JAN WIECHERT liest aus DER FALL WAIBEL UND DIE TODESSTRAFE IN BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG

In the last days of 1879, a terrible crime is committed in Stuttgart's Weberstraße: The carpenter Johann Waibel tries to wipe out his brother's family and murders four relatives. Two children survive the attack seriously injured. The Waibel case moves and outrages people in Stuttgart and other parts of Württemberg. Above all, it fueled the public debate about the death penalty that was taking place throughout the empire in those years. In Württemberg, King Karl and his government had ensured that all death row inmates were pardoned for over a decade. But now there are calls for the guillotine here too.

The lecture traces the Waibel case, follows the lives of those involved and looks at the criminal and legal investigation. At the same time, it outlines the history of the death penalty in the Kingdom of Württemberg.