Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

So the belt did prevent that the deliquent is bowing his/her head down? But wouldn´t lowering the head inot the bucket not mean that the neck is strained/tightened and support a clean cut?

You wrote " I did not say anything about how a severed human head might land in the basket. ".
I did not suggest such nor referr in any way. It was just an observation on my part.

If the person being guillotined could lower his head fully into the bucket, and also tried to withdraw his head from the lunette the blade could possibly cut through part of his lower jaw. Because the leather belt provided support for the forehead, this action was not possible.

[Pete26]

He executed a total of 3,126 death sentences - including judgments on 250 women - from 1924 to 1945: murderers, violent criminals, but also resistance fighters and alleged opponents of the Nazi regime. By order of the American military power he hanged another 156 people. His 23-year executioner career had made him wealthy, but in 1943 he earned the enormous sum of 41,748.20 Reichsmark. In the end, however, he was an isolated old man who was still given a modest disability and military pension of just 220 marks a month. Shortly before his seventy-ninth birthday Johann Reichhart died in 1974 in a Bavarian hospital, near Munich.

https://www.wbg-wissenverbindet.de/blog ... -des-todes

[Pete26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQXyZYY3tjE

The life size bronze statue of medieval executioner holding an axe is in the town square where executions actually took place. (1.36 minutes into the video clip). The city was populated with German settlers in the 13th century and it has retained its medieval character to this day.

The original executioner's house is supposedly still standing somewhere nearby. There is also an isolated pew for the executioner in the local church. This was the usual arrangement in the Middle Ages in many European cities. The executioners were social outcasts.

medieval executioner.jpg (54.54 KiB) Viewed 2412 times

[Pete26]

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wue ... z-106.html

402 Männer und 21 Frauen starben in der Zeit von 1933 bis 1944 im Lichthof des alten Justizgebäudes durch das Fallbeil. Die Namen der Opfer sind auf Stelen vor dem Stuttgarter Landgericht nachzulesen. Ein Ausstellungsbereich erinnert außerdem an 73 jüdische Juristinnen und Juristen aus dem Landgerichtsbezirk Stuttgart, die während der NS-Zeit ermordet oder in die Emigration gezwungen wurden.

[fredric]

Hans Ziegler and Sally Epstein were beheaded with an axe by the executioner Carl Gropler in Berlin Ploetzensee prison on 10 April 1935. See page 202 in the linked book for their photographs and also following pages, especially page 210 for description of Sally Epstein's beheading. It is somewhat odd that they mention leading the condemned man into an "execution room". This would be applicable if a guillotine was used, but this was an axe beheading and this was typically done outside in one of Ploetzensee prison courtyards. However, they mention placing the condemned on the bench, which was used and connected to the block, so this part of the execution is accurate.

They also state how long it took to carry out the axe beheading: 55 seconds from presentation of the convict to the end of pronouncement of the sentence, and 10 seconds from the time the convict was turned over to the executioner to the time the sentence was carried out.


https://books.google.com/books?id=ghCMD ... &q&f=false

Unfortunately the pages (210 etc) indicated cannot be accessed.
Can we access this???

[fredric]

So the belt did prevent that the deliquent is bowing his/her head down? But wouldn´t lowering the head inot the bucket not mean that the neck is strained/tightened and support a clean cut?

You wrote " I did not say anything about how a severed human head might land in the basket. ".
I did not suggest such nor referr in any way. It was just an observation on my part.

If the person being guillotined could lower his head fully into the bucket, and also tried to withdraw his head from the lunette the blade could possibly cut through part of his lower jaw. Because the leather belt provided support for the forehead, this action was not possible.

Exactly right. A clean cut was the goal.

[Pete26]

Hans Ziegler and Sally Epstein were beheaded with an axe by the executioner Carl Gropler in Berlin Ploetzensee prison on 10 April 1935. See page 202 in the linked book for their photographs and also following pages, especially page 210 for description of Sally Epstein's beheading. It is somewhat odd that they mention leading the condemned man into an "execution room". This would be applicable if a guillotine was used, but this was an axe beheading and this was typically done outside in one of Ploetzensee prison courtyards. However, they mention placing the condemned on the bench, which was used and connected to the block, so this part of the execution is accurate.

They also state how long it took to carry out the axe beheading: 55 seconds from presentation of the convict to the end of pronouncement of the sentence, and 10 seconds from the time the convict was turned over to the executioner to the time the sentence was carried out.


https://books.google.com/books?id=ghCMD ... &q&f=false

Unfortunately the pages (210 etc) indicated cannot be accessed.
Can we access this???

Fredric, try accessing the link several times, preferably by clicking on it in the quoted section in this post. I have encountered the same issue, originally pages 202+ did load, then second time only about 20 first pages did. When I clicked the link now, pages 202+ did load.

[fredric]

Hans Ziegler and Sally Epstein were beheaded with an axe by the executioner Carl Gropler in Berlin Ploetzensee prison on 10 April 1935. See page 202 in the linked book for their photographs and also following pages, especially page 210 for description of Sally Epstein's beheading. It is somewhat odd that they mention leading the condemned man into an "execution room". This would be applicable if a guillotine was used, but this was an axe beheading and this was typically done outside in one of Ploetzensee prison courtyards. However, they mention placing the condemned on the bench, which was used and connected to the block, so this part of the execution is accurate.

They also state how long it took to carry out the axe beheading: 55 seconds from presentation of the convict to the end of pronouncement of the sentence, and 10 seconds from the time the convict was turned over to the executioner to the time the sentence was carried out.


https://books.google.com/books?id=ghCMD ... &q&f=false

Unfortunately the pages (210 etc) indicated cannot be accessed.
Can we access this???

It is possible the execution was conducted inside the execution chamber which was once larger than what we see in photos.
What is shown is what remained after the bombing. About half of the building (a storage room) was destroyed.
So in 1935 executions could have been held inside this building.
In 1936 two axe beheadings of women were conducted by Groppler in Hof 4 outdoors. This area is correctly identified as
behind what we know as the execution building.
In 1936 the Bruchsal fallbeil was sent to Plotzensee.
I have never read about where it was first set up... but bet it was the left side of the large storage room.
The British Pathe film on YouTube shows what was left of this part of the storage room after the War time bombing.
The fallbeil may have been repaired and moved to what remained of the building and that is what we see today.

[Pete26]

Vítězslav Dvořák.gif (37.53 KiB) Viewed 1820 times

Vítězslav Dvořák was guillotined in Pankrac prison on 20 October 1944.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vítězslav_Dvořák

[Pete26]

Václav Rusý.gif (42.17 KiB) Viewed 1817 times

Václav Rusý was guillotined in Pankrac prison on 20 October 1944.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Václav_Rusý

[Pete26]

Bedřich Linhart.gif (35.06 KiB) Viewed 1815 times

Bedřich Linhart was guillotined in Pankrac prison on 20 October 1044.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedřich_Linhart

[Pete26]

Miroslav Šára .gif (39.42 KiB) Viewed 1814 times

Miroslav Šára was guillotined in Pankrac prison on 20 October 1944.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vítězslav_Dvořák

[Pete26]

Anna Pollertova.jpg (20.48 KiB) Viewed 1809 times

Anna Pollertová was guillotined in Berlin Ploetzensee prison on 10 January 1945.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Pollertová

[Pete26]

Josef Friedl.gif (31.22 KiB) Viewed 1806 times

Josef Friedl was guillotined in Dresden on 8 February 1945.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Friedl

[Pete26]

Bohuslav Kašpar was guillotined in Brandenburg-Gorden prison on 15 January 1945.


https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Kašpar