is a device designed for carrying out executions by
decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame in which a weighted and
angled blade is raised to the top and suspended. The condemned person is
secured at the bottom of the frame, with his or her neck held directly below
the blade. The blade is then released, to fall swiftly and sever the head from
the body. The device is best known for its use in France, in particular during
the French Revolution, when it ‘became a part of popular culture’.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler had a guillotine constructed and tested. He was impressed enough to order 20 more constructed and put into immediate service. National Socialist records indicate that between 1933 and 1945, 16,500 people were executed by guillotine in Germany and Austria.
The guillotine history has lessons for
us.
The blade was an axe head weighing 3.5 kg, attached to the
bottom of a massive wooden block that slid up and down via grooves in the
uprights. This device was mounted on a large square platform 1.25 metre (4 ft)
high.
In France,
before the guillotine, members of
the nobility were beheaded with a sword or axe, which typically took at least
two blows to kill the condemned, while commoners were usually hanged, a form of
death that could take minutes or longer.
Since these traditional executions were notably
gruesome, a French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin conceived and designed the killer machine in an attempt to
improve on accuracy and effectiveness. What followed were large-scale
executions by guillotine. Hundreds could be killed in a day in
what was termed as the ‘reign of Terror’.
Nobility and
commoners, intellectuals, politicians and prostitutes, were liable to be executed
on little or no grounds. Suspicion of crimes was enough to earn one an
appointment with "Madame Guillotine" or "The National
Razor".
Even the inventor,
Joseph Guillotin himself, got a taste of his own medicine when he was sentenced
to death by guillotine.
His crime? - Guilty
of inventing a killer machine that was too efficient.
For a time,
executions by guillotine were a popular entertainment that attracted great
crowds of spectators. Vendors would sell programs listing the names of those
scheduled to die. Many people would come day after day and vie for the best
locations from which to observe the drama.
In 1933, Adolf Hitler had a guillotine constructed and tested. He was impressed enough to order 20 more constructed and put into immediate service. National Socialist records indicate that between 1933 and 1945, 16,500 people were executed by guillotine in Germany and Austria.
MORRIS NGUGI |
What you
do today means a lot for your tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment