Word: gymnasium
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Also in Gothic is the Payne-Whitney Gymnasium, a cathedral-like structure which houses among other things, the original Handsome Dan, stuffed and mounted, and one of the country's finest indoor swimming pools with excellent seating accommodations for spectators. So numerous are the tiers of seats, placed almost vertically one above the other, that from the bottom one feels sunk in an enormous pit and from the top one has the sensation of an aerial view of the water below...
...small gymnasium of the jail (its floor dusty, its walls dirty grey), three black gallows had been erected with more attention to numerology than to efficiency. The platforms were eight feet apart, stood eight feet above the ground, measured eight feet square. From each platform rose two heavy beams, supporting a heavy crosspiece with a hook for the rope in the middle. An inconspicuous lever served to open the traps. The space beneath the traps was hidden by curtains. 1:11 a.m. Two white-helmeted guards led Joachim von Ribbentrop from his cell down the corridor and across the courtyard...
...entered the gymnasium, and all officers, official witnesses and correspondents rose to attention. Ribbentrop's manacles were removed and he mounted the steps (there were 13) to the gallows. With the noose around his neck, he said: "My last wish ... is an understanding between East and West. . . ." All present removed their hats. The executioner tightened the noose. A chaplain standing beside him prayed. The assistant executioner pulled the lever, the trap dropped open with a rumbling noise, and Ribbentrop's hooded figure disappeared. The rope was suddenly taut, and swung back & forth, creaking audibly...
...sagging body of Hermann Göring was carried into the gymnasium on a stretcher. His skin showed a poisoned, greenish tinge. His toes were curled. After the official witnesses had taken a good look, he was carried behind a black curtain where the other ten corpses were waiting. Photographers took pictures of the bodies both dressed and naked. The photographs, labeled top secret, were taken to the Allied Control Council in Berlin. A few hours later, the corpses were removed in two vans, cremated and the ashes "secretly dispersed" at an undisclosed place...
...German reporters came in, dripping wet, from a rainswept rooftop that overlooked the prison wall. To the U.P.'s Clinton Conger and the ü German DANA Agency, who had posted them, they reported seeing groups of helmeted men moving from the jail to the gymnasium. They had heard a bell toll, heard a crashing sound repeated only six times. The Germans surmised that the eleven Nazis had probably been hanged in pairs - but Conger decided to wait before filing...