Marcel Chevalier
{{Short description|French executioner (1921–2008)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
Marcel Chevalier (28 February 1921 in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine – 8 October 2008 in Vendôme) worked as the last chief executioner (Monsieur de Paris) in France.{{r|"Gerould 1992"}}
Life
He succeeded his wife's uncle, André Obrecht, in 1976 and held his position until 1981, when capital punishment was abolished under president François Mitterrand and justice minister Robert Badinter.{{r|"Clarke 2008"}} The method of application of the death penalty for civilian capital offences in France from 1791 to 1981 was beheading with the guillotine. Military executions were by firing squad.
Chevalier, who started his executioner's career in 1958, performed about 40 executions. After his appointment as chief executioner on 1 October 1976, he executed only two people. They were the last two executions in France:
- Jérôme Carrein, condemned twice for the murder and rape of an eight-year-old girl, was guillotined on 23 June 1977 in Douai.{{Cite web |title=ExecutedToday.com » 1977: Jerome Carrein, the second-last in France |url=https://www.executedtoday.com/2014/06/23/1977-jerome-carrein-the-second-last-in-france/ |access-date=2023-08-11 |language=en}}
- Hamida Djandoubi, for having tortured and strangled his former nurse, was guillotined on 10 September 1977 in Marseille.{{Cite news |last=Long |first=Tony |title=Sept. 10, 1977: Heads Roll for the Last Time in France |language=en-US |work=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/09/dayintech-0910-2/ |access-date=2023-08-11 |issn=1059-1028}}
Chevalier worked as a printer after his retirement. He was married to Marcelle Obrecht with whom he had two children. His son Éric was present at Carrein's and Djandoubi's executions in order to prepare him for succession to chief executioner upon his father's eventual retirement.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}
Chevalier was interviewed by the press on a number of occasions, but later, disillusioned by the sensationalist nature of press coverage, chose to say nothing of his experiences with the guillotine.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}
References
{{reflist|refs=
| last1 = Clarke
| first1 = P.
| last2 = Hardy
| first2 = L.
| last3 = Williams
| first3 = A.
| title = Executioners
| publisher = Book Sales
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-0-7088-0366-0
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8a0l2PYRS-EC
| access-date = 16 September 2018
| pages = 374–380
}}
| last = Gerould
| first = D.C.
| title = Guillotine, Its Legend and Lore
| publisher = Blast Books
| year = 1992
| isbn = 978-0-922233-02-1
| url = https://archive.org/details/guillotineitsleg00dani
| url-access = registration
| access-date = 16 September 2018
| page = [https://archive.org/details/guillotineitsleg00dani/page/78 78]
| quote = The job of executioner had become part-time. Henri Desfourneaux's two assistants also worked as a butcher and a hairdresser — fitting sidelines to their decapitating functions. The last guillotine operator, Marcel Chevalier, incumbent from ...
}}
}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110831222520/http://guillotine.voila.net/Marcel.html Biography] (archived) {{in lang|fr}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-gov}}
{{succession box
| before = André Obrecht
| title = Chief Executioner of the French Republic
| years = 1 October 1976 – 9 October 1981
| after = Capital punishment abolished
}}
{{End}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Marcel}}