Fernand Meyssonnier was an executioner

Executioner

A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...

 in the last years of French Algeria

French Algeria

French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...

. He acted as an executioner from 1947 to 1961 and executed more than 200.

He inherited the job of executioner from his father Maurice Meyssonnier

Maurice Meyssonnier

Maurice Meyssonnier was a Chief executioner in French Algeria. Meyssonnier family is linked to executioners as far back as 16th Century.Meyssonnier performed, among many others, the last guillotining of a woman in Algeria, which was the second-to-last female guillotining in France and her...

 in 1947 when he ended compulsory education. His ancestors had been executioners from ages ago. When Algeria became independent from France in 1961, the guillotine was replaced by execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad

Execution by firing squad, sometimes called fusillading , is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war.Execution by shooting is a fairly old practice...

.

In 1961, shortly before Algerian independence, Fernand Meyssonnier went to Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 where he met his future wife with whom he had a daughter, and founded several businesses. After his retirement, he went to metropolitan France

Metropolitan France

Metropolitan France is the part of France located in Europe. It can also be described as mainland France or as the French mainland and the island of Corsica...

. He bought a house in Fontaine-de-Vaucluse

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse

Fontaine-de-Vaucluse is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-Heraldry:...

where he died on August 8, 2008.

External links

• http://www.amazon.com/Paroles-bourreau-T%C3%A9moignage-%C3%A9x%C3%A9cuteur-criminels/dp/2911416716
• http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2006.05-crime-and-punishment-master-of-guillotine/