Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13499897.html

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... &edit-text

John Franke, 70, the former head of the crematorium at the cemetery Dresden-Tolkewitz, where the dead were cremated, knows the real cause of death: "They had their head between their legs."

[history1]

The real Ernst Jennrich and not an theatre actor like above.

Ernst Jennrich 1953

jennrich 1953.jpg (25.33 KiB) Viewed 1876 times

Source: http://www.17juni53.de/tote/jennrich.html

[Pete26]

A handwritten application letter for the post of Plötzensee executioner written by Willi Röttger. See document on page 131.

https://books.google.com/books?id=rc_lC ... en&f=false

[Pete26]

http://www.sp2.pawlowice.pl/grafika/puk2.jpg

Józef Pukowiec was guillotined in Katowice prison on 14 August 1942 at the age of 37.

http://zhpchorzow.pl/slezanie/pukoc/pukoc.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Józef_Pukowiec

[Pete26]

The photo was not taken by the British in 1947, but by Howard Goodkind, a soldier of the 9th US Army which liberated the Wolfenbüttel prison on 11 April 1945. According to the linked article, he took the photo in May 1945. The last execution with this guillotine during the Third Reich era took place on 9 March 1945. 17 people were beheaded on that day, among them a Jehowah's witness Franz Zdyn, beheaded at 1340 hours.

http://blog.befreiung1945.de/tag/wolfenbuettel/

[htk]

Hi All

Question: did all exectutioners had to pay back their salary to the german state, as Reichard had to do ?

If this is the case then the german state had the execution almost for free as the convicts/relatives had to pay for the execution and stay in prison (http://blog.rothenburg-unterm-hakenkreu ... chnung.jpg)

and after the received after the war the money back from the exectutioner.

Right ?

[fredric]

Yes, Germany did recover some of the cost via bills to the families of executed persons. This did not mean the government got the executions
almost for free however. Here's what I recall without checking my archives:

I don't believe Johann Reichhart had to return his total earnings to the post-war German state but did pay a large fine (25,000RM?) which left him nearly penniless. I do not believe this fine amounted to his total earnings during the WW2 years however. The court might have based the fine on his annual salary of 3000RM but that is conjecture on my part. I am sure the de-nazification court found a rationale however.

Rottger, who executed the greatest number of people during the War, died in 1946 and to my knowledge was never tried or fined. I don't recall reading about any other executioners having "pay back their salary" to the German state or getting a fine. Some were executed (2) and others died in prison or did jail time. As you know, during WW2, scharfrichters received a base salary (3000RM) and a per-person-executed fee (as did the helpers) plus travel and food expenses. All this is detailed in many books... Blazek, etc. Rechtlinen fur sharfrichters..(sp).

Also, some executioners just vanished (see Evans on this). Some may have committed suicide or been killed
by avenging German citizens (my speculation). I know that Hehr, Weiss (who lived a long time after the War and finally got a pension from the
German government), Roselieb and Reichhart were still around after the War. Karl Henschke seems to have disappeared. Koster died, possibly a suicide as some claim. Groppler, who was retired during the War years and running his steam laundry, was arrested by the Soviets and died in Halle shortly after that. Ernst Reindel also survived. Also, there were over 40 helpers so it is possible a few are still alive today.

[Pete26]

I don't recall reading about any other executioners having "pay back their salary" to the German state or getting a fine.

Alois Weiss, after he fled Prague was detained by Americans, held in custody for 6 months, and fined 200 Marks.

He assisted Reichhart for the first time on 1 May 1941. On 30 january 1943 he accepted the position of Prague executioner, and three days later started his new job. Weiss supervised the construction of the execution complex in Pankrac prison and first 5 executions took place on 5 April 1943.

[Pete26]

Being an executioner in the Third Reich was lucrative business. Pankrac executioner Alois Weiss was paid 3000 Reichmarks annual salary. On top of that he received 25 Reichmarks per month as a special 'Protectorate" pay. For each execution he received 30 Raichmarks, for the first severed head of each execution session that day he received 40 Reichmarks. During the two years Pankrac fallbeil was in operation, Alois Weiss performed approximately 10 executions per week. There were usually two execution sessions per week, with 5 victims on the average. So Alois Weiss's annual income was 3000 base salary + 300 Protectorate extra pay (25/month X 12) + 2 sessions/week X 160 Reichmarks/session X 52 weeks/year = 19940 Reichmarks. The average annual salary of an ordinary worker at that time was about 1200 Reichmarks. An experienced engineer could earn about 6000 Reichmarks per year. So Alois Weiss was making more than 3 times the salary of a well paid engineer. In 1940 A Volkswagen car cost 9900 Reichmarks.

After the War Alois Weiss fought the authorities for years to give him a pension for his job as an executioner. He wrote numerous letters, complaints, filed law suits. Finally, after ten years of legal wrangling, the authorities finally agreed to pay him a pension. Probably just to get rid of him. What is unbelievable is that his neighbors, who knew him as a pleasant and jolly individual, always willing to help others, considered him a champion in his fight for "justice". When interviewed by authorities, Weiss remarked that his nerves are fine and that the fate of his victims does not move him.

What do I think about this individual? A man without conscience, a perfect servant to Nazi tyranny, interested only in money. This he showed in his shameless quest for a formal pension for his bloody deeds, while expressing no regrets about what he had done. He should have thanked his lucky stars that he was not hung from the nearest lamp post, or was not beaten to death if he had remained in Prague for any time after the liberation. And what of his neighbors who considered him a champion? Were these people even remotely sorry for what Nazis did to other nations? And perhaps some of these acquaintances and friends of Alois Weiss were eager henchmen in the Nazi Reich as well.

According to official records, Alois Weiss earned a total of 46,995 Reichmarks during his tenure as the Prague executioner. In addition to beheading 1075 people in Pankrac prison, he also beheaded quire a few people at the Regional Court (Landesgericht) in Vienna, for which he was paid even more money per head than in Prague. Based on my calculations in the quote above, Alois Weiss earned a total of about 40,000 Reichmarks for Pankrac beheadings, and another 7,000 Reichmarks for Vienna beheadings. If he was paid on the average 40 Reichmarks for each beheading in Vienna, then he beheaded about 175 people in Vienna in two years, which is quite credible. Klaus Hillenbrand in his book Berufswunsch Henker states that Weiss executed about 193 people in Vienna. This is close enough.

[fredric]

Yet I have heard that Weiss was not well-off in retirement. Did he spend his money as fast as he made it?
Reichhart and Rottger also made huge incomes cutting heads but either spent the money or lost it at the end of the War.

Seems like Weiss would have left more of a public record in his retirement years in Straubing, supported by neighbors in his fight for
a pension. For example, I am surprised there is only one photo of Weiss that I know of. Wonder if he has descendents in Straubing?
But scharfrichter photos are rare. None yet found of Rottger. One of Hehr and one of Henschke exist but none I have seen of Koster, Roselieb, Reindel, Reichelt or Groppler.

[htk]

If i remember correctly .. the sum paid to the executioner was to pay business expenses, the wages of the 2 helpers, taxes ofcourse ie they were independant contractors.

Talking about tax: Does anybody know if the executioners had set up a business ? I can imagine the tax office would have a field day with the financial declarations.

Information about income tax (page 339 for year income vs income tax percentage)

http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servl ... Hacker.pdf

[Pete26]

If i remember correctly .. the sum paid to the executioner was to pay business expenses, the wages of the 2 helpers, taxes ofcourse ie they were independant contractors.

Talking about tax: Does anybody know if the executioners had set up a business ? I can imagine the tax office would have a field day with the financial declarations.

Information about income tax (page 339 for year income vs income tax percentage)

http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servl ... Hacker.pdf

Position of an executioner in Nazi Germany was not a private business. The executioners were civil servants (state employees) paid by the state. In fact, Prague executioner Alois Weiss emphasized his position as a "Civil Servant" several times in his quest for state pension. He could not have requested a state pension if he had been a private contractor.

[htk]

Not quite. It was a private business but not a "public" one.

some reasons for them being private contractors (or whatever the modern term now is)

NO state officials are allowed to hire people on their own and and pay from their own pocket to do states business... even not today.
ALL cost would have been paid by the RJM or RFV if they were state officials
Maybe the contract of Mr Weiss was different, but from what i have seen so far the executioner was clearly contracted for this job, and for this job only. (Not like todays US executioners who are empolyees of the state and are clearly identifiable as such.)
As far as I know all executioners had besides their official business still their own day time jobs.

[fredric]

Interesting information htk.

Johann Reichhart, according to some sources, demanded to be paid immediately after each execution. He was paid
by the Central Execution Prison. Literally a cash box was brought out and he was paid. This payment must have covered the "per head" payment, not the annual salary which was paid by the RMJ. His base salary and per-head rate and that for his assistants was based upon the current contract terms (RMJ).

I a source claiming Reichhart demanded to be paid in gold but that sounds questionable...perhaps a misunderstanding of "blutgeld"?

He probably submitted travel costs to the RMH. I have never seen a bill in the course of my research.

Under the guidelines for scharfrichters he was directed to get lodging and food at each prison, not at
local hotels and restaurants as he had previously done. This of course was later in the War and was a cost-saving measure.
He argued over lodging and food costs a lot as well as handling the bodies of those he executed. This became a
big issue at Stuttgart and Brandenburg Gordon.

[fredric]

I have read claims that Johann Reichhart transported the fallbeil to various execution sites in his Opel Blitz truck. I can see him doing this
prior to the establishment of Central Execution Prisons but question if it is logical that he continued to haul the mechanism to his designated
Central Execution sites during the War years. Each Central Execution Prison within the Reich and greater Reich had its own fallbeil (mostly Tegels) so transporting the Munich Mannhardt to his assigned prisons (e.g. Stuttgart) does not sound correct.
Does anyone have information on this subject?