History Talk

I'll Always Be Here · Guest

From 1871 German law stated that all condemned criminals must be decapitated
but allowed both the axe and the guillotine. The guillotine was also used in
Greece, Switzerland and Sweden. Sweden used the guillotine once, in 1910,
when Alfred Ander was executed for armed robbery. It was to be Sweden's last
execution. During the Nazi period, 1933-1945, 20 guillotines were used in
Germany and Austria (from 1938). Hitler considered it a demeaning form of
punishment and used it for political executions. 20,000 had a date with
Madame la Guillotine in 1942 and 1943.

It has been estimated that 16.000 persons, maybe as many as 20.000, were
guillotined by the Nazis, more than were killed by the guillotine in France
during the revolution. After the war, the guillotine was last used in the
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (West Germany) on May 11, 1949, when the murderer
Berthold Wehmeyer was beheaded.

East Germany continued to use the guillotine for a few more years afterwards.

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