1945: Max Schlichting, for realism
March 24th, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 1945, a Hamburg coal worker was executed for an excessively realistic take on the war effort.
Although — or because — Germany’s administrative infrastructure was falling apart under the Allied onslaught late in World War II, its judiciary had no compunction about doling out death sentences.
While the overall number of cases dealt with by most special courts was much lower than in previous years, due to the gradual collapse of the court system, in these last months of the war some judges passed proportionally more death sentences than ever before. Legal officials continued to justify their brutal sentencing by claiming that this would prevent another ‘stab in the back’.
In other words: Clap louder!
Poor Max Schlichting, a coal worker with an unfortunate communist past, was sentenced to death for Wehrkraftzersetzung — “subversion” or “undermining the war effort,” the same thing they got Remarque’s sister on.
Specifically: he remarked to a soldier, in the aftermath of the American landing at Normandy, that Germany was going to lose the war. An undercover Gestapo spy overheard him.
Although hard evidence of Germany’s situation (German link) would have been difficult for a Hamburger to overlook, Schlichting received no clemency and was executed — six weeks before Hamburg surrendered to the Allies.
His sentence and (banal) last letter are recounted here, in German.
On this day..
- 1925: Henri Olivier, thyroid donor - 2020
- Feast Day of Saint Pigmenius - 2019
- 1673: La Chaussee, for the giblet pie - 2018
- 1823: John Newton, wife-beater - 2017
- 1823: John Newton, violent spouse - 2016
- 1950: Johann Trnka, the last executed in Austria - 2015
- 1873: Mary Ann Cotton, serial poisoner - 2014
- 1936: George W. Barrett, the first to hang for killing an FBI man - 2013
- 2010: Modise Mokwadi Fly, Botswana pol - 2012
- 1882: William Heilwagner, onion weeder - 2011
- 1794: Jacques Hebert and his followers - 2010
- 1944: Ardeatine Massacre - 2008
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Activists,Beheaded,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Germany,Guillotine,Hanged,History,Treason,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1940s, 1945, d-day, dolchstosslegende, fascism, gestapo, hamburg, march 24, max schlichting, naziism, wehrkraftzersetzung, world war ii
4 thoughts on “1945: Max Schlichting, for realism”
Leave a Reply
Execution Playing Cards
Every card features a historical execution from England, France, Germany, or Russia!
In 1944 the People’s Court sentenced 2079 people to death, the men by firing squad and women by guillotine.
During your story you indicated that “The American
Landing on Normandy” is not Correct. June 7th 1944 The USA took great losses during the landing that day. Further, both The British Army the Canadian Forces and others were also involved in the invasion of Normandy France. Those brave men of all forces took great risks and many never came home and are buried near there.