GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN PRISONS***


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THE HISTORY AND ROMANCE OF CRIME FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
TO THE PRESENT DAY


[Illustration]


The Grolier Society
London


[Illustration: _Heidelberg_]


GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN PRISONS

Prisons of Prussia, Bavaria,
Saxony and Austria-Hungary
The Fortresses Of
Magdeburg And Spielberg

by

MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS

Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain

Author of
“The Mysteries of Police and Crime
“Fifty Years of Public Service,” etc.







[Illustration]

The Grolier Society

Edition Nationale
Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets.
Number 307




INTRODUCTION


Interest in penal matters in Germany and in Austria-Hungary centres
rather in the nature and number of persons who commit crimes than
the methods pursued in bringing them to justice or the places in
which penalties have been imposed. The character and extent of crimes
committed from time to time, attracts us more generally than the
prisons designed and established for their punishment. This is the
more marked because such prisons have not achieved any remarkable
prominence or notoriety. They have been for the most part the ordinary
institutions used for detention, repression and correction, more noted
for the offenders they have held than their own imposing appearance,
architectural pretensions, or the changes they have introduced in the
administration of justice. Only in more recent years, since so-called
penitentiary science has come to the front and the comparative value
of prison systems has been much discussed, have certain institutions
prominence in Germany and become known as model prisons.
These have been erected in various capitals of the empire, to give
effect to new principles in force in the administration of justice.
Among such places we may specify a few, such as Bruchsal in Baden; the
Moabit prison in Berlin; the prison at Zwickau in Saxony; the prisons
of Munich and Nürnberg in Bavaria and of Heilbronn in Württemberg. To
these may be added the prisons of Stein on the Danube, of Marburg on
the Drave, and of Pankraz Nusle near Prague in Austria-Hungary. Many
others might be mentioned which have played an important part in the
development of penitentiary institutions.

The conflict of opinions as to prison treatment has raged continuously
and as yet no uniform plan has been adopted for the whole German
Empire. Each of the constituent states of the great aggregate body
has maintained its independence in penal matters and the right to
determine for itself the best method of punishing crime. At one time,
after 1846, the theory of complete isolation was accepted in all German
states, although the means to carry it into effect were not universally
adopted. Reports from the United States had deeply impressed the
authorities with the merits of solitary confinement, among others the
well known Professor Mittermaier, one of the most notable judicial
authorities of his time. But reaction came with another no less eminent
expert, Von Holtzendorff, whose works on prison administration are
still held in great esteem. After visiting Ireland, he was won over
to the seeming advantages of the progressive system, the gradual
change from complete isolation to comparative freedom, and he strongly
favoured the policy of cellular imprisonment. His proposals laid hold
of the practical German mind, and to-day the scheme of continuous
isolation finds little support; it left its mark, however, in several
prisons which will be referred to in the following pages.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                        PAGE
  INTRODUCTION                                      5

  I. PRINCIPAL PRISONS                             13

  II. FRIEDRICH VON DER TRENCK AT MAGDEBURG        41

  III. NOTORIOUS POISONERS                         81

  IV. THREE CELEBRATED CASES                      106

  V. CLEVER IMPOSTORS AND SWINDLERS               137

  VI. TYPICAL MURDERERS                           173

  VII. THE STORY OF A VAGRANT                     201

  VIII. SOME REMARKABLE PRISONERS                 224

  IX. SILVIO PELLICO AT SPIELBERG                 249

  X. BRIGANDAGE AND CRIME IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY      273




List of Illustrations


  HEIDELBERG                                _Frontispiece_

  FRIEDRICH VON DER TRENCK, IN HIS CELL IN
      THE STAR FORT                             _Page_ 52

  SILVIO PELLICO AT SPIELBERG                      “  256




GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN PRISONS




CHAPTER I

PRINCIPAL PRISONS

    The Bruchsal in Baden--The Moabit in Berlin, the prison
    Stein--Penal methods in force--Adoption of solitary confinement
    not universally accepted