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1946: The treacherous Theodore Schurch
ExecutedToday.com ^ | January 4, 2009 | Headsman

Posted on 01/04/2021 2:39:40 PM PST by CheshireTheCat

One day after William Joyce became the last Briton put to death for treason, 27-year-old Theodore Schurch hanged for treachery at London’s Pentonville Prison.

Like Joyce, Schurch had enrolled in the British Union of Fascists as a teenager in the 1930’s, and it was reputedly at the party’s direction that he joined the army as a driver.

During World War II, Schurch crossed and recrossed enemy lines, delivering operational intelligence to the Italians and Germans by helping to interrogate prisoners of war, or posing as a P.O.W. himself to gain the confidences of other captured Allied soldiers.

Scurch’s army buddies seemed to think he was alright, and there was probably more than a shred of truth to the defense’s contention, paraphrased by the London Times (September 18, 1945), that the lad

was a poor, uneducated fool who was caught young [by fascist ideology] when he knew no better and jockeyed into a position from which he could not recover.

But obviously, one makes this argument when one is in no position to contest factually the capital charges against oneself, and indeed has admitted much of it. Schurch was convicted on all nine counts of treachery, plus one of desertion. Not a big fish, maybe — but just the right size to become the last man hanged in Britain for a crime other than murder....

(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS:
Treachery was a different crime than treason. Treachery in Britain at the time was sort of akin to sabotage.
1 posted on 01/04/2021 2:39:41 PM PST by CheshireTheCat
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To: CheshireTheCat
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...

Show me where on the excerpt list you found this blog.

2 posted on 01/04/2021 2:49:49 PM PST by humblegunner (Balls To Picasso.)
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To: CheshireTheCat
FTA:

"During World War II, Schurch crossed and recrossed enemy lines, delivering operational intelligence to the Italians and Germans by helping to interrogate prisoners of war, or posing as a P.O.W. himself to gain the confidences of other captured Allied soldiers".

3 posted on 01/04/2021 4:12:07 PM PST by Does so (We failed to call them Communists...)
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To: humblegunner

Oh, will you shut up, you pretentious old gasbag.


4 posted on 01/04/2021 4:12:32 PM PST by kiryandil (Chris Wallace: Because someone has to drive the Clown Car)
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To: humblegunner
Doublebummer
5 posted on 01/04/2021 4:15:33 PM PST by IncPen ("Inside of every progressive is a Totalitarian screaming to get out" ~ David Horowitz)
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To: humblegunner
Hi HG,

You're right that this side isn't on the must-excerpt list. However, that list, the one linked on the FR Home page, is very old (2014) and out of date:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1111944/posts

Perhaps you could lobby the Admin Mods for an update?

6 posted on 01/04/2021 9:24:19 PM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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