Holocaust victim

  Jeffrey David Matthews, indicted in 1994 for the murder of his 77-year-old great uncle Otis Earl Short, delivered his final sentence before receiving a lethal injection at Oklahoma State penitentiary A man on death row finally answered for the shooting of his elderly great uncle when he was executed to the loud bangs of his fellow inmates, but his last words left a disturbing chill in the execution chamber. Jeffrey David Matthews, indicted in 1994 for the murder of his 77-year-old great uncle Otis Earl Short, delivered his final words before receiving a lethal injection at Oklahoma State penitentiary. Moments before his death, Jeffrey grinned at his family members and said: "I think that governor's phone is broke. He hadn't called yet." Former Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry had previously granted two stays of execution for Jeffrey upon pending investigations regarding his claims of innocence. A third was granted only because defence attorneys repudiated motions to sub...

  Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were on a mission trip in Panama in April 2014 when they decided to go on a hike in the jungles around Baru volcano. When they didn't return, authorities launched a months-long manhunt that turned up a severed foot in a boot, bleached bones, a cell phone with dozens of failed calls, and most mysterious of all, a digital camera filled with eerie photographs. On April 1, 2014, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon left their host family’s home to take the family’s dog on a walk through the scenic forests around the Baru volcano in Boquete, Panama. Kremers and Froon were students from Amersfoort in the Netherlands. They had spent six months planning their trip to Panama, which was supposed to serve as part vacation, part service trip. They planned on spending some time hiking and touring while also volunteering with local children, teaching arts and crafts, and learning Spanish. The two women had been hiking around the Panamanian jungle for the past two weeks...

  In 43 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius ordered an invasion of Britain. Although the Romans quickly won the first field battles and occupied most of the south, the Britons led by Caractacus continued to fight a vicious guerrilla war. After nine years, Caractacus was eventually captured, and as per Roman custom was sent to Rome to be paraded in a triumph and then executed. Before his execution, he was permitted to address the Emperor and Senate: Had my moderation in prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to you as it is degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I...

  Video shows the moment a female recruit/student at the Nigerian Defense Academy was tortured by senior Air Force officials. The video is sensitive. Viewer discretion please In the video, the lady was told to put her head on top of a wood while raising up her body in a 90 degrees angle after being rolled in mud. She was flogged by senior male recruits before she was subjected through excruciating punishment. "You're a born bastard", one of the officers told her.

  Death row in wartime: British Pathe releases harrowing archive footage of executions during conflicts across the world Executions were sometimes filmed, but not shown to public by Pathe  The footage went straight to archive as it was deemed too harrowing With his sweaty hands bound behind his back and his face covered with a blindfold, the man's body convulsed as bullets riddled his torso. He was one of several Germans killed by a US military firing squad just outside the town of Braunschweig, Germany in 1945 because he deemed a spy. However two of the spies lined up in the disused quarry were in fact simply members of the Hitler youth, aged just 16 and 17 years old. They were gunned down and then dragged into the coffins which were in the ground nearby. The harrowing scene is just one of several images of death row in war time released by British Pathe. The film archive states: 'While Pathe didn’t shy away from screening very real and very harrowing footage of say the Holoc...

  Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were on a mission trip in Panama in April 2014 when they decided to go on a hike in the jungles around Baru volcano. When they didn't return, authorities launched a months-long manhunt that turned up a severed foot in a boot, bleached bones, a cell phone with dozens of failed calls, and most mysterious of all, a digital camera filled with eerie photographs. On April 1, 2014, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon left their host family’s home to take the family’s dog on a walk through the scenic forests around the Baru volcano in Boquete, Panama. Kremers and Froon were students from Amersfoort in the Netherlands. They had spent six months planning their trip to Panama, which was supposed to serve as part vacation, part service trip. They planned on spending some time hiking and touring while also volunteering with local children, teaching arts and crafts, and learning Spanish. The two women had been hiking around the Panamanian jungle for the past two weeks...

  Some people may know this woman, others may not. She is Magda Goebbels, the wife of Adolf Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. In April of 1945, the Nazi Regime collapsed. Hitler went to his bunker under the Chancellor Building in Berlin. During this time many of the top Nazi officials sent their wives and children away to a safer area. However, Magda had insisted on joining her husband when he commit suicide beside the Fuhrer. This alone was a disturbing aspect to see how fanatically loyal someone can become to a cause, but it is only made worse when she brought her six children; Helga (12), Hilde (11), Helmut (10), Holde (9), Hedwig (7) and Heidrun (4). Before April in 1945, Joseph had attempted to persuade Magda to take herself and the children to safety on numerous occasions. Curt Reiss's book, along with many other biographies on Goebbels identify this fact. He suggested that her wife take herself and the children to a neutral area. Magda refused to do so. On a...

  The picture shows two workers working on electrical transformers. One was named Champion, the other Simpson. Both were on top of a huge power transformer, performing a routine inspection, when the transformer suddenly discharged a 4000-volt electrical discharge. This discharge struck Champion and stopped his heart. (For comparison: The electric chair used in executions operates at about 2000 volts). The safety belt that Champion wore prevented him from falling to the ground. His colleague Simpson, who was climbing behind him, immediately noticed what had happened. Undeterred by the danger, he rushed to his friend, held him tight, and began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was not possible in this situation. He breathed air into his friend's mouth to get oxygen into his lungs. Suddenly, Simpson felt a faint pulse in Champion's chest. He unbuckled him from the seatbelt, hoisted him onto his shoulders, and lowered him to the ground. On the gro...

  Why did the Nazis make people strip naked before being shot or gassed? Pictured: A naked prisoner is led to an execution site, where others either have been shot already or forced to lie face down prior to being shot. The Nazis employed the dehumanizing practice of making people strip naked before being executed or subjected to gas chambers for several interconnected reasons. Firstly, it served to strip victims of their individuality and dignity. By forcing people to remove their clothing, the Nazis aimed to reduce them to mere numbers, degrading their humanity and making it easier for the perpetrators to view them as disposable entities rather than fellow human beings. Secondly, it facilitated the process of disposal and decontamination. Removing clothing reduced the risk of contamination from any potential chemicals or diseases, making it easier for the Nazis to manage the disposal of bodies and minimize the risks to the executioners themselves. Thirdly, it amplified the psych...

  Peter Chemy right before his execution in Germany in 1947. He was liberated from a concentration camp 1945, wandered around for a few months before finding help in a German home A husband and wife, along with their daughter, fed him and showed him good hospitality. When the family went to sleep, Chemy found a hatchet and murdered them all in their beds. In 1945, Peter Chemy, a Polish man recently freed from a concentration camp, murdered a sleeping German family who had fed and sheltered him.  He would be executed at Landsberg Prison, ironically where many of those responsible for his suffering met the same fate. This is Chemy just before his death. Peter Chemy, a Polish national liberated from a concentration camp by Americans in May 1945, spent the first few months of his freedom adrift in Germany. On a snowy winter night of that year, he found refuge and a meal in the home of a German family: husband, wife, and daughter. After they had gone to sleep, Chemy found a hatchet...

  This black-and-white photograph, taken by the Germans in June 1941, shows two nameless heroes, two border guards from the Brest frontier post, who, before worthily accepting death, managed to give battle to a German column of motorcyclists and managed to instill doubt in the souls of enemy soldiers. When they were taken prisoner, placed in a line and preparing to carry out the sentence right on the spot, the preparation was delayed due to the fact that those being shot behaved calmly and even arrogantly. They laughed at the Germans, mocked and joked. The network has lines from the diary of a German corporal who took part in the execution of this death sentence: “It was not bravado and feigned courage. I even for a second felt like I was in their place. A disgusting feeling. They left with a smile on their lips, and I am ready to swear that not only me, but also my soldiers, had goosebumps and an unpleasant chill, at the moment when their dead bodies touched the ground. Few people...

  How the process of an execution by gas chamber, in the U.S., looks like How the process of an execution by gas chamber, in the U.S., looks like I wasn’t a pleasant way to die. It had to be very emotional and stressful despite an inmate waiting for the execution for a long time. First, the inmate was sent to have a shower. After the shover he got the clothes. In the past, they often gave a white shirt , black pants to men and a skirt to women. But in the modern era, were inmates executed in a one colour prison uniform. The inmate could have his last call, last meal, and write a goodbye letter. According to many resources, they probably didn’t give to the inmate any shoes after the shower. That’s because inmates in a gas chamber were executed barefooted. So he had to go the whole way from the cell to the gas chamber without shoes so they often put a carpet on the floor to don’t let the inmate walk on cold concrete as he had bare feet. When they entered the gas chamber, guards strap...

 When the Second World War finally came to an end in 1945, the dogs that had been used by those guards of the Nazi SS had a very sad and quick death. You have to understand, these dogs were mostly German Shepherd and they were not kept as nice house pets. Not at all. The SS guards were cruel to them, and trained them to hunt down and attack the poor people in the concentration camps. They trained these dogs to look humans as prey, and they were very dangerous to all people. When Allied troops finally reached the camps and freed the people, most of these dogs were shot on the spot. The dogs were too furious, attacking the doctors who were trying to help, and the troops. In old photographs taken when they liberated the Dachau camp, you'll observe that the guard dogs were lying dead just outside their cages. At the same time, the prisoners who were just set free wanted revenge. An American army doctor was there named Dr. David Wilsey. He sent letters home about how the mean SS handler...