Guillotine
-
This day 225 years ago the last Queen of France was executed. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755, Marie Antoinette married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette herself became
-
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier occupies a unique and somewhat grim place in French history as the first person executed by guillotine. While his crime may have been unremarkable in the annals of criminal history, the method of his execution symbolized a turning point during one of the most turbulent times in France: the French Revolution. Pelletier
-
Most people will have heard of Sophie Scholl, but perhaps not so much about her brother Hans. Both Hans and Sophie were members of the resistance group, The White Rose. The reason I refer to Hans Scholl as a victim (in the title) rather than a resistance fighter is as follows:Except for the Jews, Roma,
-
Not every German supported the Nazis or signed up to their ideology. There were quite a few who were appalled by what their nation had become under the leadership of Hitler and his regime. However there were only a handful of people who had the courage to stand up against the Nazis, at risk of
-
The name Johann Reichhart might not be one synonymous with Nazi Germany but his ruthless killing streak made him one of the most feared members of the regime. Reichhart was born into a line of German executioners dating back eight generations. He got his start as a judicial executioner in 1928. Johann Reichhart took 3,165 lives
-
Eugen Weidmann (February 5, 1908 – June 17, 1939) was a German criminal who was executed by guillotine in France, the last public execution in that country On June 17, 1939, Weidmann was beheaded outside the prison Saint-Pierre in Versailles. The “hysterical behaviour” by spectators was so scandalous that French president Albert Lebrun immediately banned
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.