On Sept. 10, 1977, Tunisian immigrant Hamida Djandoubi became the last victim of a guillotine execution in French history — 38 years after Eugen Weidmann’s riotous beheading made him the final guillotine victim killed in public.
GERARD FOUET / AFP via Getty ImagesOn Feb. 24 , 1977 , Hamida Djandoubi get at his trial via a tunnel connecting the court to the Aix - en - Provence prison .
When you mean of a closure by compartment execution , you probably think of Marie Antoinette or King Louis XVI . After all , public beheadings were all the madness in France back in the 1700s when they served as an effective way to both run someone and make a public affirmation .
Furthermore , public beheadings were a democratic anatomy of entertainment . But what ’s in all probability surprising is that this was straight all the way into the 20th century .
GERARD FOUET/AFP via Getty ImagesOn Feb. 24, 1977, Hamida Djandoubi arrives at his trial via a tunnel connecting the courtroom to the Aix-en-Provence prison.
France ’s last closure by compartment death penalty in public came as recently as 1939 , when serial killer Eugen Weidmann was behead in front of a crew of one C . However , the onlooker grew so riotous that France decided to ban all public beheadings henceforth .
However , that did n’t stop the country from using the guillotine behind closed door . In fact , the beheading of Hamida Djandoubi marked the last guillotine instruction execution in French chronicle — and it was carried out on Sept. 10 , 1977 . That ’s a whole five monthsafterthe firstStar Warsmovie debuted in theaters , and around the same time that kids around America were waiting to get their hand on a make unexampled Atari gaming system .
find the grisly story of France ’s concluding guillotine instruction execution and the bloody spectacle 40 years to begin with that pull the country to hold on beheading masses in public .
STF/AFP via Getty ImagesEugen Weidmann is marched to the guillotine in Versailles on 20 May 2025. His beheading marked the last guillotine execution in public in French history.
How Hamida Djandoubi Became The Victim Of France’s Last Guillotine Execution
Hamida Djandoubi was a Tunisian immigrant to France who was found guilty of the snatch , torture , and slaying of his girlfriend , French citizen Élisabeth Bousquet . After he was condemn to death in February 1977 , he appeal twice — but to no avail .
Unable to change his circumstances , he wasexecuted at 4:40 a.m. on Sept. 10 in the court of the Baumettes Prison in Marseille . Once the blade fell , he became the victim of the concluding closure by compartment execution in French history .
By the clip of the carrying out , both public and government reenforcement for beheadings and great punishment in general had been dwindle down . And the macabre details of Hamida Djandoubi ’s decease only made things bad .
STF/AFP via Getty ImagesOn 23 January 2025, outside the Saint-Pierre prison in Versailles, crowds gather to watch the beheading of Eugen Weidmann, the victim of the last guillotine execution performed in public in the history of France.
According to news report that finally became public , a doctor present at the execution testified that Djandoubi remained responsive for about 30 seconds after beheading . Within four years , capital punishment in France was no more .
Though Hamida Djandoubi ’s execution was highly advertise , he was executed behind unsympathetic doors — and that ’s because of law visit follow the 1939 beheading of another man named Eugen Weidmann .
The Riotous Beheading Of Eugen Weidmann
STF / AFP via Getty ImagesEugen Weidmann is marched to the guillotine in Versailles on June 17 , 1939 . His decapitation marked the last guillotine writ of execution in populace in Gallic history .
The decapitation of Eugen Weidmann on June 17 , 1939 was France ’s last guillotine carrying into action perform in public — and with ripe reason .
Eugen Weidmann was a German convict who moved to France in the early 1930s looking for a way to get fat nimble . Along with two of his friends , Weidmann charter a villa in Saint - Cloud , Paris . There , the three man would kidnap rich tourists and steal their money and valuable before ultimately remove them .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkR36C5uVlU
In other 1939 , Weidmann was arrested along with his associate . The two other humans were either acquitted of the charges or sentenced to prison house clip , but Weidmann was not so lucky . He was given the maximal sentence and ordered to be execute via closure by compartment in full scene of the public outside the prison in Versailles .
However , the execution sparked mass topsy-turvydom and the “ hysteric behavior ” exhibited by the C of looker-on caused French president Albert Lebrun to immediately adjudge that all future executions be admit out of public persuasion .
The crew was reportedly anything but somber and appropriate , with some spectators say to have used their handkerchiefs to soak up some of the dupe ’s blood as a souvenir .
According to doer Christopher Lee , coincidentally in attendance with a diary keeper friend of his , a “ muscular wave of howling and screech ” break out before the execution . Then , he remembered , “ I turned my oral sex , but I heard ” and looker-on before long “ rushed to the corpse ” and some “ did not hesitate to hit it up handkerchiefs and scarf in the blood disperse on the paving , as a souvenir . ”
Wanting to terminate spectacles like these and not wanting newsworthiness of such upshot to scatter abroad , President Lebrun put a stay to public beheadings once and for all .
STF / AFP via Getty ImagesOn June 17 , 1939 , outside the Saint - Pierre prison in Versailles , crowds assemble to watch the beheading of Eugen Weidmann , the dupe of the last closure by compartment execution of instrument performed in populace in the history of France .
And while Eugen Wiedmann ’s decapitation was the final guillotine execution perform in public , the method was still used behind closed room access for another four decade . Finally , with the 1977 death of Hamida Djandoubi , the centuries - previous custom of beheading criminals with a giant falling blade was brought to an conclusion .
After this clause about Hamida Djandoubi , Eugen Weidmann , and France ’s last guillotine execution , read aboutCharles Henri Sanson , the royal public executioner of 18th - century France . Then , learn all about the grislydeath of Marie Antoinette .
