Hamburg – Hamburg Museum of History (Death Mask of Fritz Schulze)

This is the death mask of Fritz Karl Franz (Fiete) Schulze, a freedom fighter who was executed in 1935 for opposing the Nazis. He worked in the shipyards in Hamburg and became interested in politics, joining the SPD and later the USPD, a similar party which broke away from the SPD. After becoming involved in a failed uprising Schulze fled to Russia in 1926, but he returned to his home city of Hamburg in 1932.

Schulze was arrested in April 1933 for “high treason and three charges of murder” and was tortured during his period of imprisonment. He was sentenced to a ridiculous 260 years of hard labour and three death sentences. He was executed on 6 June 1935 when he was beheaded by an axe in the courtyard of a Hamburg prison. He has since had his sentence overturned by the Hamburg courts and his reputation has been restored.