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ANATOLE DEIBLER'S 400 CUSTOMERS |
| Anatole Deibler is arguably the most famous French executioner. He performed his trade from 1885 to 1939 at a time when photography and film were becoming widely available. The press was hungry for sensational stories and executions were still held in public. He existed as a sort of anachronism, the caretaker of a gruesome medieval ritual transposed into the modern world of automobiles, airplanes, industrialization and mass media. He executed 395 men but not a single woman in a career that extended over 54 years. His "customers" included a number of bomb-throwing anarchists (No.39, No.57, No.62), a serial sex-killer (No.96), two famous gangs of rural bandits (No.118-121 and No.126-128) and the infamous Bonnot gang (No.162-164), two assassins of French presidents (No.66 and No.347), some notorious gangsters (No.365 and No.371), a lawyer who dissolved two "clients" in sulphuric acid (No.363), the "Ogre" from Haubourdin (No.322) and a most famous and prolific lady-killer (No.243). His customers also included the usual assortment of sordid murderers, thugs, rapists, child molesters and assassins. He died just before WW2 thus avoiding the controversy and shame that befell Desfourneaux, his successor. Desfourneaux executed women, communists, members of the resistance and "politicals" under the Vichy Regime. Anatole Deibler meticulously documented every one of his executions in notebooks which have survived. These notebooks have been partially published, making it relatively easy to keep track of all his "clients". The following portrait gallery of "Deibler's 400 Heads" has been gathered by members of the "La Veuve" forum, including Sylvain Larue, Sylvain Michot, Le Photographe, Bernard Weis and several others. I assembled these display pages to keep this valuable collection together and have myself added about 150 new photos. Only 265 of the 395 heads are included at this time. In particular the 18 first "clients" were executed in Algeria where research is much more difficult. As I find more photos they will be added to these pages. |
No.19 - 1891 Michel Eyraud |
No.22 - 1891 Denis Rebours |
No.24 - 1891 Pierre Merger |
No.26 - 1891 Eugène Meunier |
No.27 - 1891 Gustave Doré |
No.28 - 1891 Adolphe Berland |
No.33 - 1892 Magloire Émonet |
No.36 - 1892 Louis Anastay |
No.38 - 1892 Mathias Hadelt |
No.39 - 1892 François Ravachol |
No.44 - 1892 Eugène Crampon |
No.49 - 1893 Edmond Claeys |
No.50 - 1893 Auguste DeGroote |
No.53 - 1893 Eugène Beaujean |
No.54 - 1893 Pierre Kuntz |
No.56 - 1894 Jean Marie Busseuil |
No.57 - 1894 Auguste Vaillant |
No.61 - 1894 Émile Vannieuwenhove |
No.62 - 1894 Émile Henry |
No.64 - 1894 Raymond Gamelin |
No.66 - 1894 Sante Caserio |
No.68 - 1894 Albert Bruneau |
No.75 - 1895 Jean Baptiste Lanceleur |
No.78 - 1896 Jean Dudot |
No.88 - 1897 Étienne Thomas |
No.91 - 1898 Xavier Carrara |
No.94 - 1898 Alphonse Caillard |
No.96 - 1898 Joseph Vacher |
No.97 - 1898 Pierre Damoiseau |
No.98 - 1899 Alfred Peugnez |
No.100 - 1899 Adrien Samson |
No.101 - 1899 Félix Geffroy |
No.104 - 1900 Évariste Nouguier |
No.105 - 1900 Ernest Gaumet |
No.106 - 1900 Étienne Portes |
No.108 - 1901 Étienne Bouvier |
No.111 - 1903 Théophile Leclerc |
No.112 - 1903 Auguste Potin |
No.114 - 1905 Henri Languille |
No.115 - 1905 Jean Van Den Bogaert |
No.116 - 1905 Charles Swartewagher |
No.117 - 1905 Antonio Pozzi |
No.118 - 1909 Théophile Deroo |
No.119 - 1909 Canut Vromant |
No.120 - 1909 Auguste Pollet |
No.121 - 1909 Abel Pollet |
No.123 - 1909 Pierre Simorre |
No.124 - 1909 Henri Besse |
No.125 - 1909 Henri Duchemin |
No.126 - 1909 Louis Berruyer |
No.127 - 1909 Octave David |
No.128 - 1909 Urbain Liottard |
No.129 - 1909 Camille Favre |
No.130 - 1909 Henri Riboulet |
No.131 - 1910 Jean Hébrard |
No.132 - 1910 François Olive |
No.134 - 1910 Jean Liabœuf |
No.135 - 1910 Séraphin Vançon |
No.137 - 1910 Jean Terry |
No.138 - 1910 Valentin Doilin |
No.139 - 1911 Antoine Favier |
No.140 - 1911 Jules Grand |
No.141 - 1911 Henri Deviot |
No.142 - 1911 Charles Philippo |
No.143 - 1911 Lucien Pajot |
No.145 - 1911 Édouard Caturegli |
No.146 - 1911 Henri Hamet |
No.147 - 1912 Alphonse Boursier |
No.148 - 1912 Arthur Renard |
No.149 - 1912 Joseph Rosa |
No.150 - 1912 Benjamin Tisseau |
No.151 - 1912 Henri Nolot |
No.152 - 1912 Paul Bourges |
No.153 - 1912 Pierre-Auguste Polydor |
No.154 - 1912 Robert Duperrat |
No.155 - 1912 Guillaume Courmier |
No.157 - 1912 Jean-Baptiste Bour |
No.158 - 1913 Georges Gérard |
No.159 - 1913 Joseph Renard |
No.160 - 1913 Gustave Auxerre |
No.161 - 1913 Charles Barré |
No.162 - 1913 André Soudy |
No.163 - 1913 Raymond Callemin |
No.164 - 1913 Étienne Monnier |
No.165 - 1913 Auguste Lhomme |
No.166 - 1913 Georges Laage |
No.167 - 1913 Louis Albus |
No.168 - 1913 Albert Carlu |
No.169 - 1913 Clément Monvoisin |
No.170 - 1914 Frédéric Delacourt |
No.171 - 1914 Umberto Piccinelli |
No.172 - 1914 Joseph Kirstetter |
No.173 - 1914 François Prigent |
No.174 - 1914 Robert Fabre |
No.175 - 1914 Maurice Doucet |
No.178 - 1915 Joseph Lagarde |
No.179 - 1916 Louis Lefèvre |
No.180 - 1916 Jean Roose |
No.182 - 1917 Marius Paudière |
No.184 - 1917 Léon Spoetler |
No.185 - 1917 Jean Duplay |
No.187 - 1918 Émile Ferfaille |
No.188 - 1918 Charles Flaguais |
No.190 - 1918 Émile Van Der Massen |
No.192 - 1918 Fermo Vicini |
No.195 - 1918 Charles Ménesplier |
No.196 - 1918 Antonio Guerrero |
No.197 - 1918 Clément Tranquet |
No.200 - 1919 Giulio Sanazzaro |
No.201 - 1919 Joseph Perrot |
No.202 - 1919 Pierre Grisard |
No.203 - 1919 Henri Borel |
No.204 - 1920 Albert Fournier |
No.208 - 1920 Marcel Lamielle |
No.210 - 1920 Jean Laval |
No.211 - 1920 Régis Mathon |
No.212 - 1920 Djermane Areski |
No.214 - 1920 Louis Deleuze |
No.216 - 1920 Alfred Carré |
No.220 - 1921 Léon Marie Gicquel |
No.221 - 1921 Émile Etchevarri |
No.222 - 1921 Gaston Castin |
No.223 - 1921 Kléber Boucher |
No.225 - 1921 Albert Philippe |
No.226 - 1921 Juan Cortes |
No.227 - 1921 Boularik Amokrane |
No.228 - 1921 Alphonse Ernette |
No.229 - 1921 Fernand Bâton |
No.232 - 1921 Casimir Veignal |
No.234 - 1921 Albert Luntz |
No.235 - 1921 François Frintz |
No.236 - 1921 Armand Fargues |
No.237 - 1921 Robert Ricard |
No.238 - 1921 Léon Bourbier |
No.239 - 1922 Alessandro Aletto |
No.240 - 1922 Fortunato Aloïa |
No.241 - 1922 René Bouy |
No.242 - 1922 Jérôme Marcheselli |
No.243 - 1922 Henri Landru |
No.244 - 1922 Paul Saigain |
No.245 - 1922 Maurice Cassang |
No.246 - 1922 Fernand Legadec |
No.247 - 1922 Émile Lœuillette |
No.248 - 1922 Louis Cadet |
No.249 - 1922 François Diétrich |
No.250 - 1922 Frédéric Schneider |
No.251 - 1922 Émile Flaesch |
No.252 - 1922 Alphonse Daubord |
No.253 - 1922 Alexandre Lucas |
No.255 - 1922 Jacques Charrier |
No.256 - 1922 Eugène Huquet |
No.257 - 1922 Charles Burger |
No.259 - 1923 Félix Marius Gournaud |
No.261 - 1923 Georges Léon Patte |
No.262 - 1923 Roger Vignau |
No.263 - 1923 Paul Brysgaloff |
No.266 - 1923 Joseph Witkowski |
No.267 - 1923 Stephan Kazmierowski |
No.268 - 1923 Félix Gueydan |
No.270 - 1923 Charles Vasseur |
No.272 - 1923 Marcellin Delval |
No.273 - 1924 Louis Dumont |
No.274 - 1924 André Garcia Téjeron |
No.277 - 1924 Mohamed Khémile |
No.279 - 1924 Zeiro Finatti |
No.280 - 1925 François Salvador |
No.282 - 1925 Antonief Paprocki |
No.283 - 1925 Henry Olivier |
No.285 - 1925 Paul Louis Dervaux |
No.287 - 1925 Yves Couliou |
No.289 - 1926 Benito Castro |
No.290 - 1926 Ramon Recassens |
No.291 - 1926 Maurice Berger |
No.293 - 1926 Barthélémy Chabaud |
No.298 - 1927 Gabriel Monfort |
No.299 - 1927 Marcel Sinn |
No.300 - 1927 André Supply |
No.301 - 1927 Abder Ben Naceur |
No.303 - 1928 Paul Valence |
No.304 - 1928 Paul Émile Lasgi |
No.305 - 1928 Julian Pachowski |
No.306 - 1928 Wladimir Zinczuk |
No.307 - 1928 William Follain |
No.308 - 1928 Lucien Beyen |
No.309 - 1928 André Bellier |
No.311 - 1928 Joseph Allier |
No.312 - 1928 François Dedieu |
No.315 - 1928 Joseph Léon Rauch |
No.316 - 1929 Émile Quirin |
No.317 - 1929 René Frédillon |
No.318 - 1929 Serge Gambier |
No.319 - 1929 Léon Vendredeuil |
No.320 - 1929 Bonaventure Balsanti |
No.321 - 1930 Alexandre Ughetto |
No.322 - 1930 Charles Masselis |
No.323 - 1930 Marcel Morice |
No.324 - 1930 Albert Clarisse |
No.325 - 1930 Paul Dufour |
No.326 - 1930 Jean Baptiste Guiffaut |
No.327 - 1930 Henri Fernand Verdière |
No.329 - 1930 Félix Bergeron |
No.330 - 1930 Firmin Cipierre |
No.331 - 1930 Yves Le Floch |
No.332 - 1930 René Roos |
No.333 - 1930 Marius Chabrolles |
No.334 - 1930 Roman Daszkowski |
No.335 - 1930 Alfred Albert Fleury |
No.336 - 1931 Étienne Bordus |
No.337 - 1931 Antoine Chapponneau |
No.338 - 1931 Georges Loos |
No.339 - 1931 Ernest Roi |
No.340 - 1931 Mohamed Ben Driss |
No.341 - 1931 Pasquale Passera |
No.342 - 1931 Georges Gauchet |
No.343 - 1932 Antoine Martin |
No.345 - 1932 Henri Louis Nicolas |
No.346 - 1932 Lucien Louis |
No.347 - 1932 Pavel Gorguloff |
No.348 - 1932 Abel Barranger |
No.349 - 1932 Rabah Bedrat |
No.350 - 1933 Marien Evaux |
No.351 - 1933 Xavier Cornet |
No.352 - 1933 Émile Delanoë |
No.353 - 1933 Jean Martin |
No.354 - 1933 Paul Véteau |
No.355 - 1933 Elie Lagarde |
No.356 - 1933 Roger Durieux |
No.357 - 1933 Anton Cwojdzinski |
No.358 - 1933 Alphonse Lemaire |
No.359 - 1933 Pierre Delafet |
No.360 - 1933 Marcel Grandoux |
No.361 - 1934 Ivan Jouroucheff |
No.362 - 1934 Pierre Gueurie |
No.363 - 1934 Georges Sarrejani |
No.364 - 1934 Jean Baptiste Torre |
No.365 - 1934 Camille Maucuer |
No.366 - 1934 Gaston Philippot |
No.367 - 1934 Louis Venuat |
No.368 - 1934 Ludwig Gala |
No.369 - 1935 Léon-Pierre Barbat |
No.370 - 1935 Henri Putigny |
No.371 - 1935 André Spada |
No.372 - 1935 Joseph Lauer |
No.373 - 1936 Michel Nicolini |
No.374 - 1936 Giuseppe Sasia |
No.375 - 1936 Henri Bourdon |
No.377 - 1936 Jules Duchemin |
No.378 - 1936 Henri Martin |
No.379 - 1936 Arthur Mahieu |
No.380 - 1936 Antonio Rocchini |
No.381 - 1936 Casimir Dankerque |
No.382 - 1936 Manuel Rodriguez |
No.383 - 1936 André Martin |
No.384 - 1937 Basile Gouczouliakoff |
No.385 - 1937 Henri Dardillac |
No.386 - 1937 Lucien Sittler |
No.387 - 1937 Gaston Donatien |
No.388 - 1937 René Kueny |
No.389 - 1938 Fernand Hubert |
No.390 - 1938 Frédéric Moyse |
No.391 - 1938 Auguste Mary |
No.392 - 1938 Camille Charbonnier |
No.393 - 1938 Ange Quaranta |
No.394 - 1938 Gabriel Kamphaus |
No.395 - 1939 Abdelkader Rakida |