The last public execution by guillotine. Eugen Weidmann, France, 1939.

The last public execution by guillotine. Eugen Weidmann, France, 1939. 

The criminal, German-born Eugen Weidmann, had kidnapped and killed at least six people, some of them rich tourists. After the hysterics of some of the crowd that had gathered to witness the execution the government ordered that all future executions be carried out in private.

The year 1939 marked France's final public execution by guillotine, a chilling event involving Eugen Weidmann. The crowd gathered to witness the grim spectacle, unaware it would be the last. This macabre display of justice shocked the world, prompting France to carry out future executions in private. The guillotine's blade fell one last time, closing a gruesome chapter in history.