different realities and reactions posed criminal code published 1843 there were no regulations about the presence of priests at executions.490 In 1847 Friedrich Wilhelm in case of the introduction of intramural executions envisioned a speech made outside the prison by a priest.491 Finally in the penal code of 1851 Prussia had reversed itself and the list of those required to attend the intramural executions included six judges and officials, twelve representatives of the local municipality and a priest of the confession of the condemned.492 When the presence of the clergy at and near the execution was considered as something to be prohibited or otherwise dealt with, neither the clergy themselves nor their pastoral, liturgical or homiletical functions in itself was rarely seen as the real problem. What was objected to was the effect their presence and their actions might have on the onlooking crowd and especially the interpretation certain individuals made, seeing the execution as a well-prepared road to heaven. Therefore, pastoral care at the site was restricted because of the crowd, while no such restriction was needed when the crowd itself was excluded by the introduction of intramural executions. Traces of similar problems and discussions can be found around Germany. Going to Hamburg a strange twist to the idea of bloodguilt is demonstrated by acase from 1779. Joachim Möller was on his way to Hamburg when the urge to kill somebody came over him. He killed a boy in order to be executed. The impulse was motivated by the thought that his sins were so great that only the letting of blood could expiate them. His blood had to be shed and he had to suffer as a necessary penance to obtain the forgiveness of God. To achieve that he had to kill and shed the blood of somebody else.493 In Hamburg the idea of more frequent and gruesome murders of children had October 29th1777 resulted in alegislation giving more gruesome executions with for example the use of pinching with red-hot pliers to deter from these murders. This and several others of the harsher actions 490 Entwurf 1843. 491 Evans 1984 p 224. 492 Berner 1978 p 247. 493 Lind 1999 p 174. This probably is, due to the same source referred to in both cases, the same case that Lind describes in Lind 2004 p 77. 141
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