If someone killed Hitler either before WWI or in the 1920s, what would his punishment be?

CaliGuy

Banned
If someone killed Hitler either before WWI (either in Austria or in Germany) or in the 1920s (in Germany), what would his punishment be?

Basically, I am curious about this considering that I myself certainly wish that Hitler would have received a bullet to the head during either of those times. However, I am curious as to what exactly the punishment would have been for someone who would have actually done this either before WWI or in the 1920s.

Indeed, any thoughts on this?
 
Wouldn't that just be murder? So, whatever the punishment for murder was in the particular place you have him killed at.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Wouldn't that just be murder? So, whatever the punishment for murder was in the particular place you have him killed at.
What if one genuinely believed that killing Hitler was best for both the world and the Jews, though?
 
What if one genuinely believed that killing Hitler was best for both the world and the Jews, though?
Maybe in the 1920s (I doubt any court would accept that defense, but I'm no lawyer), but before WW1 Hitler was just a failed artist. Either way, you have to remember that people of this era, for the most part, wouldn't know what Hitler would be capable of, or indeed, what he would do.
 
What if one genuinely believed that killing Hitler was best for both the world and the Jews, though?

I suppose that if you spouted a rambling monologue about how the bohemian artist/minor party leader you just murdered would have become humanity's most loathed villain then you might get away with an insanity plea? Otherwise, foresight isn't really going to factor in.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Maybe in the 1920s (I doubt any court would accept that defense, but I'm no lawyer), but before WW1 Hitler was just a failed artist. Either way, you have to remember that people of this era, for the most part, wouldn't know what Hitler would be capable of, or indeed, what he would do.

I suppose that if you spouted a rambling monologue about how the bohemian artist/minor party leader you just murdered would have become humanity's most loathed villain then you might get away with an insanity plea? Otherwise, foresight isn't really going to factor in.

So, what would have happened with an insanity plea? Would one get locked away for life or only temporarily?
 
So, no chance of release even if one will look sane after five, or ten, or fifteen, or twenty years? :(

I'm not really up on German law (which may have varied from state to state) in this area, nor on Austro-Hungarian. But I suspect they'd need a lot of convincing before they freed a killer. I don't say absolutely no chance, but probably only a slim one.
 

CaliGuy

Banned
I'm not really up on German law (which may have varied from state to state) in this area, nor on Austro-Hungarian. But I suspect they'd need a lot of convincing before they freed a killer. I don't say absolutely no chance, but probably only a slim one.
OK; understood. :(

Indeed, it's a shame that killing that scumbag and scoundrel Hitler would likely result in one getting locked up for life. :( Of course, this is what a law-abiding society which doesn't have the benefit of hindsight has to do. :( Sigh. :(
 
Couldn't you have killed him in the Beer Hall Putsch and gotten off relatively lightly? Iirc there were lots of murders of rival political "gangs" that happened in Weimer Germany that went either un-solved or un- or under- prosecuted by the authorities. Rudolf Höss (the commandant of Auschwitz) murdered a teacher who tipped off the French that another Nazi was sabotaging their supply lines, leading to the latter's execution by the French Army.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Höss#Nazi_career

Höss only got ten years for that. Make it something along those lines and I think you could get away with it.
 
If someone killed Hitler either before WWI (either in Austria or in Germany) or in the 1920s (in Germany), what would his punishment be?

Basically, I am curious about this considering that I myself certainly wish that Hitler would have received a bullet to the head during either of those times. However, I am curious as to what exactly the punishment would have been for someone who would have actually done this either before WWI or in the 1920s.

Indeed, any thoughts on this?

In the killing occurs in Germany and is considered murder, the killer might be executed, either by guillotine or by axe (*), depending on which state the murder occurs in. If the murder occurs in Austria, the murderer might be hanged. Many convicted murderers were not executed in either country, so a prison sentence appears a likely outcome, depending of course, upon the precise circumstances in play.

(*) Like in Prussia, where beheading by axe remained in effect until abolished by Hitler in 1936.
 
I'm not really up on German law (which may have varied from state to state) in this area, nor on Austro-Hungarian. But I suspect they'd need a lot of convincing before they freed a killer. I don't say absolutely no chance, but probably only a slim one.

Most life sentences in Germany were in essence, really ten year sentences or so. Parole existed and the authorities were quite generous with it. Not sure about Austria.
 

Perkeo

Banned
Hitler was just yet another moron until the great depression. Even the Beer Hall Putsch won't make it into the history books if he's killed before 1930.

So as unfair as it is, I'm afraid the sentence is the same as for killing anyone you happen to disagree with.
 
Philosophically what you're doing is unjustified, because at that point he didn't do anything. One could argue that the potential for what he will do necessitates his demise but isn't the logic of eliminating future undesirables a tenant of Hitler himself?
 

CaliGuy

Banned
Philosophically what you're doing is unjustified, because at that point he didn't do anything. One could argue that the potential for what he will do necessitates his demise but isn't the logic of eliminating future undesirables a tenant of Hitler himself?
From the perspective of an outsider, you appear to be very much correct in regards to this. Of course, if one is a time traveler, then one has knowledge that other people's don't have.

Hitler was just yet another moron until the great depression. Even the Beer Hall Putsch won't make it into the history books if he's killed before 1930.

So as unfair as it is, I'm afraid the sentence is the same as for killing anyone you happen to disagree with.
So, does that mean that an American who is visiting Germany or Austria during this time and kills Hitler would have been forbidden to return to the U.S. and stripped of his U.S. citizenship?
 
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