Greiser public execution

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chrish
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Greiser public execution

#1

Post by chrish » 11 Jan 2004, 22:24

14.7.1946 Poznañ. Greiser public execution. Hangman was unknown waiter from restaurant “Smakosz” (“Gourmet”)….
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jmh8300
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Re: Greiser public execution

#2

Post by jmh8300 » 27 Jan 2004, 03:48

chrish wrote:14.7.1946 Poznañ. Greiser public execution. Hangman was unknown waiter from restaurant “Smakosz” (“Gourmet”)….
Thanks Chrish for sharing these images. I have a number of questions.

I understand that Greiser was executed in front of a crowd estimated to be 15,000 strong. Was this size unusual? Was the large crowd a reflection of the Polish people's particular hatred for a Nazi who crimes particularily affected Poles.

The images appear to be stills from a movie film - do you know if that is a correct assumption? Do you have any information about their origins and current location.

Thanks in advance.


chrish
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#3

Post by chrish » 27 Jan 2004, 17:46

Greiser public execution triggered off numerous discussions and controversy. At the beginning execution’s method was almost completely approved (Poznañ was the place especially strong nazi terror) but during execution the crow (at least a part of them) changed attitude to Greiser. This event reverberated around the Poland and triggered numerous protests. Next executions nazi criminals (Buhler, Forster etc) were commited in prisons.

This photo is a frame a film about Greiser’s execution “Niefachowy stryczek” (Incompetent string) (director R.Stando). Among other things he include interviews with peoples who saw this ewent and catholic priest who accompanied Greiser before his death

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jmh8300
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#4

Post by jmh8300 » 28 Jan 2004, 03:07

Thank you Chrish, for the additional background information. Your story indicates to me the resolve of Polish spirit even after six years of brutal repression - to behave humanely towards those who oppressed them.

trespasser07
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Re: Greiser public execution

#5

Post by trespasser07 » 14 Mar 2014, 21:55

Hi Chrish

I know this is an old post but do you know where this Greiser documentary can be watched?

Kind regards.
"We believe in what we do!" - written in Friedrich Rainer's Guestbook by Odilo Globocnik in April 1943.

BB-WA
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Re: Greiser public execution

#6

Post by BB-WA » 15 Mar 2014, 12:07

Hi trespsser07

Try YouTube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LW6ESfEkkk - (Arthur Greiser przed polskim sądem - Ciekawostki Poznań, 2009) - its only 2:27 long and silent, it doesn't show the hanging only stills as in this post but there was a very large crowd watching.

also
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-KKhrbSNSY - (Nazi Perpetrators: The Case of Arthur Greiser) - nearly an hour long documentary.
Uploaded on Jun 15, 2009
Catherine A. Epstein, associate professor of history, will discuss her research on Arthur Greiser, a Nazi leader who carried out extraordinary ethnic cleansing measures involving Germans, Jews and Poles. Greiser was the Nazi regional leader of the Warthegau, an area in western Poland annexed to the Third Reich in 1939. There, he oversaw the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Poles and the first mass killing of Jews in Europe. The Warthegau, part of which had once belonged to Germany, was Greisers childhood homeland, and his primary aim was to make the area German again. Professor Epsteins research confirms a small number of other studies showing ethnic nationalism to be more important to Nazis than straightforward anti-Semitism. This is a finding that may well apply to many other Nazi leaders. She has also written a book in English about him - Model Nazi. Arthur Greiser and the Occupation of Western Poland. Most other books are in Polish

Regards
Brian

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wm
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Re: Greiser public execution

#7

Post by wm » 20 Mar 2014, 10:27

An interview with the director of Niefachowy stryczek with photos of that incompetent executioner, although only in Polish and German is here.

BB-WA
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Re: Greiser public execution

#8

Post by BB-WA » 21 Mar 2014, 08:43

Hi wm
I'm afraid I don't read Polish or German (google translate is not much use as its to literal but I got a bit of an understanding of what it was saying). No wonder it was the last public hanging, especially when children started playing hangman games afterwards and some were accidentally hung doing this. Very sad indeed.

The photos in the article says it comes from the film "Unprofessioneller Strang" or in Polish "Niefachowy stryczek". I've tried google and youtube search with no results for the movie title. Does anyone know where this film is available. The Greiser movie on youtube I mentioned in my post above doesn't show the same photos.

Regards
Brian

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wm
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Re: Greiser public execution

#9

Post by wm » 21 Mar 2014, 10:34

It's available from a few obscure and not quite legal sources but without subtitles, and it really needs them. Anyway this is the execution from that documentary:

BB-WA
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Re: Greiser public execution

#10

Post by BB-WA » 21 Mar 2014, 11:30

Hi wm
Thanks for the video. It seems the actual hanging was either censored or edited out. It also seems there was no trap door just what he was standing on for the drop.

Regards
Brian

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spottedcow
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Re: Greiser public execution

#11

Post by spottedcow » 22 Mar 2014, 06:29

Another angle shows the trap door.

Patrick
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BB-WA
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Re: Greiser public execution

#12

Post by BB-WA » 22 Mar 2014, 07:27

Hi Patrick
Thanks for the photo, I missed the trap lever due to the amount of people on the scaffold. In any case its still not much of a drop. Is the photo a one off or one of a series?
The photo would suggest as I mentioned above that the movie mentioned by wm was censored or edited.

Regards
Brian

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spottedcow
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Re: Greiser public execution

#13

Post by spottedcow » 22 Mar 2014, 07:46

Sorry I don't know any details about the SZ photograph.
The film above is part of a documentary about Greiser and not simply his execution. If memory serves - later in the film a priest describes that the distance of the drop was so short that Greiser's legs continued moving for about 10 minutes - I suppose suggesting he strangled to death.

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wm
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Re: Greiser public execution

#14

Post by wm » 23 Mar 2014, 14:37

It's mention in a few places the convulsions lasted 17 minutes, and the executioner was in fact a dual role door-keeper/coat checker from the Moulin Rouge nightclub. I suppose a bouncer from a shady establishment is more likely than a waiter from a peaceful middle class restaurant.

The film material was obviously intended for the Polish Film Chronicle (a newsreel shown in cinemas) like the earlier Greisler and his Soup, The Trial. The Sentence. But this time it didn't make it for some reason, maybe because of that ridiculously looking executioner.

Below a special issue of the local newspaper dedicated to the execution (from the Majdanek Museum website), although looking nasty, its content was benign in nature, in line with the pre-war principle/legal requirement of not to stir emotions.
wydanie nadzwyczajne.jpg
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Last edited by wm on 24 Mar 2014, 00:41, edited 1 time in total.

Michal78
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Re: Greiser public execution

#15

Post by Michal78 » 23 Mar 2014, 14:54

Another pic also with executioner.
Michal
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