Whipping ram

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Whippingbuck in the Wewelsburg District Museum , permanent exhibition "Wewelsburg 1933–1945"

A beating Bock , also criminal Bock , penalty box is a device, usually of wood, for the implementation of a corporal punishment .

Appearance and shape of clubs

The shape of a whipping buck often resembles a horse , as it is known from sports lessons, with a partly horizontal, partly at the front (on the head side) sloping down narrow contact surface. The four legs of the whipping buck are sometimes symmetrical , more often in pairs asymmetrically on the narrow side, if the device is expressly made as a whipping buck. There are also beaters in the form of a bench without a backrest, the surface of which is partially curved upwards or downwards. Most beaters are constructed in such a way that the convicted person has to lie with his upper body on the beaters in such a way that his legs and feet , arms and head hang down. So that the body cannot evade or flinch away reflexively during the punishment, the convict is often tied with leather straps beforehand , which are often already attached to the whipping rack . Certain beaters are different, for example shaped like a footstool, for example for performing the bastinado .

Some uses of the beaters and instruments used

The punishments are carried out over a whipping buck, usually on the (partially) clothed or bared buttocks , but occasionally also (additionally) on the bare back and thighs . Whips were used as a tool to carry out a whipping in slavery and in the armies ; also in the navy of almost all seafaring nations. Today, according to Sharia law, a special, heavy leather strap is used for corporal punishment in countries with an Islamist legal system . In Scottish and Irish schools and boarding schools , the Tawse was primarily used, while in US educational institutions (e.g. reformatories and youth detention centers ) and in US prisons a wide, one-piece leather strap in an extremely heavy design is used as a so-called prison strap - often arbitrary - punishment of the inmates was used. Various leather or wooden paddles are still used today in US schools, particularly in the southern states ; They are currently still legally stipulated for corporal punishment in 23 US states , but are also used in youth detention centers .

The whipping buck was used in English (boarding) schools until 1986 and in Irish (boarding) schools until 1986, together with a special rod ( birch ). The whipping buck in Eton is still preserved today. In the British judiciary until 1948 and on the Isle of Man , the whipping buck was a legal punishment until 1976. The so-called Caning (English. Cane = cane) with canes on the box of the 1980s and beginning of was until the mid-1990s in all British possible schools and boarding schools (but not common practice) and is partly to this day in used in schools in various successor states of the former British colonial system in Africa and Asia. At the moment, judicial punishment with particularly heavy canes is commonplace in Malaysia and Singapore, among others . They are used for serious administrative offenses, but also against illegal immigrants . In German prisons and concentration camps , leather straps, canes, rubber truncheons and batons were used for corporal punishment during the Nazi era . While corporal punishment was always or at least regularly carried out over a whipping buck in the above-mentioned contexts , in German schools no special whipping bucks were used for the corporal punishment of schoolchildren, but mostly a school desk was used in this function.

Consequences of corporal punishment

Flogging over a whipping buck is extremely painful . Often the skin and subcutaneous tissue are injured after the first blows ; In addition, the application of blows above the buttocks can lead to severe injuries, especially to the kidneys . Old, weakened or sick people can die as a result of corporal punishment.

time of the nationalsocialism

The whipping ram of the Dachau concentration camp

The whipping buck achieved sad fame in German contexts, especially during the National Socialist era . Beaters existed in the SS torture cellars in Berlin and elsewhere, and in many National Socialist concentration camps the punishment “on the go” was almost part of everyday life. The camp expression for this form of punishment was "put someone on the buck" or "he went over the buck".

Officially, the execution of the flogging had to be approved from Berlin. The prisoner's health also had to be officially confirmed by an SS doctor . In actual fact, however, the procedure was that the inmate was initially hit with an indefinite number of times. Then one asked in Berlin. Afterwards, the procedure was carried out again "officially". If the number of blows given was "low", the caning was often carried out without a request.

If the punishment was announced in advance, the inmates had the opportunity to secretly stuff some paper or cloth under their clothes. There were severe penalties for detection. In special cases, however, the blows were given to the bare buttocks, so that the inmate could not protect himself and result in particularly serious injuries .

Corporal punishment is prohibited as torture and currently used

Today caning is attributed to torture and is prohibited internationally by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. There it says:

"Nobody should be subjected to torture or cruel or degrading treatment or punishment ."

The UN Convention against Torture has been ratified by around 150 UN member states to date. Nevertheless, there are still countries in which corporal punishment is used, for example in Malaysia , Singapore and in Islamist countries such as Iran .

The whipping ram as a BDSM utensil

As part amicably out-living sadomasochistic sexual practices ( BDSM , spanking ) also come whipping blocks used. Some of these are based on their historical models, and some are more comfortably built, for example upholstered and covered with washable synthetic leather.

See also

literature