THE LAST PUBLIC GUILLOTINE IN FRANCE Eugen Weidmann

Public executions in France, were the norm and continued until 1939. From the mid19th century, the usual time of day for executions changed from around 3 pm to morning and then to dawn. Executions had been carried out in large central public spaces such as market squares but gradually moved towards the local prison. In the early 20th century, the guillotine was set up just outside the prison gates. The last person to be publicly guillotined was sixtime murderer Eugen Weidmann who was executed on 17 June 1939 outside the StPierre prison in Versailles. Photographs of the execution appeared in the press, and apparently this spectacle led the government to stop public executions and to hold them instead in prison courtyards, such as La Santé Prison in Paris. Following the law, the first to be guillotined inside a prison was Jean Dehaene, who had murdered his estranged wife and fatherinlaw, executed on 19 July 1939 at StBrieuc. Eugen Weidmann was born on February 5, 1908, he was the last person t