Jules-Henri Desfourneaux

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Jules-Henri Desfourneaux (17 December 1877-1 October 1951) was the last French executioner to officiate in public. He came from a long line of executioners named Desfourneaux stretching back many hundreds of years. Like all French executioners since 1792 his method of application of the death penalty was beheading by guillotine.

Desfourneaux was recruited by his predecessor Anatole Deibler and attended his first execution as second assistant in 1909. Following the death of Deibler in 1939 he was elected to chief and was in charge of the last public execution in France on 17 June 1939 when he guillotined the mass murderer Eugène Weidmann. This execution was also notable as it is one of the few ever filmed. Desfourneaux's lethargic performance (compared to Deibler) coupled with the botched nature of the execution in general, added to the filmed evidence was largely responsible for the government's decision to hold all future executions behind closed doors.

He was involved in controversy during World War II when required by the Vichy Government to execute communists and members of the French Resistance, notably Marcel Langer which led to the resignation of his assistants, André Obrecht and the Martin brothers, Georges and Robert. He was also responsible for the first guillotinings of women since the late nineteenth century including, famously, an abortionist named Marie-Louise Giraud in 1943 and eventually, the last woman executed in France; axe-killer Germaine Godefroy on 21st April 1949.

Escaping retribution after the war, Desfourneaux increasingly turned to drink, a problem compounded by the suicide of his son. He was rejoined as first assistant in 1945 by his cousin, André Obrecht, who, despite his increasing dislike of Desfourneaux, could see a potential future as chief executioner looming. Further disagreements followed and Obrecht resigned for the second time in 1947. Jules-Henri Desfourneaux soldiered on until October 1951 when, whilst still in office and almost insane, he died. Ironically, with the history between them, his eventual successor was Obrecht, who officiated until 1976, almost to the end of the applicable death penalty in France.