Facts about Guillotine

The original German guillotines resembled the French Berger 1872 model but eventually evolved into more specialized machines.

A notable example is Germany, where the guillotine is known in German as Fallbeil ("falling axe").

Used in other countries, notably Nazi Germany, the guillotine was implemented in tens of thousands of executions, many of them in public.

In 1996, however, Georgia state legislator Doug Teper proposed the guillotine as a replacement for the electric chair as the state's method of execution, to enable the convicts to act as organ donors.

The guillotine was thus perceived to deliver an immediate death without risk of misses.

Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds.

Antoine Louis (1723 — 1792), member of the Acadйmie Chirurgicale, developed the concept put forward by Guillotin, and it was from his design that the first guillotine was built.

Most of the democratic reforms of the revolution were suspended and wholesale executions by guillotine began.

The guillotine stood in the corner near the Hфtel Crillon where the statue of Brest can be found today.

The guillotine was first called louison or louisette, but the press preferred guillotine.

From its first use, there has been debate as to whether or not the guillotine always provided as swift a death as Dr. Guillotin had hoped.

The guillotine became infamous (and acquired its name) in France at the time of the French Revolution.

The Nazis re-instituted Jewish ghettos in Eastern Europe before and during World War II.

Concern was raised that death by guillotine was not as humane as claimed.

Guillotine and firing squad were the legal methods of execution in the German Empire (1871-1918) and Weimar Republic (1919-1933).

Finally, however, in 1981 the guillotine was retired, accomplishing Dr. Guillotin's ultimate goal after almost two centuries with the abolition of the death penalty.

The guillotine was adopted as the official means of execution on March 20, 1792.

The guillotine has never been used in the United States as a legal method of execution, although it was considered in the nineteenth century before introduction of the electric chair.

The Revolutionary Tribunal sentenced thousands to the guillotine.

On April 25, 1792, highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person executed by guillotine.

Just as there were guillotine-like devices in countries other than France before 1792, other countries, especially in Europe, similarly employed this method of execution.