Hans Vollenweider - Misplaced Pages

Swiss criminal (1908–1940)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Find sources: "Hans Vollenweider" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2017)

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The topic of this article may not meet Misplaced Pages's notability guideline for biographies. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Hans Vollenweider" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

(Learn how and when to remove this message)

Hans Vollenweider
Hans Vollenweider's mugshot
Born	(1908-02-11)February 11, 1908 Zurich, Switzerland
Died	October 18, 1940(1940-10-18) (aged 32) Sarnen, Switzerland
Cause of death	Execution by guillotine
Criminal status	Executed

Conviction(s)	Murder (3 counts) Bank robbery
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	3
Date	June 1940
Country	Switzerland

Hans Vollenweider (11 February 1908 – 18 October 1940) was a Swiss criminal. He was the last person to be sentenced to death and executed by a civilian court in Switzerland.

Vollenweider was born in Zurich. In 1936, he committed a bank robbery and was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. He remained incarcerated after his sentence was over, because he was considered dangerous. One day he was able to escape and after nine days he was captured on 23 June 1939. In these nine days, he had shot the driver Hermann Zwyssig, the postman Emil Stoll, and the policeman Alois von Moos. After being held in several prisons in different cantons, the cantonal court of Obwalden sentenced him to death on 19 September 1940. Appeal and a request for clemency were rejected. As the death penalty in Switzerland was already scheduled to be abolished on 1 January 1942, the judgment was controversial.

One month later, on the morning of 18 October 1940, Hans Vollenweider was executed in Sarnen in the workshop of the prison with a guillotine borrowed from Lucerne. The offender refused last words and last meal as well as spiritual support.

He was the last person to be executed using a guillotine in Switzerland.

References

Die schlimmsten Mörder der Schweiz - Blick (in German)

External links

(in German) Die Geschichte der Todesstrafe in der Schweiz (History of the death penalty in Switzerland)

This Swiss biographical article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: