Beheadings in the Third Reich

[Pete26]

the execution took place according to your chronological order?
Also because some men were hanged and other guillotined?

One cannot tell from this list whether they were executed in the same order they are listed. This information would be in the Ploetzensee execution book where the exact time of execution was recorded. However, we know that women were guillotined in Ploetzensee, not hanged.

[Pete26]

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/29/arch ... tined.html

PARIS, Nov. 28, 1972—Claude Buffet and Roger Bontems were guillotined in the cold, dark blanket of early morning Paris today, the first men executed in France in more than three and a half years. Their deaths at Santé Prison have stirred new debate over capital punishment.

Note that the men were guillotined 7 minutes apart. Compare that to approximately 2 minute intervals between Nazi guillotine executions.

French used a wet sponge to clean the blade after each execution, then threw several buckets of water over the guillotine bench and lunette. It took longer to raise the blade, as the French guillotine is twice as tall as Tegel type Nazi guillotine.

Nazi executioners used a water hose to clean the guillotine after each execution. Bodies and heads were immediately removed from the execution room and taken to a room next to the execution chamber. In multiple French guillotine executions, bodies were rolled into a wicker metal lined body basket, then the head was placed in the basket too. If the basket was kept open (and it was in some cases), the next condemned could see the body in the basket while being swung under the guillotine blade. The body basket was large enough to hold three bodies and heads. The galvanized sheet metal inner liner kept the blood from flowing out of the basket.

[Pete26]

On this day, 76 years ago (2 October 1942), 21 year old French worker Juliette Kaecheli was guillotined in Ploetzensee prison.

[Pete26]

A total of 1574 resistance fighters were executed in Ploetzensee prison:

The numbers by nationality were:

Germany: 667

Czechoslovakia: 591

Poland: 165

Austria: 51

France: 21

Soviet Union: 18

Belgium: 17

Netherlands: 17

Jugoslavia: 7

Bulgaria: 3

Greenland: 3

Switzerland: 3

Spain: 3

Italy: 2

Luxemburg: 2

Danemark: 1

Norway: 1

Turkey: 1

Hungary: 1
_________________
Total: 1574


The largest foreign group of executed resistance fighters were citizens of Czechoslovakia (broken up by Hitler into Slovak State and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia).

Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch.

[marko10]

I recently saw the film "Alon in Berlin" inspired by the story of Otto and Elise Hampel and I wanted to know if their executions on April 8, 1943 in the Plötzensee prison in Berlin were the only ones of that day? and then they were guillotined in the morning or in the afternoon because I did not find the time for their execution ..

[Pete26]

I recently saw the film "Alon in Berlin" inspired by the story of Otto and Elise Hampel and I wanted to know if their executions on April 8, 1943 in the Plötzensee prison in Berlin were the only ones of that day? and then they were guillotined in the morning or in the afternoon because I did not find the time for their execution ..

I found the names of the following eleven individuals executed in Ploetzensee prison on 8 April 1943:

Otto Hampel, age 45, (Germany)

Elise Hampel, age 39, (Germany)

Dietrich Temberger, age 45, (Germany)

Vladimir Cerny, age 48, (Czechoslovakia)

Rudolf Feistmantl, age 50, (Czechoslovakia)

Dr Johann Kessler, age 51, (Czechoslovakia)

Franz Nepily, age 50, (Czechoslovakia)

Alois Pacold, age 46, (Czechoslovakia)

Karl Pajgr, age 45, (Czechoslovakia)

Marie Ulrichova, age 52, (Czechoslovakia)

Josef Zampach, age 29, (Czechoslovakia)


Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch

Executions were typically carried out in the evening starting at 1900 hours in Ploetzensee prison.

[marko10]

two questions ...
1) in the aforementioned book "Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee," the martyrs guillotined for political crimes are quantified in 1574. Is it possible to estimate the total number of executions carried out in the various Nazi prisons for political and ideological crimes?

2) was there a rule that in the sequence of executions, women's inmates were given precedence? or was the sequence random?

I recently saw the film "Alon in Berlin" inspired by the story of Otto and Elise Hampel and I wanted to know if their executions on April 8, 1943 in the Plötzensee prison in Berlin were the only ones of that day? and then they were guillotined in the morning or in the afternoon because I did not find the time for their execution ..

I found the names of the following eleven individuals executed in Ploetzensee prison on 8 April 1943:

Otto Hampel, age 45, (Germany)

Elise Hampel, age 39, (Germany)

Dietrich Temberger, age 45, (Germany)

Vladimir Cerny, age 48, (Czechoslovakia)

Rudolf Feistmantl, age 50, (Czechoslovakia)

Dr Johann Kessler, age 51, (Czechoslovakia)

Franz Nepily, age 50, (Czechoslovakia)

Alois Pacold, age 46, (Czechoslovakia)

Karl Pajgr, age 45, (Czechoslovakia)

Marie Ulrichova, age 52, (Czechoslovakia)

Josef Zampach, age 29, (Czechoslovakia)


Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch

Executions were typically carried out in the evening starting at 1900 hours in Ploetzensee prison.

[Pete26]

two questions ...
1) in the aforementioned book "Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee," the martyrs guillotined for political crimes are quantified in 1574. Is it possible to estimate the total number of executions carried out in the various Nazi prisons for political and ideological crimes?

2) was there a rule that in the sequence of executions, women's inmates were given precedence? or was the sequence random?
[

1. I have seen data for Vienna and Ploetzensee victims. Of about 1200 total executed in Vienna, 619 were executed for political reasons, so about half. In order to find exactly how many were condemned for political reasons, one would have to obtain execution records for each central execution site, and perhaps the court records if the execution record did not list the reason for execution. In Ploetzensee prison, at least 2500 inmates were executed, of which 1574 were executed for political reasons. So about 63% in this case.
Keep in mind that during the later years of the Third Reich era, there were something like 40 different offenses punishable by death, so sometimes it is difficult to categorize some of these offenses as political or non-political.

2. In case of Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst execution, Sophie was the first one to go. However, females were not always among the first to be executed. I have posted Pankrac prison execution sequences on this forum where females were executed last among a group of 15 or more.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35191&p=1836646&hil ... a#p1836646

In case of Vienna executions, sister Restituta Kafka was executed as the ninth person from a total of 19. So it appears that only sometimes females were selected among the first to be executed.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35191&p=2149262&hil ... k#p2149262

[marko10]

I read in the forums that the demand for grace in Nazi Germany was always rejected. But it happened that some convicted person was granted pardon and so avoided the guillotine at the last moment?

[history1]

A total of 1574 resistance fighters were executed in Ploetzensee prison:
The numbers by nationality were:
[...]
Czechoslovakia: 591
[...]
Soviet Union: 18
[...]
Jugoslavia: 7
[...]
The largest foreign group of executed resistance fighters were citizens of Czechoslovakia (broken up by Hitler into Slovak State and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia).

Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch.

Both Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia didn´t exist then and don´t nowadays. Would be of interest to see the countries broken apart at the situation of the time. And of course there was also the Sudetenland what later was again CSSR which you did ignore. Even Poland did occupy czech land in 1938, I wonder how many know about?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protektor ... en5%2B.svg

[Pete26]

I read in the forums that the demand for grace in Nazi Germany was always rejected. But it happened that some convicted person was granted pardon and so avoided the guillotine at the last moment?

Some percentage of condemned prisoners had their sentences commuted to a prison term. Pardons were probably very rare.( Commutation of a sentence means reduction of a sentence and pardon means a complete vacating of a sentence).

[Pete26]

A total of 1574 resistance fighters were executed in Ploetzensee prison:

The numbers by nationality were:

Germany: 667

Czechoslovakia: 591

Poland: 165

Austria: 51

France: 21

Soviet Union: 18

Belgium: 17

Netherlands: 17

Jugoslavia: 7

Bulgaria: 3

Greenland: 3

Switzerland: 3

Spain: 3

Italy: 2

Luxemburg: 2

Danemark: 1

Norway: 1

Turkey: 1

Hungary: 1
_________________
Total: 1574


The largest foreign group of executed resistance fighters were citizens of Czechoslovakia (broken up by Hitler into Slovak State and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia).

Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch.

I wish to make a correction. "Greenland" in the list above should be "Greece", and "Danemark" should be "Denmark".

I copied the data as it appeared in the referenced book, which was published in 1974. I just translated the data in German into English.

[fredric]

Great research Pete. Good information.
Marco asks interesting questions. You provide new answers, new information.
While I was at Plotzensee and the Memorial Center in the Bendlerblock, I had an opportunity to
flip through a thick, typed list of every execution by date. The original documents are not accessible but
copies are. They are quite helpful. While most people just take a quick look at the execution chamber, I got to spend
a lot of time their, beyond the robe so to speak. I was fascinated to find the end of the bolt that secured the front base of the
fallbeil still visible, right by the drain.

[marko10]

is it possible to know the names of the two Italians?

A total of 1574 resistance fighters were executed in Ploetzensee prison:

The numbers by nationality were:

Germany: 667

Czechoslovakia: 591

Poland: 165

Austria: 51

France: 21

Soviet Union: 18

Belgium: 17

Netherlands: 17

Jugoslavia: 7

Bulgaria: 3

Greenland: 3

Switzerland: 3

Spain: 3

Italy: 2

Luxemburg: 2

Danemark: 1

Norway: 1

Turkey: 1

Hungary: 1
_________________
Total: 1574


The largest foreign group of executed resistance fighters were citizens of Czechoslovakia (broken up by Hitler into Slovak State and Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia).

Source: Ehrenbuch der Opfer von Berlin-Ploetzensee, Willy Perk and Willi Desch.

[Pete26]

is it possible to know the names of the two Italians

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35191&p=2150215&hil ... e#p2150215


I have already posted their names.