[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Translation

[Paul Rakow]

    I believe the first few translations you got were the right ones -
  the Scharfrichter was the person who executed criminals, not cattle.
  (I have just checked in the brothers Grimm's dictionary, the executioner
  meaning is the only one given there). A Scharfrichterknecht would be
  his assistant or servant. I think I once read that chopping off heads
  was something that only the Scharfrichter himself was allowed to do,
  but that hangings could be delegated to his Knecht.

      A few months ago I visited an archive in Pomerania, and saw quite
  a few call-numbers in the catalogue refering to the Scharfrichters in
  the larger towns. I didn't send for any of those files, but from the
  titles of the files it seems that between executions the Scharfrichter
  was given other jobs that nobody wanted to do, such as disposing of
  dead horses and burying suicides. I also saw a file on a dispute about
  which church the Scharfrichter should attend - maybe people felt
  uncomfortable sharing a pew with the executioner.

           Paul Rakow
           rakow at ihf.de

>>> Scharfrichterknecht
>>