GERMANY: Recession

In many parts of the world, the executioners’ business is booming, but not in Germany. Since Hitler’s fall, there has been a sharp recession in the head-chopping line; Gustav Voelpel, Berlin’s executioner, has had only 30 calls to the block since the war. “At 1,000 marks a head,” he says, “I can scarcely make both ends meet.” Hard-pressed, Gustav decided that what he needed was a sideline to supplement his income. He apparently found one. Last week, obligingly wearing his formal professional attire for the benefit of photographers (see cut) Gustav appeared at a police station in Berlin’s U.S. sector charged with robbing an aged invalid.