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"HEIL HITLER !"
SALUTE FROM THE CONDEMNED
The Vienna Hangings.
VIENNA, July 31.— The execution of
Otto Planetta, who was today convicted
of the murder of Dr. Dollfuss and high
treason, and of Franz Holzweber, who
was convicted of high treason as ring-
leader of the band which seized the Chan-
cellery during the Nazi revolt, was carried
out this afternoon without delay after the
President (Dr. Miklas) had rejected the
petitions for clemency.
Holzweber, who was hanged first, took
an affectionate farewell of his wife. Before
he died he said:— "A great cause is at
stake. Germany must either become great
or perish." Both went to the scaffold
unpinioned and neither was blindfolded.
A chaplain was murmuring spiritual conso-
lation as the noose was placed about the
neck of Holzweber, who shouted several
times, loudly enough to be heard through
out the prison: "Heil Hitler!" The hang-
man's assistants flung themselves on his
shoulders. Holzweber was ten minutes
dying, as the gallows consisted only of a
noose attached to a plank, and there was
no neck-breaking drop as is the practice
in England.
Planetta also died crying "Heil Hitler!"
The guards outside the prison were
doubled during the executions.
At the conclusion of the trial, the coun-
sel for the defence (Dr. Fuehrer) in addi-
tion to protesting against the Court's re-
jection of all his applications, made an
appeal on behalf of Nazism, saying: — "I
do not accept the new law of treason
formulated under the new Constitution.
The accused's ideal can be expressed in
one sentence, namely, 'One People; One
Empire,' which is the Nazi slogan."
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