List of German executioners during the National Socialist era

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Central Execution Places and Enforcement Districts in the German Reich (1944)

The list of German executioners in the time of National Socialism contains the names, dates and additional information of all German executioners who worked in the period January 30, 1933 (so-called seizure of power by the National Socialists ) up to and including May 8, 1945 (day of the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht ) ten enforcement districts on German territory have executed death sentences from German courts.

During the National Socialist era , at least 25,000 death sentences were passed by courts-martial and court martial ; In addition, there were more than 16,000 death sentences from civil criminal courts (mostly special courts and the People's Court ). Of the civil judgments alone, 11,881 were carried out by just three executioners: Johann Reichhart , Ernst Reindel and Wilhelm Röttger (who was not appointed until September 23, 1942). Röttger carried out twice as many executions as Reichhart and Reindel put together.

Surname Area of ​​responsibility active from / to residence executed judgments comment
Bordt, Gottlob
(1882-19 ??) 		I : Poznan , Wroclaw and Katowice since May 1, 1940 Poses at least 1000 Bordt had been Friedrich Hehr's assistant since 1937. Until 1942 he was the only executioner “on site” in Posen in East Germany.
Engelhardt, Alwin
(1875–1940) 		x 1933 to 1936 - about 100 Worked as an executioner between 1900 and 1906, but was dismissed in 1906 due to financial irregularities. Re-employed on July 31, 1933. He carried out the death sentence against Marinus van der Lubbe on January 10, 1934 in Leipzig with the guillotine.
Gröpler, Carl
(1868–1946) 		Prussia , Mecklenburg , Oldenburg , Braunschweig and the Hanseatic cities 1906 to 1937 Magdeburg approx. 144 His assistant Ernst Reindel followed him in office . Gröpler died in Soviet pre-trial detention.
Hehr, Friedrich
Photo of Hehr
(1879–1952) 		V : (Butzbach, Hamburg, Hanover and Cologne), later Wolfenbüttel + Weimar possibly since 1925 in Baden , Württemberg and Hesse , 1935 to 1949 Hanover > 500 After the end of World War II he continued to work as an executioner for the British and Americans until 1949. Trained some of his assistants to be executioners who then also worked for the Nazi regime. B .: Alfred Roselieb .
Henschke, Karl
(??) 		II : Königsberg , Danzig since July 1942 in Posen, from January 1944 in Koenigsberg - 600 to 700 Bordt's assistant became the second executioner in Posen in July 1942 and moved to Königsberg in early January 1944.
Köster August
(??) 		III : Katowice , Breslau Summer 1943 to February 1945 Katowice 600 to 700 Since the beginning of June 1942 assistant to Friedrich Hehrs. From the summer of 1943, Köster was an independent executioner.
Mühl, Johann
(1908−?) 		VII : Cologne , Frankfurt am Main , Dortmund x - 600 to 700 -
Reichhart, Johann

(1893–1972) 		VIII : ( Munich , Dresden , Stuttgart and Weimar ), Weimar later to Hehr, later Vienna , Graz and Frankfurt (Frankfurt replaced Butzbach) 1924 to approx. 1928, 1933 to 1946 Munich > 3000 (calculated since 1924) Since April 1924 executioner in Bavaria. From June 1933 executioner for the Nazi regime. Judged Sophie and Hans Scholl von der Weißen Rose in 1943 and, after the Hitler assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, numerous people convicted by the People's Court . Shortly after the end of the war, Reichhart continued to be employed by the American occupying forces until around the end of May 1946. During this time he carried out 156 death sentences on war criminals in the Landsberg am Lech prison .
Reindel, Ernst
(1899–1945 / 46) 		VI : Red Ox in Halle (Saale) , judicial prison in Weimar and remand prison in Dresden , Königsberg 1934 to 1943 - 600 to 700 Comes from an executioner family, but started as an "unskilled" with Carl Gröpler . Surprisingly resigned from his position on November 30, 1943. He was followed by Alfred Roselieb . It is believed that Reindel may have carried out further executions until the end of the war. After the end of the war, he was sentenced to death by a Soviet military tribunal and executed.
Roselieb, Alfred
(1891–1969) 		VI : Red Ox in Halle (Saale) , judicial prison in Weimar and remand prison in Dresden 1944 to 1945 - at least 931 Initially he was Friedrich Hehr's “assistant” and followed Ernst Reindel after he had surprisingly resigned from his position.
Röttger, Wilhelm
(1894–1946) 		IV : Plötzensee prison and Brandenburg-Görden prison 1942 to 1945 - about 3200 Röttger was Friedrich Hehr's assistant. He became a self-employed executioner in September 1942 and carried out most of the execution of the death sentences following the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944.
White, Alois
(1906–1969) 		IX ( Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ): Pankrác prison in Prague 1943 to 1945 Prague around 1300 White became due to an unsolicited application to the Reich Justice Minister executioner.
Witzka, Fritz
(??) 		X  : Vienna and Graz 1944 to 1945 Vienna at least 200 -

See also

literature

  • Aleš Kýr: The Pankrác Memorial in Prague. Origin and development of the memorial and its historical exhibition until 1989. In: Perspektiven für die Dokumentationsstelle Brandenburg. ed. by Günter Morsch and Sylvia de Pasquale, LIT VERLAG, Münster 2004, pp. 87–88.
  • Matthias Blazek : Executioner in Prussia and in the German Empire 1866–1945 . Ibidem, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-8382-0107-8 .
  • Daniel Bohse, Alexander Sperk (arr.): The Red Ox Halle [Saale] - Political Justice . Catalog for the permanent exhibitions, ed. v. Joachim Scherrieble, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-480-8 .
  • Johann Dachs: Death by the guillotine. The German executioner Johann Reichart. Gietl, Regenstauf 2012, ISBN 978-3-934863-84-2 .
  • Angelika Ebbinghaus , Karsten Linne: No closed chapter: Hamburg in the “Third Reich”. European Publishing House, 1997, ISBN 978-3-434520-06-1
  • Klaus Hillenbrand : Desired career as an executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt / New York 2013, ISBN 978-3593-39723-8 .
  • Gotthold Leistner: Saxony and the guillotine. A contribution to the story of a killing monster. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter, 48th year, 2002, pp. 130–149.
  • Marek Mahdal: Pankrácká sekyrárna. November 30, 2004 (includes the testimony of the Prague executioner [Appendix from 1945–1946] and information from the archive of the prison administration of the Czech Republic). ( Online resource .)
  • Klaus-Dieter Müller / Thomas Schaarschmidt / Mike Schmeitzner / Andreas Weigelt: Death sentences from Soviet military tribunals against Germans (1944–1947). A historical-biographical study. Vandenhoeck et Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-525-36968-5 .
  • Helmut Ortner : The Book of Killing: About the Death Penalty. zu Klampen, Springe 2013, ISBN 978-3-86674297-0 .
  • Manfred Overesch : God, love and the gallows: Helmuth J. and Freya von Moltke in their last conversations in 1944/45. Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2015, ISBN 978-3-487-08552-4 .
  • Harald Poelchau: The last hours. Memories of a prison pastor, recorded by Count Alexander Stenbock-Fermor . Volk und Welt publishing house, Berlin 1949.
  • Thomas Waltenbacher: Central execution sites . The execution of the death penalty in Germany from 1937–1945. Executioner in the Third Reich. Zwilling-Berlin, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024265-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Minister of Justice (ed.): In the name of the German people - Justice in National Socialism. Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-8046-8731-8 , p. 206.
  2. ↑ Tankred Koch: History of the executioner - executioner fate from eight centuries. Heidelberg 1988/1991, p. 302.
  3. ↑ a b Thomas Waltenbacher: Central execution sites . The execution of the death penalty in Germany from 1937–1945. Executioner in the Third Reich. P. 129.
  4. ^ Klaus Hillenbrand: Desired career executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. P. 82f.
  5. ↑ Matthias Blazek: "Mr. Public Prosecutor, the judgment has been carried out." The brothers Wilhelm and Friedrich Reindel - executioners in the service of the North German Confederation and His Majesty 1843–1898. Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8382-0277-8 .
  6. ↑ Daniel Bohse, Alexander Sperk (arrangement): The Red Ox Halle [Saale] - Political Justice . Catalog for the permanent exhibitions, ed. v. Joachim Scherrieble, p. 182.
  7. ↑ published by Kindler, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-463-40400-1 , quoted from Angelika Ebbinghaus , Karsten Linne: No closed chapter: Hamburg in the “Third Reich”. European Publishing House, 1997, ISBN 978-3-434520-06-1 , FN 83.
  8. ↑ Thomas Waltenbacher: Central execution sites . The execution of the death penalty in Germany from 1937–1945. Executioner in the Third Reich. P. 130.
  9. ^ Klaus Hillenbrand: Desired career executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. P. 88
  10. ^ Klaus Hillenbrand: Desired career executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. P. 89
  11. ↑ Thomas Waltenbacher: Central execution sites . The execution of the death penalty in Germany from 1937–1945. Executioner in the Third Reich. P. 199.
  12. ↑ Thomas Waltenbacher: Central execution sites . The execution of the death penalty in Germany from 1937–1945. Executioner in the Third Reich. P. 141f
  13. ^ Richard J. Evans : Rituals of Retribution. The death penalty in German history 1532–1987. P. 918.
  14. ↑ Tankred Koch: History of the executioner - executioner fate from eight centuries. Heidelberg 1988/1991, p. 306 f., With incorrect name "Scharfrichter Klein".
  15. ^ Klaus Hillenbrand: Desired career executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. P. 88
  16. ^ Klaus Hillenbrand: Desired career executioner: Why men wanted to be executioners under National Socialism. P. 117