The 'Halsgericht' for the execution of Johanna Hohn in Weimar, 28 November 1783

This previously unpublished document, found in the papers of the Weimar publisher, industrialist and court official F. J. Bertuch, represents the script for the public ceremony preceding the execution of the infanticide Johanna Catharina Hohn. Since Goethe, as a member of the powerful 'Geheimes Consilium' of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had recently cast his vote to retain the death penalty for execution, the script has some significance for an evaluation of his administrative activities and his political ethos. The execution took place against a background of tension concerning its legitimacy at a time when the punishment of women who had committed infanticide was hotly contested.