[November, 9] "Excecutioner Hilde Benjamin - The Red Guillotine"

Death sentences were still common in the former GDR. Responsible for various deaths is Hilde Benjamin who also ran by the nickname "Bloody Hilde" among the people of Eastern Germany.
For over 35 years she was a member of the ZK, the central committee of the SED. As judge at the Supreme Court, she presided over a series of show trials against political undesirables. She received several awards for her deeds, in 1962 the Fatherland Order of Merit (Vaterländischer Verdienstorden), in 1977 and 1987 the Order of Karl Marx, in 1979 the title of Meritorious Jurist of the GDR (Verdiente Juristin der DDR) and in 1982 the Star of Friendship of Nations.

Hilde Benjamin resigned in 1967 and tought law and history of the judicary in Potsdam until she died in East Berlin in April 1989.

She never had to take responsibility for her crimes.