Execution sites in Tyrol

Richtstätten (also: Richtplatz or Richtstatt ) existed in various communities in Tyrol . Places of execution used to be places where convicts were executed . Whether, how z. B. in Vienna (see Vienna execution sites ), executions as a deterrent sometimes took place directly at the crime scene, has not yet been proven in Tyrol. As with many execution sites, the history of the origins of the Tyrol is in the dark and the first executions carried out there are not recorded in any sources. How many death sentences were carried out in Tyrol is therefore unknown.

location

These former execution sites are located in the various municipalities in a wide variety of locations, mainly outside the settlement area. Two executioners had been employed in Tyrol since 1497 . One was based in Hall ( North Tyrol ) and the other in Meran ( South Tyrol ). The places of execution became obsolete for a short time in 1787 when the death penalty was abolished for normal criminal justice in Austria ( Josephinisches Criminal Law ). In 1795 - after the death of Joseph II - the death penalty was reintroduced. However, most of the old execution sites were not put back into operation. Executions now took place at the courts in Innsbruck or Bozen . At least the following places of execution have been known from the late Middle Ages to modern times :

Hall executioner's district

A place of execution (gallows) was in Ehrenberg , south of ( Reutte );

Freundsberg Castle near Schwaz , north of the Inn on the road to Stans , junction to the knacker's house;

Hall / Thaur , east of the city on the road to Mils (Milser Tor). Originally the place of execution was in Thaur (near Thaur Castle ), but was relocated in 1458;

A place of execution with a gallows is mentioned in Hörtenberg , around 1750 on Lengeberg near Oberhofen;

In Imst the place of execution was at the Galgenbühel on the main road;

Köpflplatz in Innsbruck , at the lower beginning of Weiherburggasse. Two executions of farmers' leaders took place in front of the Golden Roof in 1526 . In 1536 Jakob Hutter , the leader of the Anabaptists , was killed here and in 1526 Balthasar Dosser was quartered here . In 1721 another Köpflplatz was built west of the Mariahilfkirche near Sauanger . After 1800 the execution was carried out at the beating building site, north of the Johanneskirche . The last execution took place at the beating site on December 14, 1861, after which the people were killed in the courtyard of the courthouse;

Kitzbühel , near today's “Schwarzsee” railway station;

Kufstein , near the hamlet of Eichelwang;

In Landeck there was a place of execution at Kreuzbichel;

The place of execution (gallows) at Laudegg was at the Pontlatzer bridge at Prutz ;

In Naudersberg the place of execution was south of the village;

Rattenberg had three execution sites. Once east of the Ziller Bridge near the municipality of Bruck am Ziller - only for executions with the rope (the place of execution was abandoned in 1683). The second in the middle of the city and the third on the Maukenbach (from Rattenberg to the east, road to Kundl);

Rottenburg (today: Rotholz ) was a place of execution near the Ziller Bridge near the municipality of Bruck am Ziller. In the immediate vicinity of the Rattenberg execution site;

Sonnenburg near Innsbruck. Originally near the Weiherburg , then from around 1330 a gallows near the Allerheiligenhöfe ;

In Steinach am Brenner the place of execution was to the north, in the immediate vicinity of the Sill , east of the highway;

Vellenberg , near Vellenberg Castle a gallows;

In Vils is the Galgenberg, which indicates the place of execution.

Administrative district of the executioner of Merano

The court of Altrasen had the place of execution in Niederrasen , later the place of execution was moved further away from the place on the road to the Gries;

The place of execution of the regional court Bozen / Gries was on the road to Gries on the right bank of the Talfer near the Talfer bridge , the corresponding court wheel is already documented in 1541 on a city vedute;

Enn and Kaldiff had a gallows on the road from Neumarkt to Salurn near St. Florian;

Several places of execution are known in Glurns . There was one on the road between Taufers and Münster, another on the Tartscher Bühel and another in front of the city;

Gufidaun had a gallows, the exact location is no longer known today;

Heinfels had a gallows that stood in Klettenheim, east of Sillian ;

The place of execution in Kaltern was near Lake Kaltern , on the judicial border .

Karneid / Steinegg had a gallows at the Breitbachbrücke (municipality of Blumau ) and a Köpfplatzl ;

At Kastelruth the gallows stood on the Galgenbichl;

Kurtatsch had a gallows south of the community near Breitbach;

Lienz had a place of execution with a gallows east of the city on the so-called Galgentratte ;

Meran played a central role, twelve courts had to transfer delinquents to Meran. The place of execution with the gallows was on the Passer by the wooden jetty . A gallows on the Sinnichkopf near Untermais is also mentioned (disputed). At the Ultner Tor (now demolished) there was a so-called Köpflplatz , where executions were carried out with the sword;

Michelsburg had a gallows that stood on a hill near St. Lorenzen until 1697 . The gallows was then transferred to another hill nearby, after a chapel was built on the previous gallows hill;

Neuhaus / Terlan had a place of execution west of Terlan on the Rauhenbühel (formerly called Janegger Bühel );

The Rodenegg gallows was in Schabs ;

Salurn had a place of execution at the so-called Galgenbühel, between the Etsch and the highway;

Sarnthein had a place of execution in Öttenbach;

the place of execution (gallows) was near Schlanders at Goldrain (Schanzen);

Stein am Ritten had the place of execution on the Pipperbichl (also: Galgenbichl or Hexenbichl) below the Klobenstein;

Sterzing had the place of execution south of the village near Tschöfs (Galgenwiese);

In Villanders the place of execution was at the confluence of the Zargenbach in the Eisack at the country road;

The place of execution in Fiè allo Sciliar was probably near Prösels Castle ;

The gallows of Welsberg and Ampezzo was located on the judicial border between the municipalities (Schluderbach / Peutelstein);

Wolkenstein had the place of execution at Col dala Pelda .

Change of administrative districts

Over the centuries, the districts between the Meraner and Hall executioners have been modified or expanded slightly. In 1500 the administrative district of the Merano executioner was expanded to include the county of Gorizia ( Pustertal ). In 1504, Kufstein, Kitzbühel and Rattenberg were added to Tyrol due to the Landshut War of Succession , and the executioner from Hall was formally commissioned on February 21, 1513 to carry out executions here too (in fact since 1504). In 1528, 1534 and 1708 the Tyrolean government issued (incomplete) lists of which executioner should be responsible in which court. From 1552 the executioner from Merano was also responsible for the Engadin ( Graubünden ). In 1738 the court of Sterzing was transferred from Merano to the jurisdiction of the executioner from Hall. Lienz was originally assigned to the Merano executioner, but came to the Hall executioner on December 4, 1723 due to a government decision.

In Ehrenberg , south of Reutte , the executioner from Füssen was also sometimes commissioned, not just the executioner from Hall.

After completion

As in many other high courts, the corpses of those killed in Tyrol were sometimes left hanging on the gallows or braided on the bike as a deterrent on the instructions of the court. The gallows was thus a clear symbol of authority and the form of justice exercised by them. “While the authorities increasingly turned the execution into a demonstration of power and no longer wanted to allow the people to participate, the people, for their part, turned the penalties and executions into public festivals at which they not only witnessed the punishment of a criminal, but also participated in a sacrifice who purified society. "

Executed people were regularly buried in unconsecrated ground, often in the immediate vicinity of the gallows. The express arrangement of the burial of the executed at the gallows or a previously determined place or the ashes of the executed, as is also passed down in Tyrol, is also related to the supposedly strong magical effect that should be associated with their remains.

Web links

Wiktionary: Richtplatz - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

^ Duden online: Place of execution and place of execution
↑ The terms place of execution etc. used to stand for the place where the court was held. See for example Anne-Marie Dubler : Richtstätte. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . October 20, 2010 , accessed June 28, 2019 . Grimms German Dictionary , article Richtplatz ; Dictionary by Adelung (1793), article Richtplatz
^ Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol , Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , S, 120.
^ The death penalty was abolished in Austria in 1950 for ordinary proceedings , and on February 7, 1968 also for court proceedings.
↑ Listed from: Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol . Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , p. 125 ff.
↑ Hannes Obermair : »The Becoming of a Room. Rottenbuch before Rottenbuch «. In: Helmut Stampfer (ed.): The Rottenbuch residence in Bozen-Gries . Tappeiner, Lana 2003, ISBN 88-7073-335-1 , p. 16.
^ Paragraph quoted from Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol , Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , p. 120 ff.
↑ Peter Schuster: "Crimes, victims, saints", "The story of killing 1200-1700". Stuttgart 2015, Klett-Cotta, ISBN 978-3-608-94845-5 . The execution sites on Wienerberg are said to have been closed in 1747 by order of Maria Theresa , because they supposedly were too horrified to see the corpses hanging there on their journey to Laxenburg Castle . Here, too, the dead often remained hanging on the rope as a deterrent until their rotting bodies fell down themselves. See also Wolfgang Scheffknecht, The Vorarlberger Scharfrichter - Punishments and Exclusion in the Early Modern Age , p. 375.
↑ See also Lang: Hochgericht and wheel cross. P. 12.
↑ Richard von Dülmen: Theater des Schreckens: Judicial practice and punishment rituals in the early modern period. Munich 1988, 3rd edition, p. 10.

[1] Duden online: Place of execution and place of execution

[2] The terms place of execution etc. used to stand for the place where the court was held. See for example Anne-Marie Dubler : Richtstätte. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . October 20, 2010 , accessed June 28, 2019 . Grimms German Dictionary , article Richtplatz ; Dictionary by Adelung (1793), article Richtplatz

[3] Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol , Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , S, 120.

[4] The death penalty was abolished in Austria in 1950 for ordinary proceedings , and on February 7, 1968 also for court proceedings.

[5] Listed from: Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol . Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , p. 125 ff.

[6] Hannes Obermair : »The Becoming of a Room. Rottenbuch before Rottenbuch «. In: Helmut Stampfer (ed.): The Rottenbuch residence in Bozen-Gries . Tappeiner, Lana 2003, ISBN 88-7073-335-1 , p. 16.

[7] Paragraph quoted from Heinz Moser: Die Scharfrichter von Tirol , Innsbruck 1982, Steiger Verlag, ISBN 3-85423-011-7 , p. 120 ff.

[8] Peter Schuster: "Crimes, victims, saints", "The story of killing 1200-1700". Stuttgart 2015, Klett-Cotta, ISBN 978-3-608-94845-5 . The execution sites on Wienerberg are said to have been closed in 1747 by order of Maria Theresa , because they supposedly were too horrified to see the corpses hanging there on their journey to Laxenburg Castle . Here, too, the dead often remained hanging on the rope as a deterrent until their rotting bodies fell down themselves. See also Wolfgang Scheffknecht, The Vorarlberger Scharfrichter - Punishments and Exclusion in the Early Modern Age , p. 375.

[9] See also Lang: Hochgericht and wheel cross. P. 12.

[10] Richard von Dülmen: Theater des Schreckens: Judicial practice and punishment rituals in the early modern period. Munich 1988, 3rd edition, p. 10.