ANATOLE DEIBLER'S 400 CUSTOMERS
Anatole Deibler is arguably the most famous French executioner. He performed his trade from 1885 to 1939 at a time when photography and film were becoming widely available. The press was hungry for sensational stories and executions were still held in public. He existed as a sort of anachronism, the caretaker of a gruesome medieval ritual transposed into the modern world of automobiles, airplanes, industrialization and mass media.
He executed 395 men but not a single woman in a career that extended over 54 years. His "customers" included a number of bomb-throwing anarchists (No.39, No.57, No.62), a serial sex-killer (No.96), two famous gangs of rural bandits (No.118-121 and No.126-128) and the infamous Bonnot gang (No.162-164), two assassins of French presidents (No.66 and No.347), some notorious gangsters (No.365 and No.371), a lawyer who dissolved two "clients" in sulphuric acid (No.363), the "Ogre" from Haubourdin (No.322) and a most famous and prolific lady-killer (No.243). His customers also included the usual assortment of sordid murderers, thugs, rapists, child molesters and assassins.
He died just before WW2 thus avoiding the controversy and shame that befell Desfourneaux, his successor. Desfourneaux executed women, communists, members of the resistance and "politicals" under the Vichy Regime.
Anatole Deibler meticulously documented every one of his executions in notebooks which have survived. These notebooks have been partially published, making it relatively easy to keep track of all his "clients".
The following portrait gallery of "Deibler's 400 Heads" has been gathered by members of the "La Veuve" forum, including Sylvain Larue, Sylvain Michot, Le Photographe, Bernard Weis and several others.
(continued, via link for 400 Heads)
