Ferdinand Deisler, Jakob Feller and Xaver Hermann | Basel, August 4, 1819 | Theft and swindling | Sword
Olten, 1408 | Gallows as a demonstration of Olten’s jurisdiction | No executions carried out
Ulrich von Bergen | Interlaken, September 29, 1812 | Murder | Wheel
Madlen Egerin | Basel, April 30, 1634 | Infanticide | Drowning
Niklaus Leuenberger | Bern, September 6, 1653 | Leader of the Peasants’ War | Sword, followed by quartering
Bernhart Matter | Lenzburg, May 24, 1845 | Theft | Sword
Hans Vollenweider | Sarnen, October 18, 1940 | Murder | Guillotine
Hans Meulin | Aarburg, 1576 | Theft | Rope
Richard Puller and his servant Anton Mätzler | Zurich, September 24, 1482 | Sodomy | Fire
RICHTSTÄtte
The photographs show places in Switzerland that once served as execution sites. Here, people were sentenced to death for crimes such as theft, witchcraft or murder.
Today, these sites are part of everyday life: residential areas, parks, or hospitals. Their violent past is rarely visible, and only historical records remind us of the fates of those once condemned.
The series invites us to look at these ordinary places differently – as silent witnesses of history, where meanings and uses have profoundly shifted over time.