Friedrich Reindel (6 September 1824, in

Werben (Elbe) Werben (Elbe) is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe River, approximately seven kilometres west of Havelberg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective mun ...

– 27 September 1908, in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

) was

Royal Prussian The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German states, German Monarchy, kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the ...

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who executes a sentence of capital punishment on a legally condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorising or order ...

(german:

Scharfrichter The term Scharfrichter (German for executioner, literally: "sharp judge") refers specifically to a tradition of executioners in the German states. Using a sword of execution, they had the responsibility of actually executing prisoners; his assist ...

) from 1873 to 1898. Responsible for carrying out

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 the Prussian provinces, he executed a total of 213 people by beheading with an axe.

Executioner

Executions in Prussia were carried out by members of the Reindel family, a "dynasty of executioners" from Werben (Elbe). Friedrich Reindel, younger brother of the executioner of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

Wilhelm Reindel who had died in 1872, started his "career" in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

in 1873. Popular European media showed ghoulish fascination with German executions, as with an illustration from

Le Petit Parisien ''Le Petit Parisien'' was a prominent French newspaper during the French Third Republic. It was published between 1876 and 1944, and its circulation was over two million after the First World War. Publishing Despite its name, the paper was circu ...

of the infamous executioner Reindel demonstrating his skill in Berlin Prison, 1891. Friedrich Reindel retired in 1898, and his son Wilhelm had to resign in 1901 when, after continuous reports about his drunkenness and "feeble-minded" appearance at work, he was unable to cut off a victim's head with the first blow of his axe. In 1900 Friedrich Reindel's son-in-law Alwin Engelhardt, a barman, who had assisted the family at a number of executions, also passed the examination set for

Lorenz Schwietz Lorenz Schwietz (25 July 1850 – May 1925, in Breslau) was Kingdom of Prussia, Royal Prussian executioner (german: Scharfrichter) from 21 June 1900 to 29 January 1914.Blazek (2010). Responsible for carrying out capital punishment in the Pr ...

and was officially approved as state executioner.Evans (1996), p. 385.

External links

''Dora Klages – Ein Raubmord erschütterte vor mehr als 100 Jahren die Bewohner der Heide.''

''Friedrich Reindel reiste durch den gesamten norddeutschen Raum, um Mörder mittels Handbeil oder Guillotine zu enthaupten''

References

Bibliography

* Referring to Matthias Blazek, ''Scharfrichter in Preußen und im Deutschen Reich 1866–1945'', Ibidem, Stuttgart 2010. * * * Blazek, Matthias (2011): ''„Herr Staatsanwalt, das Urteil ist vollstreckt.“ Die Brüder Wilhelm und Friedrich Reindel: Scharfrichter im Dienste des Norddeutschen Bundes und Seiner Majestät 1843–1898''. Ibidem, Stuttgart, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Reindel, Friedrich German executioners German memoirists People from Magdeburg 1824 births 1908 deaths German male non-fiction writers 19th-century memoirists

Executioner

See also

External links

References

Bibliography