Johann Reichhart

[Jock]

Hi all,

Haven't posted for a while, hello all.

Just wondering if anyone has any more information on this guy, other than the usual background info. Any records, personal diaries?

Also interested in whether he invented the idea of 'fallbeil'ing people without the board attached to them, as it was said he and his assistants held them down without attaching them to the board, therfor saving "valuable" execution time.

Cheers,

[fredric]

Two bios written about Reichhart, both in German. Dach's bio Tod durch das fallbeil is best. Reichhart died in 1972, almost penniless and shunned by his fellow Germans. He beheaded around 3000 and continued to serve the Allies as an executioner after the War. Some film of him at work can be found on YouTube and on the Holocaust Museum site's Speilberg collection. I have much information about him and other German executioners. As far as speeding up the execution process by removing the "tipping board", that is an assertion made by Dachs, probably based upon discussions with Reichhart. Sharfrichters were under pressure from the RMJ to expedite executions and Reichhart reports that he had reduced the time from the moment the condemned was given to him until the sentence was carried out to be as little as 3 seconds, hard to believe. The standard time expected by the RMJ was 7 seconds. Reichhart did not tie the victim's hands (he used clamping handcuffs) nor blindfold the eyes.
One assistant just covered the victim's eyes with their hand as the victim was taken to the fallbeil.[/b]

[teddy]

Here is a little more information on Johann Reichhart. I hope it helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Reichhart

[fredric]

Wikipedia provides accurate information on Scharfrichter Reichhart. This past year a play titled "3165" was produced which is a dramatic presentation (monologue) about his life (he executed 3165 people during his career, hence the title) Reichhart is regarded as having set the record during the 20th century for legally directed executions by a government executioner.

I am seeking information on other NZ era executioners Wilhelm Rottger, Frederich Hehr, Alois Weiss, Gottlob Bordt, etc. If any members have information about them, please let me know. In turn, I will be pleased to provide any specific information about the Nazi Courts/execution protocol/state executioners and specific, notable executions.

For example I recently had the opportunity to read the actual report of the execution of Sophie Scholl, the resistance heroine whose story has been made into several films. The document states that her execution took exactly six seconds from the moment she was turned over to Reichhart to the drop of the blade. This is in sharp contrast (no pun intended) to the procedure shown in the films which shows the execution taking much longer.