Early Life and SS Involvement Johanna Borman (or Juanna Bormann, the spelling shown on her death warrant) was born at Birkenfelde in East Prussia on September 10th, 1893. She was apparently deeply religious and had given up missionary work to join the SS. She went to work at Lichtenburg, the first women’s concentration camp, as … Read more
Background Emily Hilda Blake was born in 1878 at Chedgrave, between Lowestoft and Norwich in Norfolk (England), the fifth child of a police constable and his wife. By age nine both her parents had died and she and her brother were living in Heckingham Workhouse, typically a pretty miserable existence. She always used the Christian name Hilda rather than Emily so I have done the same … Read more
Background Charlie Brooks Jr. was born on January 9th, 1942, to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brooks Sr. His father held a well-paying job at the Swift Meatpacking company in Fort Worth and gave his son a good upbringing with plenty of affection and attention—until his untimely death at the age of 55, when Charlie Jr. … Read more
Cordelia Viau was born on June 22, 1865 in Ville de Ste-Scholastique, a village in Canada’s Quebec Province. She married Isidore Poirier, 10 years her senior, who was a carpenter and cabinet maker, at Saint-Canut on November 4, 1889. (Saint-Canut was renamed Mirabel in 1973) The marriage was childless. Cordelia could read and write and was a good musician, playing the church organ. The couple … Read more
The Crime and Trial George Foster (or Forster) was found guilty of murdering his wife and child by drowning them in Paddington Canal, London. He was hanged at Newgate on 18 January 1803, shortly after which his body was taken to a nearby house where it was used in an experiment by Italian scientist Giovanni … Read more
