Beheadings in the Third Reich
Re: Beheadings in the Third Reich in 1949??
Didn´t knew that the Third Reich lasted until 1949, that you´re posting now executions from post war Germany??
Re: The youngest person officially guillotined by Nazis
According to a Wikipedia article, Walerian Wrobel helped extinguish the fire and there was no damage done. If this was arson, it was inconsequential from material damage standpoint.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walerian_Wróbel
I do not recall the exact source, but back in 2013 I posted about a 15 year old boy who was guillotined in Brandenburg Gorden prison. So this helps support the claim.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35191&start=4860#p1828084
http://www.dpjw.org/gedenkstaetten/de/i ... 254&id=239
Incidentally, 14 years old was also the lowest age for legal execution in South Carolina, USA in 1940's. A 14 year old boy named George Junius Stinney was judicially executed in the electric chair for double murder on 16 June 1944 in South Carolina, USA. His conviction was overturned some 70 years later because he did not receive a fair trial.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stinney
Last edited by Pete26 on 26 Jul 2019, 04:55, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Beheadings in the Third Reich in 1949??
I believe these executions are relevant as they were performed by former Nazi executioners using the same Nazi guillotines used to behead hundreds of innocent people for mostly political "crimes". The difference is that during these postwar years it was Nazi criminals themselves and common criminals that were beheaded, not people guilty of merely opposing the Nazi regime. We know that only a small fraction of people guillotined during the Third Reich were guilty of serious crimes such as murder, or rape. Most of the executed individuals were executed for political reasons. Friedrich Hehr also performed postwar guillotine executions in Wolfenbuettel prison using the same Nazi guillotine. He beheaded more than 60 individuals in Wolfenbuettel alone in postwar years. One notable individual guillotined after WWII in this location was Willi Herold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Herold
Re: Beheadings in the Third Reich
I fully agree with your point of view regarding W.Wróbel (correct spelling). What I stated was the meaning/justification of the Nazi authorities. The reaction of even minor misdemeans were brutal and disproportional.
Appreciate the links and further infos.
Appreciate the links and further infos.
Re: Beheadings in the Third Reich in 1949??
A book you might enjoy is "Hitler's Justice the Courts of the Third Reich".
Just expertly translated a few years ago and available (Harvard Univ. Press), the book describes the corrupt Nazi legal system
and how after the Reich fell in 1945, many of the Hitler era judges continued on the bench. It does not get deeply into cases but
gives lots of examples of the cruelty of the laws under Hitler. Muller shows that judges should not enlist in popular political movements
or "so immersed in a professional culture that they are oblivious to the human consequences of their decisions." Thus Hitler's judges
were tools of the Nazi State. It is amazing most remained in the post-war legal system in spite of this.
The German film "Homesickness of Valerean Wrobel", a dramatized bio, shows his execution.
Franz Heger
Franz Heger was guillotined in Wien Landesgericht on 21 November 1944.
https://franz-heger.zurerinnerung.at/
Herbert Klein
Herbert Klein was shot in Hamburg for desertion on 10 March 1945 at the age of 23. Military deserters in Hamburg were either shot or beheaded.
https://www.ndr.de/geschichte/chronolog ... iz100.html
Translated by google:Todesurteile gegen Wehrmacht-Soldaten
Im Deutschen Reich ergingen während des Zweiten Weltkriegs mehr als 30.000 Todesurteile gegen Soldaten der Wehrmacht - wegen Fahnenflucht, Zersetzung der Wehkraft oder Befehlsverweigerung. Etwa 20.000 von ihnen wurden hingerichtet. Darüber hinaus verurteilten Wehrmachtrichter Tausende Wehrmacht-Angehörige, zivile Matrosen, Luftwaffenhelferinnen und ausländische Kriegsgefangenen zu teils langjährigen Gefängnis- und Zuchthausstrafen. Wehrmachtgerichte führten allein in Hamburg zwischen 65.000 und 90.000 Verfahren durch.
Death sentences against Wehrmacht soldiers
During the Second World War, more than 30,000 death sentences were issued in the German Reich against soldiers of the Wehrmacht - because of desertion, disintegration of power or refusal of orders. About 20,000 of them were executed. In addition, Wehrmacht judges condemned thousands of Wehrmacht members, civilian sailors, air force helpers and foreign prisoners of war, in some cases for many years in prison and penitentiary sentences. Wehrmacht courts conducted between 65,000 and 90,000 trials in Hamburg alone.
Another Pankrac fallbeil short video
https://prima.iprima.cz/zpravodajstvi/s ... torii-dnes
Some interesting information mentioned in the video:
Until second half of year 1944, death row inmates waited approximately 90 days on the death row before being guillotined, in late 1944 this time was shortened to 60 days, and toward the end of WWII it was only about 40 days.
At the end of the clip you can see the last Pankrac execution room with primitive gallows with a small metal trap door over a shallow pit, only about 80 cm deep. The trap door was operated with a lever on the other side of the wall. This execution room was used beginning in 1954 and 154 people died here, mostly common criminals, but also some political prisoners sentenced to death by communists. The last execution was carried out in 1989. Between the end of WWII and 1954, pole type gallows was used to execute people in the courtyards of Pankrac prison.
Some interesting information mentioned in the video:
Until second half of year 1944, death row inmates waited approximately 90 days on the death row before being guillotined, in late 1944 this time was shortened to 60 days, and toward the end of WWII it was only about 40 days.
At the end of the clip you can see the last Pankrac execution room with primitive gallows with a small metal trap door over a shallow pit, only about 80 cm deep. The trap door was operated with a lever on the other side of the wall. This execution room was used beginning in 1954 and 154 people died here, mostly common criminals, but also some political prisoners sentenced to death by communists. The last execution was carried out in 1989. Between the end of WWII and 1954, pole type gallows was used to execute people in the courtyards of Pankrac prison.
Re: Another Pankrac fallbeil short video
As far as I know, there is a possibility to visit a memorial in Pankrac prison. There is just a requirement of previous agreement with the prison´s management.
See more there:
https://www.vscr.cz/vazebni-veznice-pra ... s/exkurze/ (fallbeil included)
See more there:
https://www.vscr.cz/vazebni-veznice-pra ... s/exkurze/ (fallbeil included)
Pete26 wrote: ↑01 Aug 2019, 17:16https://prima.iprima.cz/zpravodajstvi/s ... torii-dnes
Some interesting information mentioned in the video:
Until second half of year 1944, death row inmates waited approximately 90 days on the death row before being guillotined, in late 1944 this time was shortened to 60 days, and toward the end of WWII it was only about 40 days.
At the end of the clip you can see the last Pankrac execution room with primitive gallows with a small metal trap door over a shallow pit, only about 80 cm deep. The trap door was operated with a lever on the other side of the wall. This execution room was used beginning in 1954 and 154 people died here, mostly common criminals, but also some political prisoners sentenced to death by communists. The last execution was carried out in 1989. Between the end of WWII and 1954, pole type gallows was used to execute people in the courtyards of Pankrac prison.
Louis Boeckxstaens
Louis Boeckxstaens was guillotined in Weimar on 21 December 1940. He was 19 years old.
https://mj.sachsen-anhalt.de/fileadmin/ ... uessel.pdf
Note: On page 17 of the linked document they show a photo of Pankrac fallbeil while it was operational. The wording below that this fallbeil was used in Halle Roter Ochse prison is obviously wrong. Halle used a similar Tegel fallbeil, but not this one.
An article about executioner Friedrich Hehr
https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/historisch/ ... --32334842
Friedrich Hehr performed at least 700 guillotine executions throughout his career. After WW II, he carried out 18 guillotine executions in Hamburg and over 60 in Wolfenbuettel.
Friedrich Hehr performed at least 700 guillotine executions throughout his career. After WW II, he carried out 18 guillotine executions in Hamburg and over 60 in Wolfenbuettel.
Graz execution room
If you click on the image more than once, you an make it much larger and see details of the execution room.
Oskar Aschoff
Oskar Aschoff was guillotined in Dortmund prison on 2 May 1944 at 1811 hours. He was 18 years old.
http://www.gelsenzentrum.de/deserteure_ ... justiz.htm
Another photo of Wroclaw fallbeil blade
http://m1key.me/photography/rajd_przez_ ... e_2_73.jpg
This is of course a Mannhardt fallbeil blade and it weighs about 15 kg (33 lbs) by itself. The angle of the blade sharpened edge is about 45 degrees. Because of the thickness of the blade (about 18 mm or 3/4 of an inch), a double bevel was required to achieve a sharp edge. The correct orientation of the blade when mounted in the sliding frame is with the beveled edge facing the head bucket.
It is quite possible that Marie Kuderikova, a Czech student, was guillotined with this very blade. Marie Kuderikova was guillotined in Wroclaw on 26 March 1943 at the age of 22.
Last edited by Pete26 on 05 Aug 2019, 05:25, edited 1 time in total.
Fritz Siedentopf
Fritz Siedentopf was guillotined in Brandenburg Gorden prison on 28 August 1944.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Siedentopf