Some time ago, we studied in great detail who invented the guillotine, and now we will remember 1939, France. There, at this time, the last PUBLIC execution was carried out by the method of cutting off the head.
Born in Germany in 1908, Eugene Weidmann began to steal from a young age and did not give up his criminal habits even as an adult. While serving a five-year prison sentence for robbery, he met future partners in crime, Roger Millon and Jean Blanc. After their release, all three began to work together, kidnapping and robbing tourists around Paris.
June 17, 1938. Eugene Weidmann shows the police the cave in the forest of Fontainebleau in France, where he killed the nurse Jeanine Keller.
They robbed and killed a young New York City dancer, chauffeur, nurse, theater producer, anti-Nazi activist and real estate agent.
December 21, 1937. Weidman is taken away in handcuffs after being arrested by the police.
National security officials eventually tracked Weidman. One day, returning home, he found two police officers waiting for him at the door. Weidman fired a pistol at the officers, wounded them, but they still managed to knock the criminal to the ground and neutralize him with a hammer lying at the entrance.
March 4, 1939.
France was the last EU country to constitutionally ban the death penalty.
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In France, under the old regime, regicides were executed by quartering. Wheeling, hanging by the rib, and other painful punishments were also widespread. In 1792, the guillotine was introduced, and in the future, most of the death penalty, except by the verdict of a military court (in this case, there was an ordinary execution), were carried out through the guillotine (in the French Criminal Code of 1810, article 12 says that “everyone sentenced to death is cut off head "). Already on January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was executed by guillotine. This machine was not the original invention of either Dr. Guillauten, who proposed using it as a weapon of death, or his teacher, Dr. Louis; a similar machine was previously used in Scotland, where it was called the "Scottish maiden". In France, she was also called the Virgin or even the Forest of Justice. The aim of the invention was to create a painless and quick method of execution. After the head was cut off, the executioner lifted it up and showed it to the crowd. It was believed that a severed head could see for about ten seconds. Thus, the head of a person was raised so that he could see the crowd laughing at him before dying.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, public executions took place on boulevards or near prisons, where a large crowd always gathered.
March 1939. Weidman during his trial.
March 1939.
March 1939. Installation of special telephone lines for the court.
As a result of the notorious trial, Weidman and Millon were sentenced to death, and Blanc - to 20 months in prison. On June 16, 1939, French President Albert Lebrun rejected a petition for Weidmann's pardon and commuted Million's death sentence to life imprisonment.
June 1939. Weidman at the trial.
On the morning of June 17, 1939, Weidmann met in the square near the Saint-Pierre prison in Versailles, where the guillotine and the whistle of the crowd were waiting for him.
June 17, 1939. A crowd gathers around the guillotine to await Weidmann's execution outside Saint-Pierre prison.
Among those wishing to watch the execution of the audience was the future famous British actor Christopher Lee, who at that time was 17 years old.
June 7, 1939. Weidman, on his way to the guillotine, passes the box in which his body will be transported.
Weidmann was placed in the guillotine and the chief executioner of France, Jules Henri Defourneau, immediately lowered the blade.
June 17, 1939. Weidman in the guillotine a second before the blade falls.
The crowd attending the execution was very unrestrained and noisy, many of the spectators broke through the cordon to soak handkerchiefs in Weidman's blood as souvenirs. The scene was so terrible that French President Albert Lebrun completely banned public executions, arguing that instead of curbing crime, they help to awaken people's base instincts.
It was the last public execution in France, due to obscene crowd excitement and press scandals, it was ordered to continue to arrange executions in prison.
The last execution by cutting off the head with a guillotine took place in Marseille, during the reign of Giscard d'Estaing, on September 10, 1977 (only three people were executed during his seven-year term - 1974-1981). The executed man was of Tunisian origin, his name was Hamid Jandubi; he kidnapped and killed his former partner, whom he had previously forced into prostitution, and before his death he tortured for a long time. This was the last execution not only in France but throughout Western Europe. François Mitterrand, shortly after taking office in 1981, introduced a complete moratorium on the death penalty, which was given the status of law.
On February 20, 2007, France introduced a constitutional ban on the death penalty (828 deputies of the National Assembly and senators voted for this amendment to the 66th article of the constitution, against only 26). France, thus, became the last EU country to prohibit the use of the death penalty at the constitutional level.