Beerfeld gallows

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Beerfeld gallows
The Beerfeld gallows during a scenic performance in 2013

The Beerfelder Galgen , located on a hill on the state road in the direction of Airlenbach about 500 m west of Beerfelden , is the largest and best preserved gallows in Germany. He is a cultural monument under monument protection provided and because of the scenic location, a popular tourist waypoint.

description

Three red sandstone columns about five meters high were set up so that they form the corners of an equilateral triangle. They carry three crossbeams arranged in a triangle, which is why the place of execution is also known as the so-called "three-sleeper gallows".

The red sandstone cross in front of the high court was the place of absolution of the delinquent by a clergyman. The complex was surrounded by seven linden trees, which may come from an old Germanic tradition. The place of execution is limited by a row of positioning stones .

history

The gallows served the high court of the Oberzent under the rule of the Counts of Erbach ; In 1806 they were deprived of their jurisdiction by Napoleonic law, which also ended the right to impose the death penalty .

The gallows was erected in 1597 instead of a wooden gallows. The number of people executed is unclear, but there are some indications that relatively few people died there, which is also due to the relatively liberal jurisprudence of the Count House of Erbach. Only one execution in 1746 is documented in the church records , which is considered certain. Johann Adam Beisel from Unter-Sensbach was hanged for theft and adultery . According to the inscription on a memorial stone next to the gallows, the "last execution in 1804, a gypsy woman for stealing a chicken and two loaves of bread" should have taken place. “The last execution on the Beerfeld gallows took place in the early 19th century. According to the chronicle saved from the fire of 1810, the gallows was built in 1592. It has belonged to the state since 1892, and it can therefore be assumed that care will be taken to ensure its continued preservation ”, reported in 1901 in the journal Die Gartenlaube .

In 1814, in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, passing Cossacks forged horseshoes from the gibbet. The demolition of the gallows was ordered as early as 1788. However, this order obviously did not penetrate to Beerfelden, just like the identical order from the Grand Duke of Darmstadt from 1806. Exact files on this have not been preserved, however, as the archive of the city of Beerfelden was completely destroyed in a major fire in 1810.

gallery

  • Gallows to the north

  • Gallows with straightening stone

  • Gallows to the east

  • Gallows to the south-east

In Odenwald another execution site is still preserved, the gallows Mudau .

literature

Web links

Commons : Beerfelder Galgen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Details Am Galgen, cultural monuments in Hesse .
  2. ↑ Johann Heinrich Kumpf found out from the church book entry that Beisel was executed in Lindenfels .
  3. ^ Die Gartenlaube: Illustrierter Familienblatt , Ernst Keil (Ed.), Leipzig 1901, p. 708.
  4. ↑ Dittmann, Klaus, The great fire of Beerfelden in 1810 compiled and edited according to contemporary reports and documents, Verlag Degener & Co., Darmstadt 1988 (Writings of the Hessian Family History Association No. 2, Research on Hessian Family and Local History No. 64).

Coordinates: 49 ° 34 ′ 19 ″  N , 8 ° 57 ′ 52.2 ″  E