December 17, 1877 - Jules-Henri Desfourneaux
His place in history is defined less by cruelty than by proximity to state power at its most absolute — the man who operated the guillotine on behalf of the French Republic during some of its most turbulent decades, including the Occupation and its aftermath. As the last executioner to carry out a public execution in France, he marks a particular threshold in the long history of capital punishment's relationship with public spectacle.
From Wikipedia
Jules-Henri Desfourneaux (French pronunciation: [ʒyl ɑ̃ʁi defuʁno]; 17 December 1877 – 1 October 1951) was a French executioner who served as the 5th Monsieur de Paris from 1939 until 1951. He was the last executioner to officiate in public. Desfourneaux participated in around 350 executions and officiated as the chief executioner among 190 of them.
- Last updated on .