Executions in Denmark
The last three
Anders “Sjællænder” Nielsen was beheaded on Lolland in 1882 in the last public execution in Denmark. The headsman needed several blows of the axe, and the botched job fed the campaign to abolish the death penalty. Ten years later Jens Nielsen was beheaded with an axe inside Horsens prison on 8 November 1892, the last civil execution. The last of any kind was Ib Birkedal Hansen, shot by firing squad on 20 July 1950; of the 46 post-war executions, 29 were carried out at Margreteholm on Christianshavn.
Struensee
The execution people ask about is Struensee's. Johann Friedrich Struensee and Enevold Brandt were executed on 28 April 1772: right hand severed, then beheaded, then drawn and quartered. Struensee had awaited it in the prison at Kastellet, which is on the Kastellet page. The men who handled the remains are on the nightmen page.
Where it happened in Copenhagen
A permanent scaffold stood on Nytorv from 1627 until 1761, with the last executions there in 1758. From 1806 to 1857 the city's public execution ground was the former Svenske Skanse redoubt by Amagerport, where 35 people were executed, three of them women. Amager Common was a separate site and its last execution was on 22 April 1845. All of that is set out on the Nytorv page, and the guided walk that starts on the square is here.
Frequently asked questions
When was the last public execution in Denmark?
In 1882, on Lolland. Anders “Sjællænder” Nielsen was beheaded, and the headsman needed several axe blows, which fuelled calls for abolition.
When was the last execution in Denmark altogether?
20 July 1950, when Ib Birkedal Hansen was shot by firing squad. There were 46 post-war executions, 29 of them at Margreteholm on Christianshavn.
When was the death penalty abolished in Denmark?
Civil capital punishment went in 1933, military in 1978, and it left all Danish law from 1 January 1994.