Capital punishment in Germany

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Capital punishment in Germany has been abolished.

The current Constitution of Germany ("Grundgesetz") as adopted in 1949 does not allow capital punishment (Art. 102 GG: "Die Todesstrafe ist abgeschafft" - Capital punishment is abolished). However, the death penalty was abolished in the German Democratic Republic until 1987.

The last executions that took place on West German soil were those following the influence of Third Reich officials and World War II war criminals recently captured. The last execution in the GDR is believed to having been that of Werner Teske, accused of being a double agent, in 1982.

Under Hitler nearly 40,000 death sentences were handed down, mainly by the Volksgerichtshof and also by the Reich Military Tribunal. Executions were carried out most often by beheading using the guillotine but from 1942 onwards hanging using the short-drop method is also commonplace. A firing squad is reserved for military offenders.

Murder, treasonable acts, abetment to treason, sabotage, looting, espionage, insidious publishing or rhetoric, listening to illegal foreign radio broadcasts, avoiding military service as a conscientious objector and hiding a person wanted by the government could all be punished by death in the Third Reich.