Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

http://www.stadt-brandenburg.de/uploads ... isl_02.jpg

A Polish forced laborer sentenced to death for arson and guillotined in Plotzensee prison on 15 August 1942.

http://www.gedenkstaettenforum.de/nc/ge ... en_volkes/

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... S:official

[Pete26]

http://www.teatr-rozrywki.pl/new/cms/up ... 0Macha.jpg

Polish Catholic priest Jan Macha was sentenced to death on 17 July 1942, together with cleric Joachim Guertler for his anti Nazi activities, and guillotined in Katowice prison, Poland on 3 December 1942 at the age of 28. His body was never recovered, as it was most likely transported to Auschwitz and cremated.

http://katowice.gosc.pl/doc/1380512.Gil ... la-ksiedza

http://katowice.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/ ... ,id,t.html

The guillotine that beheaded him:

http://www.eolkusz.pl/2010/08/gilotyna- ... -birkenau/

[Pete26]

Božena Šteidlová was the last woman beheaded in Pankrac prison. She was sentenced to death for providing help and place to stay to various Nazi resistance fighters in Prague and was guillotined on 26 April 1945 by Alois Weiss. She was 36 years old. This was the last guillotine execution in Pankrac prison. Five people were beheaded that day, she went first. Shortly after, the guillotine was taken apart and thrown into Vltava river.

Her photograph is the second black and white photo from the top in the link

http://www.ceskasibir.cz/dok/d448.php

[Pete26]

Interesting photos and information here.

http://www.tracesofevil.com/search/label/Stadelheim

[Pete26]

3 December 1944, Friday:

Today one could hear 17 impacts of the guillotine from the darkened windows of the execution room. The guillotine had a bloody harvest. The sad list:

Vaclav Vytisk - illegal political activity
Ruzena Zichova - illegal assistance to Reich's enemies
Vaclav Karnik - illegal political activity
Josef Ploc - illegal political activity
Josef Klema - illegal listening to foreign radio broadcasts
Jan Volf - illegal possession of a weapon
Josef Paul - illegal possession of a weapon

Others: Havlik, Hosek, Neuzil, Cerny, Stanzel, Brazda, Rehak, Bejcek, Martinec and Kosek. Sometimes I wonder if anybody will every believe these records.


4 December 1944, Saturday:

Yesterday 17, today 6 executions. Today it was a larger group guilty of illegally crossing state borders:
Antonin Semrad
Josef Mares
Jan Labaj
Vlastimil Kiska
Josef Skokan
And also there is Jan Pavlasek guilty of either being a partisan or hiding partisans.

Up to now the condemned in the cell block IIA lived with some certainty that if they are not executed on a Wednesday or Friday, they will get to stay alive for another week. They could spend the remaining days in peace. Now they are deprived of this peace of mind, as executions are being conducted any day of the week.


7 December 1944, Tuesday:

So in the last days the executions were conducted on Friday, then Saturday, and then immediately the following Tuesday. Today there are 12 of them,who will forever leave this world and will never see the end of this war that all of us look forward to. They deserved to live to see it, but only their children will see the freedom.

Today's list:

Mikulas Sobotka - illegal political activity
Bohumil Drab - illegal weapon possession
Anna Bartosova
Vaclav Bros
Frantisek Cink
Jaroslav Gottfried
Vincent Hrach
Bedrich Humpal
Josef Prochazka, all sentenced to death for illegal activity
Matyas Vlk -illegal political activity
Jopsef Cvrk - illegal political activity
Vaclav Nemec - illegal political activity

The entire execution session lasted 15 minutes.



14 December 1944, Tuesday:

Today again 14 executions. Just a coincidence, how many times it happened that 13 were executed on the 13th day of a month. Today on the 14th day it is 14. In the afternoon I got a complete list. The entire place reeks of fear and restlessness. Today's list of unlucky ones:

Karel Semora - illegal crossing of borders
Frantisek Simunek
Dusan Sova
Josef Schovanek
Rudolf Kocka
Frantiska Kockova - all sentenced for illegal assistance to the Reich's enemies
Marie Buresova -illegal political activity
Vladimir Mayer - illegal political activity
Ladislav Dvorak
Frantisek Dobes
Jaroslav Ledvina
Josef Tomanec - all sentenced to death for illegal crossing of borders
Rudolf Gregor
Emanuel Cerny

What hurt me most was that among them was my good friend and old client Emanuel Cerny. Today he left, never to be seen again.

(Note: translated from Zaluji - Pankracka Kalvarie, volume II by Karel Rames)

[Pete26]

Guillotine

Fallbeil (falling axe)

Enthauptungsmaschine (beheading machine)

Fallschwertmaschine (falling sword machine)

[David Thompson]

A no-content post from history1, which quoted from another poster but didn't add anything further, was removed pursuant to forum policy.

[Pete26]

http://www.tz-online.de/aktuelles/muenc ... 97389.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... S:official

They mention that most articles are old files and photos piled on the dusty shelves. Those are the things of interest to some of us.
No doubt many authentic photographs and files documenting the operation of the prison, including its execution building during the Third Reich era.

[history1]

A no-content post from history1, which quoted from another poster but didn't add anything further, was removed pursuant to forum policy.

AFAIK the forum rules don´t prohibit to help other members by correcting wrong spelled German terms.
I hope you´ll keep that in mind in future. Thanks for your understanding.

[David Thompson]

history1 -- You wrote:

AFAIK the forum rules don´t prohibit to help other members by correcting wrong spelled German terms.
I hope you´ll keep that in mind in future.

So you said in your PM to me. If you've got something to say to other posters about correct spelling, say it plainly so that your point is clear. This:

[...] Enthauptungsmaschine (beheading machine) [...]

doesn't do it. Furthermore, Pete26 has since edited his post with the correct spelling.

Now let's get back on topic.

[Pete26]

Social Democrat Bebo Wager was sentenced to death for his Nazi resistance activities by the Volksgerichtshof in Innsbruck on 27 May 1943. He was beheaded in Stadelheim prison at the age of 38 on 12 August 1943 and buried in Perlach Forest cemetery. Two White Rose members, Kurt Huber and Alexander Schmorell were beheaded in the same prison just one month earlier (13 July 1943).



http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/img ... ebo-2-.jpg

http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/aug ... 01461.html

[Pete26]

http://photos.geni.com/p13/57/e9/70/27/ ... _large.jpg

From left to right:

Robert Scholl, Inge, Hans, Elisabeth, Sophie, Werner. Only two children, Inge and Elizabeth survived the WWII. Werner was a soldier on the Eastern Front and never returned and nobody knows what happened to him. Inge died in 1998 at the age of 81. Elisabeth is the only one still alive at the age of 93.

This photo was taken sometime in the early 1930's.

Another photo showing the five siblings:



http://www.ulm.de/sixcms/media.php/16/t ... .20755.jpg

The Scholl family in 1925. First row from left to right: Sophie, Inge, Werner, Elisabeth. Second row from left to right: Hans, mother Magdalena, stepson Ernst, and father Robert. The ages of the children based on the year the photo was taken are: Sophie: 4, Inge: 8, Werner: 3, Elizabeth: 5, Hans: 7. There was also another girl named Thilde who was born in 1923 and died in 1924.



http://einestages.spiegel.de/hund-image ... erless.jpg

[Pete26]

http://www.hvschwyz.ch/publikationen/richtschwert.pdf

[Pete26]

http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/i ... 29238.html

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... S:official

Zwölf von ihnen wurden zum Tode verurteilt und im Juni 1942 im Gebäude des Landgerichtshofs am Münchner Platz in Dresden enthauptet. Darunter ein Cousin Sobkowiaks, Jan Kazmierczak, 17 Jahre alt. In seinem letzten Brief schrieb er nach Hause: "Liebe Eltern, Gott sei Euch gnädig. Gott, das heiligste Herz Jesu, an den wir besonders denken, wacht, und ich hoffe, dass wir zurück nach Hause kommen. Unser Leben ist in Gottes Hand, und wer mit Gott ist, mit dem wird auch Gott sein. Alle Lebenden sollen die Hoffnung behalten. Es tut mir wirklich leid für Euch, liebe und werte Eltern."

[Pete26]

A Roman Catholic friar Grzegorz Frackowiak was sentenced to death for printing and distributing anti Nazi fliers and beheaded at Landgericht, Munchner Platz in Dresden on 5 May 1943.



http://www.nlvn.net/saints/pmartyrs-ind ... ge3251.jpg

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grzegorz_Frackowiak