According to this article, the guillotine blade remained stuck in Werner Gladow's neck without killing him on the first two tries. Only the third blade fall severed his head. Some argued before that the blade just got stuck above Gladow's head twice without touching his neck. However, the prosecutor who was present during the execution supposedly fainted according to another article on the subject, so it was probably a very gruesome spectacle. They also mention strapping the convict to a moveable board (bascule) which would be on the guillotine only if it was an old unmodified Mannhardt or an old German wooden guillotine. Tegel guilotines did not have bascules. I do not know where the guillotine used in Frankfurt on oder came from, as Frankfurt on oder was not one of the Central execution sites during the Third Reich era. It is likely that the guillotine was a Tegel type and the part about trapping the convict to a board is not factually correct.
Blutiger Auftakt
Gladow, ein Metzgersohn aus einem Berliner Mietskasernen-Viertel, war athletisch, aufgeweckt - und einer der gefährlichste Gangster Deutschlands. Gerade 17-jährig hatte er 1948 das Kartell der "Weißen Krawatten" aufgebaut, er selbst sah sich in der Tradition des skrupellosen Mafia-Bosses Al Capone. Entsprechend lang war die Anklageliste, als Gladow nach einem einstündigen Feuergefecht mit der Volkspolizei festgenommen war und im Frühjahr 1950 vor Gericht gestellt wurde: Zwei Morde warfen die Ermittler seiner Bande vor, außerdem 15 Mordversuche, massenweise bewaffnete Überfälle, Straßenraub, Diebstahl, 21 Entwaffnungen von DDR-Beamten. Das Urteil über Bandenchef Gladow: Tod durch die Guillotine.
Wenige Monate später, am Morgen des 11. November 1950, schnallten die Beamten den Gangsterboss in Frankfurt an der Oder auf ein bewegliches Holzbrett. Sie schoben das Brett nach vorne, bis Gladows Genick unter der mächtigen Klinge lag. Um 6.05 Uhr fiel das Beil - und blieb im Nacken des Verurteilten stecken, ohne ihn zu töten. Zügig zogen die Henker die Schneide wieder hoch, wieder stürzte die Klinge herab. Erneut ohne Erfolg. Gladow brüllte vor Schmerz und Todesangst. Erst nach dem dritten Versuch rollte sein Kopf.
Translated by google:
Bloody prelude
Gladow, a butcher's son from a Berlin tenement quarter, was athletic, aroused, and one of the most dangerous gangsters of Germany. Just 17 years old, he had set up the cartel of the "White Ties" in 1948, he saw himself in the tradition of the unscrupulous mafia boss Al Capone. This was the length of the strike list, when Gladow was arrested after an hour - long firefight with the People 's Police, and was put to trial in the spring of 1950: two murders accused the investigators of his gang, 15 attempted assassinations, armed assaults, street robbery, theft, GDR officials. The verdict of Bandenchef Gladow: Death by the Guillotine.
A few months later, on the morning of November 11, 1950, the officers strapped the gangster boss in Frankfurt on the Oder to a mobile wooden board. They pushed the board forward until Gladows Genick was under the powerful blade. At 6:05 the ax fell - and remained stuck in the neck of the convict without killing him. The executioners quickly pulled the cutting edge up again, again the blade fell down. Again without success. Gladow shouted with pain and death fear. Only after the third attempt did his head roll.
http://www.spiegel.de/einestages/todess ... 47648.html
