On this date in 1946, British hangman Albert Pierrepoint hanged seven German war criminals at Hameln Prison.
These seven comprised two distinct groups charged in two very different misdeeds:
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth and four others hanged for executing a downed Allied pilot in 1944.
Bruno Tesch and Karl Weinbacher were executed for a critical support role in the Holocust: they were principles of the chemical manufacturer Testa, which sold Zyklon-B to the Reich for use in the gas chambers.
Zyklon was just a brand hame (“Cyclone”)
Hydrogen cyanide had been employed as a legitimate pesticide and de-lousing agent for many years before World War II. Because of its danger, the odorless deadly gas was sold spiced with an odorant to alert humans accidentally exposed to it.
Tesch and Weinbacher had their necks stretched because they were shown to have knowingly sold this product sans odor, reflecting Testa’s complicity in its intended use upon humans. (A third Testa employee was acquitted, having inadequate knowledge of the firm’s operations.)
On this day..
- 1956: Sylvester Murau, via filial impiety - 2020
- 1979: Kampatimar Shankariya - 2019
- 1968: Karol Kot, the Vampire of Krakow - 2018
- 1849: Quddus - 2016
- 1746: Three Catholic servants - 2015
- 1857: 52 European prisoners at Delhi - 2014
- 1963: Oleg Penkovsky, Cuban Missile Crisis spy - 2013
- 1920: Maria Bochkareva, Russian Joan of Arc - 2012
- 1691: Jacob Leisler, "a Walloon who has sett at the head of the Rable" - 2011
- 1879: Three botches in three states - 2010
- 1975: Michael X - 2009
- 1569: Dirk Willems, for loving his enemy - 2008