This Date in History: May 8

 

On Tuesday, May 8, 1945, official executioners Thomas Pierrepoint (above) and Herbert Morris hanged U.S. Army Private George E. Smith Jr. at Shepton Mallet Prison for the crime of murder.  Smith was subsequently buried at the Oise-Aisne American Military Cemetery.  Pierrepoint was a prolific hangman.  (The Fifth Field: The Story of the 96 American Soldiers Sentenced to Death and Executed in Europe and North Africa in World War II)

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Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger, SS-Obergruppenführer, born May 8, 1894 in Strasbourg, Higher SS and Police Leader East, commander 6th SS Mountain Division “Nord”, commander Vth SS Mountain Corps, winner of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, committed suicide May 9, 1945 near Libau (Courland), on SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger and his SS unit of criminals in 1942: [Unless] this bunch of criminals disappears from the Government General within a week I will go myself and lock them up.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)