List of executioners


This is a list of people who have acted as official executioners.

Algeria

Alger

Monsieur d'Alger: The Executioners of the French Republic

In 1870 the Republic of France abolished all local executioners and named the executioner of Algiers, Antoine Rasseneux, Éxécuteur des Arrêts Criminels en Algérie, which became France's official description of the executioner of Algeria's occupation. From there on there would be one only executioner to carry out death sentences for entire Algeria. Since the colony's executioner was required to live in Algiers, people soon started to refer to him as "Le Monsieur d'Alger". Upon his nomination, Rasseneux was permitted to choose four among France's and Algeria's former local executioners to be his aides.

Austria

Hall in Tirol

Meran

Salzburg

Steyr

Vienna

Belgium

Brazil

After 1808, during the Portuguese-Brazilian Kingdom and the Empire, when Brazil's States were still called "Provinces" and the currency was called "Reis", Brazil had factually abolished torture but was a busy death penalty country.

Method of execution was public hanging by an ultra-short drop of approximately 90 cm, with the executioner, after having activated the trap door or pushed the convict, according to the gallows's structure, climbed a ladder and launched himself rope downwards, hitting on the convict's shoulders with his weight.

Executioners generally were selected among convicts of capital crimes who had their death sentences stayed for indefinite terms or even commuted for live without parole, and who in exchange for their stays or commutations had to carry out the executions ordered by law. Executioners were, whenever possible, selected from among slaves convicted for a capital crime. And except for the province of Rio Grande do Norte, executioners had obligatorily to be of African descent.

As stayed or commuted convicts, executioners consequently lived as inmates in the prisons of the respective towns where they were based. When an execution was to be carried out elsewhere in his area, the executioner would be transported to the place of execution in chains and sleep in the local prison; after an attempt of murder against Fortunato José in 1834, prisons started separating the executioners from other inmates.

In the province of Rio Grande do Norte, the executioner had always to be the convict scheduled to die next after an execution, so that province's last execution had to be carried out by a firing squad, after the necessary emergency change of execution protocol.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, after Independence September 7, 1822 there were also free executioners of African descent who having to travel around, were reached by couriers with execution orders.

Executioners, also when slaves, were paid for their executions; at the example of the province of Minas Gerais, we can establish payment was between 4$000 and 12$000 per execution.

The last execution of a free convict in Brazil was that of José Pereira de Sousa October 30, 1861 in Santa Luzia, GO. The last execution at all under law in Brazil was that of the slave Francisco April 28, 1876 in Pilar, AL.

Brazil abolished capital punishment officially with the Proclamation of the Republic November 15, 1889, and by law with its first Republican Constitution of 1891 and Penal Code of September 22, 1892.

Bahia

Salvador

Feira de Santana

Ceará

Fortaleza

Crato

Sobral

Minas Gerais

Ouro Preto

São João del Rei

Paraná

Curitiba

Pernambuco

Recife

Caruaru

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio Grande do Sul

Porto Alegre

Canada

China

Kingdom of Bohemia / Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)

Denmark

Egypt

France

Alsace

Bas-Rhin (67)

Andlau
Benfeld
Bernardswiller
see: Andlau
Bischwiller
Bouquenom
see: Sarre-Union
Bouxwiller
Brumath
Châtenois
Dambach-la-Ville
Diemeringen
Elsenheim
see: Ohnenheim
Epfig
Erstein
see: Epfig
Fleckenstein (Lembach)
see: Memmelshoffen
Fouchy
Geispolsheim
Goersdorf
Gougenheim
Gumbrechtshoffen
see: Gundershoffen
Gundershoffen
Haguenau
Herrlisheim
Hochfelden
Ingwiller
La Petite-Pierre
Lalaye
Lauterbourg
Maisonsgoutte
Marckolsheim
Marmoutier
Memmelshoffen
Molsheim
Mommenheim
Nordhouse
Obernai
Ohnenheim
Otterswiller
see: Saverne
Petersbach
see: La Petite-Pierre
Reichshoffen
see: Gundershoffen
Reutenbourg
Riedheim
see: Bouxwiller
Sarre-Union
Saverne
Schopperten
see: Sarre-Union
Sélestat
Strasbourg
Surbourg
Villé
Wasselonne
Westhoffen
see: Wasselonne
Weyersheim
Wissembourg

Haut-Rhin (68)

Altkirch
Biesheim
Colmar
Ensisheim
Ferrette
Landser
Masevaux
Morschwiller-le-Bas
see: Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Ribeauvillé
Rouffach
Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines
see: Ribeauvillé
Thann
Traubach ([Traubach-le-Bas] and Traubach-le-Haut)
Vieux-Thann
see: Thann
Zimmerbach

Aquitaine

Dordogne (24)

Périgueux

Gironde (33)

Bordeaux

Landes (40)

Dax

Lot-et-Garonne (47)

Agen

Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64)

Bayonne
Pau

Auvergne

Allier (03)

Moulins

Cantal (15)

Aurillac
Saint-Flour

Haute-Loire (43)

Le-Puy-en-Velay

Puy-de-Dôme (63)

Clermont-Ferrand (former Clermont-d'Auvergne)
Riom

Basse-Normandie

Calvados (14)

Bayeux
Caen
Falaise
Lisieux
Orbec
Pont-l'Évêque
Vire

Manche (50)

Avranches
Coutances
Saint-Lô

Orne (61)

Alençon
Bellême
Mortagne-au-Perche

Bourgogne

Côte-d'Or (21)

Beaune
Dijon
Semur-en-Auxois

Nièvre (58)

Nevers

Saône-et-Loire (71)

Autun
Châlon-sur-Saône
Mâcon

Yonne (89)

Auxerre
Sens

Bretagne

Côtes-d'Armor (22; Côtes-du-Nord before 1990)

Saint-Brieuc

Finistère (29)

Quimper

Ille-et-Vilaine (35)

Rennes

Morbihan (56)

Vannes

Centre-Val de Loire (Centre before 2015)

Cher (18)

Bourges
Vierzon

Eure-et-Loir (28)

Bonneval
Chartres
Châteaudun

Indre (36)

Châteauroux
Issoudun

Indre-et-Loire (37)

Amboise
Chinon
L'Île-Bouchard
see: Chinon
Loches
Tours

Loir-et-Cher (41)

Blois
Romorantin-Lanthenay
Vendôme

Loiret (45)

Gien
Montargis
Orléans

Champagne-Ardenne

Ardennes (08)

Sedan

Aube (10)

Troyes

Marne (51)

Châlons-en-Champagne
Chatillon-sur-Marne
Épernay
Reims
Vitry-le-François

Haute-Marne (52)

Bourmont
Chaumont
Langres

Corse

With a four-year delay in 1875 also Corsica was integrated into the area of the executioner of the republic's activity; see: Monsieur de Paris
For the different department numbers, before 1976 Corsica used to be one department only and was codenumbered with 20 by then.

Corse-du-Sud (2A)

Ajaccio

Haute-Corse (2B)

Bastia

Franche-Comté

Doubs (25)

Besançon
Blamont
Montbéliard

Jura (39)

Dole
Lons-le-Saunier

Haute-Saône (70)

Vesoul

Territoire de Belfort (90)

Belfort
Faverois
Grandvillars
Montreux

Haute-Normandie

Eure (27)

Évreux
Gisors
Pont-Audemer

Seine-Maritime (76)

Caudebec-en-Caux
Dièppe
Rouen

Île-de-France

Paris (75)

Prévoté de l'Hôtel du Roi
Prévoté de Paris

Seine-et-Marne (77)

Meaux
Melun
Provins

Yvelines (78)

Mantes
Meulan
see: Mantes
Montfort-l'Amaury
Versailles (Prévoté de l'Hôtel du Roi)
Prévôté de Versailles

Essonne (91)

Dourdan
see: Étampes
Étampes
La Ferté-Alais
see: Étampes

Hauts-de-Seine 92

No local executioner known so far

Seine-Saint-Denis (93)

No local executioner known so far

Val-de-Marne (94)

No local executioner known so far

Val-d'Oise (95)

Pontoise

Languedoc-Roussillon

Aude (11)

Carcassonne
Castelnaudary
Limoux
Narbonne

Gard (30)

Nîmes

Hérault (34)

Montpellier

Lozère (48)

Mende

Pyrénées-Orientales (66)

Perpignan

Limousin

Corrèze (19)

Brive-la-Gaillarde
Tulle

Creuse (23)

Guéret

Haute-Vienne 87

Limoges

Lorraine

Meurthe-et-Moselle (54)

Baccarat
Badonviller
Bauzemont
Bayon
Blâmont
Briey
Conflans-en-Jarnisy
Deneuvre
see: Baccarat
Domjevin
see: Bauzemont
Einville-au-Jard
Foug
Gerbéviller
Haraucourt
see: Einville-au-Jard
Harbouey
see: Blâmont
Longuyon
Longwy
Lunéville
Nancy
Nomény
see: Pont-à-Mousson
Norroy-le-Sec
Pont-à-Mousson
Réchicourt-la-Petite
see: Blâmont
Saint-Clément
see: Baccarat
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Sancy
Thézey-Saint-Martin
see: Delme at Moselle
[Thiaucourt] (Thiaucourt-Regniéville)
see: Pont-à-Mousson
Toul
Ville-sur-Yron
see: Conflans-en-Jarnisy
Villers-la-Montagne

Meuse (55)

Arrancy-sur-Crusne
see: Longuyon at Meurthe-et-Moselle
Avioth
Bar-le-Duc
Billy-sous-Mangiennes
Commercy
Damvillers
Étain
Fresnes-en-Woëvre
Herméville-en-Woëvre
Marville
Montmédy
Saint-Mihiel
Verdun

Moselle (57)

Ancerville
Angevillers
Ay-sur-Moselle
see: Buding
Bambiderstroff
see: Courcelles-sur-Nied
Béchy
Beux
see: Béchy
Bitche
see: Schorbach
Boulay
Buding
Budling
see: Buding
Château-Salins
Château-Voué
see: Dieuze
Courcelles-Chaussy
Courcelles-sur-Nied
Delme
Dieuze
Ébersviller
see: Hombourg-Budange
Elzange
see: Rodemack
Faulquemont
Fénétrange
see: Niederstinzel
Filstroff
Forbach
Freistroff
Gorze
Grostenquin
Hérange
Hombourg-Budange
Insming
Jallaucourt
Kédange-sur-Canner
Kirsch-lès-Sierck
Lixheim
Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold
Lorquin
Louvigny
Lutzelbourg
Metz
Montenach
Morhange
Niederstinzel
Phalsbourg
Porcelette
Prévocourt
Puttelange-aux-Lacs
Rodemack
Saint-Avold
Sarralbe
Sarrebourg
Sarreguemines
Schorbach
Sierck-les-Bains
Thionville
Tincry
Tragny
Vatimont
Vic-sur-Seille

Vosges (88)

Bruyères
Charmes
Châtel-sur-Moselle
Châtenois
Darney
Dompaire
Épinal
La Neuveville-sous-Châtenois
Mirecourt
Neufchâteau
Rambervillers
Remiremont
Saint-Dié
Saint-Nabord

Midi-Pyrénées

Ariège (09)

Foix

Aveyron (12)

Rodez

Haute-Garonne (31)

Toulouse

Gers (32)

Auch
Lectoure

Lot (46)

Cahors

Hautes-Pyrénées (65)

Tarbes

Tarn (81)

Albi

Tarn-et-Garonne (82)

Montauban

Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Nord (59)

Cambrai
Douai
Lille
Maubeuge
Valenciennes

Pas-de-Calais (62)

Arras
Boulogne
Calais
Saint-Omer

Pays de la Loire

Loire-Atlantique (44; before 1957 Loire Inférieure)

Nantes

Maine-et-Loire (49)

Angers
Saumur

Mayenne (53)

Château-Gontier
Laval

Sarthe (72)

La Flèche
Le Mans

Vendée (85)

Fontenay-le-Comte

Picardie

Aisne (02)

Laon
Soissons

Oise (60)

Beauvais
Clermont
Compiègne
Crépy-en-Valois
Noyon
Senlis

Somme (80)

Amiens

Poitou-Charentes

Charente (16)

Angoulême

Charente-Maritime (17)

La Rochelle
Rochefort
Saintes

Deux-Sèvres (79)

Niort
Saint-Maixent-l'École
Thouars

Vienne (86)

Civray
Loudun
Poitiers

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04)

Digne

Hautes-Alpes (05)

Gap

Alpes-Maritimes (06)

Nice

Bouches-du-Rhône (13)

Aix-en-Provence

Var (83)

Draguignan

Vaucluse (84)

Carpentras

Rhône-Alpes

Ain (01)

Bourg-en-Bresse

Ardèche (07)

Privas

Drôme (26)

Valence

Isère (38)

Grenoble

Loire (42)

Feurs
Montbrison

Rhône (69)

Lyon

Savoie (73)

Chambéry

Haute-Savoie (74)

Monsieur de Paris: The Executioners of the French Republic

In 1870 the Republic of France abolished all local executioners and named the executioner of Paris, Jean-François Heidenreich, Exécuteur des Arrêts Criminels, which became France's official description of the executioner's occupation. From then on there would be only one executioner to carry out death sentences for all of France except Corsica which would follow in 1875. As the Republic's executioner was required to live in Paris, people soon started to refer to him as "Monsieur de Paris", "The Mister from Paris". At the occasion of his nomination, Heidenreich could choose four among France's former local executioners to be his aides.

Les Départements Outre-Mer

Guadeloupe (971)

Martinique (972)

Guyane (973)

La Réunion (974)

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (975)

Mayotte (976)

Saint-Barthélemy (977)

Saint-Martin (978)

Les Territoires Outre-Mer

Wallis-et-Futuna (986)

Polynésie française (987)

Nouvelle-Calédonie (988)

Île de Clipperton (989)

French Guiana

Monsieur de Cayenne: The Executioners of the French Republic

Cayenne Central Prison never used its own guillotine. All death sentences of convicts and locally condemned prisoners were conducted at Saint-Laurent.

Monsieur de Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni|Saint-Laurent: The Executioners of the Bagne

All executioners of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni were Bagne inmates themselves.

Germany

Pre-Germany Executioners

Local Executioners (1276 to between 1848 and 1871)

Ansbach

Augsburg

Babenhausen

Bamberg

Berlin

Bernau

Biberach

Bitterfeld

Borna

[Bötzow], Oranienburg

Braunschweig

Bremen

Brüx

Burgau

Burglengenfeld

Celle

Cologne

Dillingen

Dinkelsbühl

Donauwörth

Dresden

Dühnen

Eger

Frankenstein

Frankfurt am Main

Freiberg/Sachsen

Füssen

Görlitz

Günzburg

Haigerloch

Halle

Hamburg

Hannover

Heidelberg

Heilbronn

Helmstedt

Hof

Holzen

Hoya

Husum

Kaufbeuren

Kempten

Kiel

[Königsberg] (now [Kaliningrad], Russia)

[Landeck], [Silesia] (now in Poland

Lauingen

Leipzig

Lentzen

Lindau

Markt Oberdorf

Memmingen

Munich

Nördlingen

Nürnberg

Ohlau

Öttingen

Passau

Pfaffenhausen

Regensburg

Sangershausen

Schönegg

Schongau

Schrobenhausen

Schwabmünchen

Siegburg

Sonthofen

Sponheim

Stuttgart

Thann in Bavaria

Torgau

Ulm

Waal

Wassertüdingen

Weißenhorn

Wittstock

Hans ? 1537

Wrietzen

State Executioners (from 1848 and 1871 to 1936/37)

Baden

Bavaria

Bremen

Hannover

Hesse

Prussia

Saxony

Württemberg

Unknown

Executioners from 1936/37 to 1945

Concentration Camp Executioners (from 1938 to 1945)

Buchenwald

Westerbork

Interim Executioners (from 1945 to 1949)

West Germany (1949 to 1951/53)

Except for Western Berlin where the Allied did not validate the new German constitution, West Germany had abolished capital punishment May 23, 1949. For West Berlin, the death penalty would still continue in law until January 20, 1951. Despite at least one executioner continued nominated, no death sentences or executions ordered by German courts in that period have been reported so far.

East Germany (1949 to 1987)

Occupation Executioners (from 1945 to 1992)

Germans

Americans

British

Soviet

India

Mullick family,Culcutta


Ireland consisted of the Kingdom of Ireland between 1534 and 1800; it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801–1922; after that it was Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State; from 1937 the southern part was the Republic of Ireland.

Israel

Japan

Libya

Benghazi

Malaysia

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Groningen

Utrecht

New Caledonia

Monsieur de Nouméa: The Exexcutioners of the French Republic

Monsieur de la Bagne: The Executioners of the Bagne

All executioners of New Caledonia's Bagne were inmates themselves.

New Zealand

Norway

Pakistan

In Pakistan, executioners have obligatorily to be Christians.

Papal States

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia (USSR)

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

South Africa

Spain

Audiencia de Madrid

Audiencia de Barcelona

Audiencia de Burgos

Audiencia de Sevilla

Audiencia de Valladolid

Audiencia de Zaragoza

Sweden

Switzerland

Aargau

Appenzell Innerrhoden

Basel

Fribourg

Geneva

Glarus

Lucerne

Saint-Gall

Schwyz

Thurgau

Uri

Zug

Zurich

Federal">Confederation">Federal [Executioner] for all Swiss">Switzerland">Swiss Death Penalty Cantons

Thailand

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United States of America

. Hangman for the Third Army in WWII. He was one of the hangmen who executed Nazi war criminals.
Joseph Malta was the hangman who, with John C. Woods, executed the top 10 leaders of the Third Reich in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946, for crimes against humanity.

Alabama

Arkansas

During the first part of the 20th century, operators of the electric chair were known as "State electricians".

Colorado

Indiana

Louisiana

Massachusetts

Mississippi

Missouri

New York

Erie County

New York State Electrician

Ohio

Before Statehood

Texas

West Virginia

Jefferson County

Zimbabwe and former Rhodesia