![Guillotine Luxembourg 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Guillotine_Luxembourg_01.jpg)
A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out
executions
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
by
beheading
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled
blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with
stocks
Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...
at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is then released, swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single, clean pass so that the head falls into a basket or other receptacle below.
The guillotine is best known for its use in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, particularly during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, where the revolution's supporters celebrated it as the people's avenger and the revolution's opponents vilified it as the pre-eminent symbol of the violence of the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
. While the name "guillotine" itself dates from this period, similar devices had been in use elsewhere in Europe over several centuries. The use of an oblique blade and the stocks set this type of guillotine apart from others. The display of severed heads had long been one of the most common ways European sovereigns exhibited their power to their subjects.
The guillotine was invented in order to make capital punishment less painful in accordance with new
Enlightenment
Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:
Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...
ideals about human rights. Prior to the guillotine, France had used manual beheading alongside a variety of methods of execution, many of which were more gruesome and required a high level of precision and skill to carry out successfully. After its adoption, the device remained France's standard method of judicial execution until the
abolition of capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in 1981.
[Loi n°81-908 du 9 octobre 1981 portant abolition de la peine de mort]
. Legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved on 2013-04-25. The last person to be executed in France was
Hamida Djandoubi
Hamida Djandoubi ( ar, Øميدة جندوبي, ḤamÄ«da JandÅ«bÄ«; 22 September 1949 – 10 September 1977) was a Tunisian convicted murderer sentenced to death in France. He moved to Marseille in 1968, and six years later he kidnapped, torture ...
, guillotined on 10 September 1977.
History
Precursors
![The Maiden, National Museum of Scotland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/The_Maiden%2C_National_Museum_of_Scotland.jpg)
The use of beheading machines in Europe long predates such use during the French Revolution in 1792. An early example of the principle is found in the
''High History of the Holy Grail'', dated to about 1210. Although the device is imaginary, its function is clear.
The text says:
The
Halifax Gibbet
The Halifax Gibbet was an early guillotine used in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Estimated to have been installed during the 16th century, it was used as an alternative to beheading by axe or sword. Halifax was once part of ...
was a wooden structure consisting of two wooden uprights, capped by a horizontal beam, of a total height of . The blade was an axe head weighing 3.5 kg (7.7 lb), attached to the bottom of a massive wooden block that slid up and down in grooves in the uprights. This device was mounted on a large square platform high. It is not known when the Halifax Gibbet was first used; the first recorded execution in
Halifax dates from 1280, but that execution may have been by sword, axe, or gibbet. The machine remained in use until
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
forbade capital punishment for petty theft.
A
Hans Weiditz (1495-1537) woodcut illustration from the 1532 edition of
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...
's ''De remediis utriusque fortunae'', or "Remedies for Both Good and Bad Fortune" shows a device similar to the Halifax Gibbet in the background being used for an execution.
Holinshed's Chronicles of 1577 included a picture of "The execution of Murcod Ballagh near Merton in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
in 1307" showing a similar execution machine, suggesting its early use in Ireland.
The
Maiden was constructed in 1564 for the Provost and Magistrates of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, and was in use from April 1565 to 1710. One of those executed was
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, in 1581, and a 1644 publication began circulating the legend that Morton himself commissioned the Maiden after he had seen the Halifax Gibbet.
[Maxwell, H ]
Edinburgh, A Historical Study
', Williams and Norgate (1916), pp. 137, 299–303. The Maiden was readily dismantled for storage and transport, and it is now on display in the
National Museum of Scotland
The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...
.
France
Etymology
For a period of time after its invention, the guillotine was called a ''louisette''. However, it was later named after French
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a special device to carry out executions in France in a more humane manner. A death penalty opponent, he was displeased with the
breaking wheel
The breaking wheel or execution wheel, also known as the Wheel of Catherine or simply the Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages into the early modern period by breakin ...
and other common, more grisly methods of execution and sought to persuade
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...
to implement a less painful alternative. While not the device's inventor, Guillotin's name ultimately became an eponym for it. Contrary to popular myth, Guillotin did not die by guillotine but rather by natural causes.
Invention
French surgeon and physiologist
Antoine Louis
Antoine Louis (; 13 February 1723, Metz – 20 May 1792) was an 18th-century French surgeon and physiologist.
He was originally trained in medicine by his father, a sergeant major at a local military hospital. As a young man he moved to Paris, ...
, together with German engineer , built a prototype for the guillotine. According to the memoires of the French executioner
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
,
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
suggested the use of a straight, angled blade instead of a curved one.
= Introduction in France
=
On 10 October 1789, physician
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
that
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
should always take the form of decapitation "by means of a simple mechanism".
Sensing the growing discontent,
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
banned the use of the
breaking wheel
The breaking wheel or execution wheel, also known as the Wheel of Catherine or simply the Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages into the early modern period by breakin ...
.
In 1791, as the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
progressed, the National Assembly researched a new method to be used on all condemned people regardless of class, consistent with the idea that the purpose of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
was simply to end life rather than to inflict unnecessary pain.
A committee formed under
Antoine Louis
Antoine Louis (; 13 February 1723, Metz – 20 May 1792) was an 18th-century French surgeon and physiologist.
He was originally trained in medicine by his father, a sergeant major at a local military hospital. As a young man he moved to Paris, ...
, physician to the King and Secretary to the Academy of Surgery.
Guillotin was also on the committee. The group was influenced by beheading devices used elsewhere in Europe, such as the Italian Mannaia (or Mannaja, which had been used since Roman times), the
Scottish Maiden
The Maiden (also known as the Scottish Maiden) is an early form of guillotine, or gibbet, that was used between the 16th and 18th centuries as a means of execution in Edinburgh, Scotland. The device was introduced in 1564 during the reign of ...
, and the
Halifax Gibbet
The Halifax Gibbet was an early guillotine used in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Estimated to have been installed during the 16th century, it was used as an alternative to beheading by axe or sword. Halifax was once part of ...
(3.5 kg).
[
] While many of these prior instruments crushed the neck or used blunt force to take off a head, a number of them also used a crescent blade to behead and a hinged two-part yoke to immobilize the victim's neck.
Laquiante, an officer of the
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
criminal court,
designed a beheading machine and employed Tobias Schmidt, a German engineer and
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecÃn; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
maker, to construct a prototype. Antoine Louis is also credited with the design of the prototype. France's official executioner,
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
, claimed in his memoirs that King Louis XVI (an amateur locksmith) recommended that the device employ an oblique blade rather than a crescent one, lest the blade not be able to cut through all necks; the neck of the king, who would eventually die by guillotine years later, was offered up discreetly as an example. The first execution by guillotine was performed on
highwayman
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier (c. 175625 April 1792) was a French highwayman who was the first person to be executed by guillotine.
Robbery and subsequent sentencing
Pelletier routinely associated with a group of known criminals. On the night of 1 ...
on 25 April 1792 in front of what is now the city hall of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
(Place de l'Hôtel de Ville). All citizens condemned to die were from then on executed there, until the scaffold was moved on 21 August to the
Place du Carrousel.
The machine was deemed successful because it was considered a humane form of execution in contrast with the more cruel methods used in the pre-revolutionary ''
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
''. In France, before the invention of the guillotine, members of the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
were beheaded with a sword or an axe, which often took two or more blows to kill the condemned. The condemned or their families would sometimes pay the executioner to ensure that the blade was sharp in order to achieve a quick and relatively painless death. Commoners were usually hanged, which could take many minutes. In the early phase of the French Revolution before the guillotine's adoption, the slogan ''
À la lanterne
''Lanterne'' is a French word designating a lantern or lamp post. The word, or the slogan "À la lanterne!" (in English: To the Lamp Post!) gained special meaning and status in Paris and France during the early phase of the French Revolution, ...
'' (in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: To the lamp post! String Them Up! or Hang Them!) symbolized popular justice in revolutionary France. The revolutionary radicals hanged officials and aristocrats from street
lantern
A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...
s and also employed more gruesome methods of execution, such as
the wheel or
burning at the stake
Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...
.
Having only one method of civil execution for all regardless of class was also seen as an expression of equality among citizens. The guillotine was then the only civil
legal execution method in France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981, apart from certain crimes against the security of the state, or for the death sentences passed by military courts, which entailed
execution by firing squad.
= Reign of Terror
=
![Execution robespierre, saint just](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Execution_robespierre%2C_saint_just....jpg)
Louis Collenot d'Angremont was a royalist famed for having been the first guillotined for his political ideas, on 21 August 1792. During the
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
(June 1793 to July 1794) about 17,000 people were guillotined, including former
King Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...
and Queen
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
who were executed at the guillotine in 1793. Towards the end of the Terror in 1794, revolutionary leaders such as
Georges Danton
Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In Augus ...
,
Saint-Just
Saint-Just, Saint-Juste, St-Juste, or St Just may refer to:
Music
* ''Saint Just'' (album)
*Saint Just (band), an Italian progressive rock band
Places
France
* Saint-Just (Lyon), a section of the city of Lyon
* Saint-Just, Ain, in the Ain ' ...
and
Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...
were sent to the guillotine. Most of the time, executions in Paris were carried out in the Place de la Revolution (former Place
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
and current
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
); the guillotine stood in the corner near the Hôtel Crillon where the City of Brest Statue can be found today. The machine was moved several times, to the
Place de la Nation and the
Place de la Bastille, but returned, particularly for the execution of the King and for Robespierre.
For a time, executions by guillotine were a popular form of entertainment that attracted great crowds of spectators, with vendors selling programs listing the names of the condemned. But more than being popular entertainment alone during the Terror, the guillotine symbolized revolutionary ideals: equality in death equivalent to equality before the law; open and demonstrable revolutionary justice; and the destruction of privilege under the ''
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
'', which used separate forms of execution for nobility and commoners. The Parisian ''
sans-culottes'', then the popular public face of lower-class patriotic radicalism, thus considered the guillotine a positive force for revolutionary progress.
= Retirement
=
![France - Public execution on Guillotine 1897](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/France_-_Public_execution_on_Guillotine_1897.jpg)
After the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, executions resumed in the city center. On 4 February 1832, the guillotine was moved behind the
Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, before being moved again, to the
Grande Roquette prison, on 29 November 1851.
In the late 1840s, the Tussaud brothers Joseph and Francis, gathering relics for
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...
wax museum, visited the aged
Henry-Clément Sanson Henry-Clément Sanson (27 May 1799 – 25 January 1889) was a French executioner. He held the position of Royal Executioner of the City of Paris, serving King Louis-Philippe I from 1840 to 1847.
Sanson was born into a long line of executioners. Hi ...
, grandson of the executioner
Charles-Henri Sanson
Charles-Henri Sanson, full title ''Chevalier Charles-Henri Sanson de Longval'' (15 February 1739 – 4 July 1806), was the royal executioner of France during the reign of King Louis XVI, as well as High Executioner of the First French Republic. He ...
, from whom they obtained parts, the knife and lunette, of one of the original guillotines used during the Reign of Terror. The executioner had "pawned his guillotine, and got into woeful trouble for alleged trafficking in municipal property".
On 6 August 1909, the guillotine was used at the junction of the
Boulevard Arago and the
Rue de la Santé, behind the
La Santé Prison
La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) (french: Maison d'arrêt de la Santé or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the ...
.
The last public guillotining in France was of
Eugen Weidmann
Eugen Weidmann (5 February 1908 - 17 June 1939) was a German criminal and serial-killer who was executed by guillotine in France in June 1939, the last public execution in France.
Early life
Weidmann was born in Frankfurt am Main to the family ...
, who was convicted of six murders. He was beheaded on 17 June 1939 outside the prison Saint-Pierre, rue Georges Clemenceau 5 at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
, which is now the
Palais de Justice. Numerous issues with the proceedings arose: inappropriate behavior by spectators, incorrect assembly of the apparatus, and secret cameras filming and photographing the execution from several stories above. In response, the French government ordered that future executions be conducted in the prison courtyard in private.
The guillotine remained the official method of execution in France until the death penalty was abolished in 1981.
The final three guillotinings in France before its abolition were those of child-murderers
Christian Ranucci
Christian Ranucci (6 April 1954 – 28 July 1976) was a French man convicted for the abduction and killing of an eight-year-old girl on Whit Monday 1974. Sentenced to death by beheading on 10 March, 1976, Ranucci was the third-to-last perso ...
(on 28 July 1976) in Marseille,
Jérôme Carrein
Jérôme Henri Carrein (2 July 1941 – 23 June 1977) was the second-to-last convicted criminal to be executed by guillotine in France.
On 27 October 1975 in Arleux, Northern France, Carrein, father of five children, often of no fixed abode, ...
(on 23 June 1977) in Douai and torturer-murderer
Hamida Djandoubi
Hamida Djandoubi ( ar, Øميدة جندوبي, ḤamÄ«da JandÅ«bÄ«; 22 September 1949 – 10 September 1977) was a Tunisian convicted murderer sentenced to death in France. He moved to Marseille in 1968, and six years later he kidnapped, torture ...
(on 10 September 1977) in Marseille. Djandoubi's death was the last time that the guillotine was used for an execution by any government.
Germany
In
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the guillotine is known as the ''Fallbeil'' ("falling hatchet") or ''Köpfsmaschine'' ("head
utting
Utting am Ammersee (until 1953 just Utting) is a municipality in the district of Landsberg in Bavaria in Germany.
History
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world ...
machine") and was used in various German states from the 19th century onwards, becoming the preferred method of execution in
Napoleonic
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
times in many parts of the country. The guillotine and the
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
were the legal methods of execution during the era of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
(1871–1918) and the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
(1919–1933).
The original German guillotines resembled the French Berger 1872 model, but they eventually evolved into sturdier and more efficient machines. Built primarily of metal instead of wood, these new guillotines had heavier blades than their French predecessors and thus could use shorter uprights as well. Officials could also conduct multiple executions faster, thanks to a more efficient blade recovery system and the eventual removal of the tilting board (bascule). Those deemed likely to struggle were backed slowly into the device from behind a curtain to prevent them from seeing it prior to the execution. A metal screen covered the blade as well in order to conceal it from the sight of the condemned.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
used the guillotine between 1933 and 1945 to execute 16,500 prisoners – 10,000 of them in 1944 and 1945 alone.
Notable political victims executed by the guillotine under the Nazi government included
Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist blamed for the
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire (german: Reichstagsbrand, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of ...
and executed via guillotine in January 1934. The Nazi government also guillotined
Sophie Scholl, who was convicted of high treason after distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets at the
University of Munich with her brother
Hans
Hans may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Hans (name), a masculine given name
* Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician
** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans
** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...
, and other members of the German student resistance group, the
White Rose.
The guillotine was last used in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1949 in the execution of
Richard Schuh and was last used in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
in 1966 in the execution of
Horst Fischer.
The
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
used the guillotine in East Germany between 1950 and 1966 for secret executions.
Elsewhere
A number of countries, primarily in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, continued to employ this method of execution into the 19th and 20th centuries, but they ceased to use it before France did in 1977.
In
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , the last person to be beheaded was Francis Kol. Convicted of
robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
and
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
, he received his punishment on 8 May 1856. During the period from 19 March 1798 to 30 March 1856, there were 19 beheadings in Antwerp.
In
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, it was used for the last time by the canton of
Obwalden
Obwalden, also Obwald (german: Kanton Obwalden, rm, Chantun Sursilvania; french: Canton d'Obwald; it, Canton Obvaldo), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the govern ...
in the execution of murderer
Hans Vollenweider
Hans Vollenweider (11 February 1908 – 18 October 1940) was a Swiss criminal. He was the last person to be sentenced to death and executed by a civilian court in Switzerland.Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, the guillotine (along with the
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
) was introduced as a method of execution in 1834; it was last used in 1913.
In
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, beheading became the mandatory method of execution in 1866. The guillotine replaced manual beheading in 1903, and it was used only once, in the execution of murderer
Alfred Ander
Johan Alfred Andersson Ander (27 November 1873 – 23 November 1910) was a convicted Swedish murderer and the last person to be executed in Sweden.
The only person to be executed in Sweden following the instatement of the guillotine, he remains ...
in 1910 at
LÃ¥ngholmen Prison
Långholmen Prison, officially Långholmen Central Prison ( sv, Långholmens centralfängelse), was historically one of the largest prison facilities in Sweden with more than 500 cells, located on the island of Långholmen in Stockholm. It was b ...
, Stockholm. Ander was also the last person to be executed in Sweden before capital punishment was abolished there in 1921.
In
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, after the
Diệm regime enacted the 10/59 Decree in 1959, mobile special military courts were dispatched to the countryside in order to intimidate the rural population; they used guillotines, which had belonged to the former French colonial power, in order to carry out death sentences on the spot. One such guillotine is still on show at the
War Remnants Museum in
Ho Chi Minh City
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
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.
In the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...
, the guillotine saw only limited use. The only recorded guillotine execution in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
north of the Caribbean took place on the French island of
St. Pierre in 1889, of Joseph Néel, with a guillotine brought in from
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
. In the Caribbean, it was used quite rarely in
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...
and
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
, the last time in
Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the ...
in 1965. In South America, the guillotine was only used in
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
, where about 150 people were beheaded between 1850 and 1945: most of them were convicts exiled from France and incarcerated within the "bagne", or penal colonies. Within the Southern Hemisphere, it worked in
New Caledonia
)
, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
(which had a bagne too until the end of the 19th century) and at least twice in
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
.
In 1996 in the United States, Georgia State Representative
Doug Teper
Douglas Clark Teper (born November 22, 1958) is an American politician and businessman from the US state of Georgia.
Teper was born in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated from the Georgia State University in 1982. He worked for a consulting company, i ...
unsuccessfully sponsored a bill to replace that state's
electric chair with the guillotine.
In recent years, a limited number of individuals have died by
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
using a guillotine which they had constructed themselves.
Controversy
![Execution of Languille in 1905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Execution_of_Languille_in_1905.jpg)
Ever since the guillotine's first use, there has been debate as to whether or not the guillotine provided as swift and painless a death as Guillotin had hoped. With previous methods of execution that were intended to be painful, few expressed concern about the level of suffering that they inflicted. However, because the guillotine was invented specifically to be more humane, the issue of whether or not the condemned experiences pain has been thoroughly examined and has remained a controversial topic. While certain eyewitness accounts of guillotine executions suggest anecdotally that awareness may persist momentarily after decapitation, there has never been true scientific consensus on the matter.
Living heads
The question of consciousness or awareness following decapitation remained a topic of discussion during the guillotine's use.
The following report was written by Dr. Beaurieux, who observed the head of executed prisoner Henri Languille, on 28 June 1905:
Names for the guillotine
During the span of its usage, the French guillotine has gone by many names, some of which include:
* La Monte-Ã -regret (The Regretful Climb)
[Joseph-Ignace GUILLOTIN (1738–1814)](_blank)
. Medarus.org. Retrieved on 2013-04-25.
* Le Rasoir National (The National Razor)
* Le Vasistas or La Lucarne (The Fanlight)
. Ktakafka.free.fr. Retrieved on 2013-04-25.
* La Veuve (The Widow)
* Le Moulin à Silence (The Silence Mill)
* Louisette or Louison (from the name of prototype designer
Antoine Louis
Antoine Louis (; 13 February 1723, Metz – 20 May 1792) was an 18th-century French surgeon and physiologist.
He was originally trained in medicine by his father, a sergeant major at a local military hospital. As a young man he moved to Paris, ...
)
* Madame La Guillotine
Guillotine
. Whonamedit. Retrieved on 2013-04-25.
* Mirabelle (from the name of Mirabeau
Mirabeau may refer to:
People and characters
* Mirabeau B. Lamar (1798–1859), second President of the Republic of Texas
French nobility
* Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau (1715–1789), French physiocrat
* Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, com ...
)
* La Bécane (The Machine)
* Le Massicot (The Paper Trimmer)
* La Cravate à Capet (Capet's Necktie, Capet being Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
)
* La Raccourcisseuse Patriotique (The Patriotic Shortener)
* La demi-lune (The Half-Moon)
* Les Bois de Justice (Timbers of Justice)
* La Bascule à Charlot (Charlot's Rocking-chair)
* Le Prix Goncourt des Assassins (The Goncourt Prize for Murderers)
See also
* Bals des victimes
The bals des victimes, or victims' balls, were balls that were said to have been put on by dancing societies after the Reign of Terror. To be admitted to these societies and balls, one had to be a near relative of someone who had been guillotined ...
* Capital punishment in France
* Halifax Gibbet
The Halifax Gibbet was an early guillotine used in the town of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Estimated to have been installed during the 16th century, it was used as an alternative to beheading by axe or sword. Halifax was once part of ...
* Henri Désiré Landru
* Rozalia Lubomirska
Rozalia Lubomirska (16 September 1768 in Chernobyl – 29 June 1794 in Paris) was a Polish noblewoman, most noted for her death.
Life
Born Countess Rozalia Chodkiewicz, she was the daughter of Count Jan Mikołaj Chodkiewicz and Countess Maria ...
* Marcel Petiot
* Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...
* Jozef Raskin
Jozef Maria Raskin (21 June 1892 – 18 October 1943) was a Belgian artist, painter, draftsman, and Scheutist missionary who served in World War I and became a missionary in China from 1920 to 1934. Later, during World War II, he was drafted ...
* Use of capital punishment by nation
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime. Historically, capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the world. Currently, the large majority ...
* Eugen Weidmann
Eugen Weidmann (5 February 1908 - 17 June 1939) was a German criminal and serial-killer who was executed by guillotine in France in June 1939, the last public execution in France.
Early life
Weidmann was born in Frankfurt am Main to the family ...
References
Further reading
* Carlyle, Thomas. ''The French Revolution in Three Volumes, Volume 3: The Guillotine''. Charles C. Little and James Brown (Little Brown
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...
). New York, NY, 1839. No ISBN. (First Edition. Many reprintings of this important history have been done during the last two centuries.)
*
*
External links
The Guillotine Headquarters
with a gallery, history, name list, and quiz.
History of the guillotine, construction details, with rare photos
*
Does the head remain briefly conscious after decapitation (revisited)?
(from '' The Straight Dope'')
*Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...
,
The Origin of the Guillotine
, 17 December 1881, pp. 392.
{{Authority control
French inventions
Capital punishment in France
Execution equipment
1789 introductions
Blade weapons
18th-century inventions
Decapitation