1777: A British spy, by Israel Putnam 1993: Mohamed Mustafa Tabet, serial rapist with a badge

1944: Eight July 20 plotters

August 8th, 2008 Headsman

On this date in 1944, Nazi Germany’s juridical vengeance against Hitler’s near-assassins commenced.

Barely two weeks after Col. Stauffenberg’s bomb had barely missed slaying the Fuhrer, eight of his principal co-conspirators stood show trials at the Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court) before hectoring prig Roland Freisler.

The outcome, of course, was foreordained.

Apparently orders had come down from on high to make the deaths as degrading as possible; this batch, convicted August 7-8, was hanged naked this day at Berlin’s Plotzensee Prison on thin cord (piano wire, say some sources, although it’s not clear to me whether this is literally true) suspended from meathooks while cameras rolled. Video and stills from the ghastly scene were shipped back to Hitler’s bomb-damaged Polish outpost for the edification of the powers that be.

The eight fitted for those nooses were:

Many hundreds more would follow, both at Plotzensee and throughout the Reich where persons distantly connected to the plotters and various miscellaneous resistance figures were swept up in the purge.

Possibly Related Executions

Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Assassins, Capital Punishment, Death Penalty, Execution, Germany, Hanged, History, Martyrs, Mass Executions, Notable Jurisprudence, Notable Participants, Notable for their Victims, Politicians, Soldiers, Torture, Treason, Wartime Executions

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 Comment Add your own

  • 1. ExecutedToday.com »&hellip  |  November 8th, 2008 at 1:33 am

    [...] that Fromm saw which way the wind was blowing, he acted with alacrity: many executions in the days to come were the product of Hitler’s vengeance, but this night, Claus von [...]

Leave a Comment

Required

Required, hidden

Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed


Calendar

Archives

Categories

Vote For This Blog

My site was nominated for Freakiest Blogger!

Recently Commented

  • Matthew: Truly sad that a religion of peace can be...
  • Christine Armstrong: Charley Peace was one of my...
  • mjkaylor: Having grown up with Monte as a young child....
  • Ed Webb: Thank you for this careful and timely post....
  • Kayla: I feel for the family of Lynn McCurry, but it is...