fallbeil is definitely a downgrade from the robust mechanism found on Mannhardts. Mannhardts had a stout release handle made of rectangular steel stock, rigidly connected to a horizontal pivoting shaft on top of the frame, to which a stout all steel release claw was rigidly connected. Tegels had a spring loaded blade release mechanism hidden inside the upper frame and a thin vertical pull rod release handle. Tegel blade release mechanism was much more likely to malfunction than that of a Mannhardt due to these design features. The combined weight of the blade and sledge on both Mannhardts and Tegels was substantial - around 60 kg (132 lbs) total to compensate for the low drop height, which was roughly one half that of a French guillotine.
The photo of the Wolfenbuttel fallbeil in a prison yard with a bucket on the ground instead of attached head bucket (photo 46 in the book)may have been taken in the Hanover prison before the fallbeil was shipped to Wolfenbuttel. What documentation exists that several hundred fallbeil executions in Wolfenbuttel took place in the Wolfenbuttel prison yard? I came across an article that mentioned only the first few before the fallbeil was installed inside the execution building. It is possible that the tipping board was removed at that time.
On page 67 of the book, in case of Karel Kratina, the following statement is made: "Little doubt exists that the cleric would have been beheaded in Prague almost immediately following his sentence."
Karel Kratina was in fact beheaded in Pankrac prison in Prague, but not immediately after sentencing. He was beheaded on 15 February 1945 with 12 other people in a single session starting at 1600 hours. He was also beheaded on his 64th birthday (day of birth 15 February 1881).
It is disappointing that not a single photo of Pankrac prison execution room has been included. The Pankrac prison execution room is the best preserved original fallbeil execution room in existence because it is the only former fallbeil execution room today (to my knowledge) that exhibits the original fallbeil used in it (although somewhat improperly restored). The only other execution room still in existence that exhibits a fallbeil is that of Bradenburg-Gorden prison. However, the fallbeil displayed there is not the original Tegel used there. The fallbeil displayed is a Mannhardt and it is most likely the original Plotzensee fallbeil.
Page 106, last paragraph: "The Fallbeil used by the Vienna Regional Court decapitated several hundred people, many executions sessions consisting of ten to twenty individuals at a time."
The Vienna fallbeil decapitated about 1200 people. The "Guillotinierten" pamphlet has a list of 1120 names. There are some additional ones that have not been recorded in that list.
The caption below the photo is:fredric wrote: You are right about the Wolfenbuettel/ Mannhardt image. It is at Hanover. Is it incorrectly captioned? I wonder what the author says about the scharfrichters?
What does "it proliferated in several hundred executions" mean? Are you sure the author used thePete26 wrote:The caption below the photo is:fredric wrote: You are right about the Wolfenbuettel/ Mannhardt image. It is at Hanover. Is it incorrectly captioned? I wonder what the author says about the scharfrichters?
"The Wolfenbuttel Prison Fallbeil was initially used in the courtyard where it proliferated in several hundred executions".
Am I interpreting the meaning of this statement incorrectly? Like I said, I read that only the first beheading by fallbeil at Wolfenbuttel was done in the courtyard, I never saw references to several hundred. About 600 people were decapitated by this fallbeil by the end of 1946 (67 people were beheaded here by the British Military Authority after the War ended), but inside the Wolfenbuttel execution room. And it seems that the author assumes that the courtyard in the photo is that of Wolfenbuttel prison. We had a discussion on this and suspected that this may not be the case.
There are no photos of scharfrichters included either. At least two Nazi scharfrichter photographs were readily accessible, that of Reichhart and Weiss. The author mentions various scharfrichters and where they worked, but description is very brief for most. I was secretly hoping for a surprise photo of Karl Gropler or Wilhelm Rottger, which none of us could find to date.
Yes, the wording under the photo is exactly as I quoted in the post above.fredric wrote: What does "it proliferated in several hundred executions" mean? Are you sure the author used the
word "proliferated"... meaning "increased in number and size?" Makes no sense.
