"DIED AS HE LIVED"

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 9, 11 January 1934, Page 7

"DIED AS HE LIVED"

DUTCHMAN EXECUTED. Van Der Lubbe Pays Penalty at Guillotine. SURPRISE IN HOLLAND. United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10 n.m.> BERLIN, January 10. The Dutchman Van der Lubbe, who was sentenced to death after his conviction on a charge of setting fire to the Reichstag, was guillotined at 7.130 a.in. to-day. President Hindenburg had refused a pardon to the condemned man. "Van der Lubbe died.as iie lived—like a dumb animal," declared a spectator who was at the execution, the carrying out of which came as a surprise to the j condemned man. Van der Lubbe refused to allow the prison chaplain to spend the last night in his ccll as is customary. He slept perfectly calmly. He did not answer when asked whether he wished the chaplain to accompany him on the last walk to the guillotine. Repi'esentatives of the Press were not admitted to the execution, which they were instructed to report as a bare fact, omitting details. The guillotining' was completed in a few secpnds, amid the tolling of the prison bell. Yesterday doctors examined Van der Lubbe and pronounced him sane. The Xazi headquarters state that Van der Lubbe was guillotined instead of hanged because hanging is an ignominious penalty reserved for traitors, whereas Van der Lubbe committed crime from conviction. Nevertheless, decapitation should not be interpreted as a milder form of execution. An Amsterdam message states that news of the execution has raised considerable indignation among certain sections of the population, which was completely surprised, as it was felt after the Dutch Government's representations President Hindenburg would commute the sentence.