Roland Freisler (center) of the Feared People's Court
Germany: Berlin war widow Marianne Elise Kürchner, who worked at an armaments factory, is put to death by guillotine for telling a Hitler joke.
The joke...Hitler and Göring are standing atop the Berlin radio tower. Hitler says he wants to do something to put a smile on Berliners' faces. So Göring says, 'Why don't you jump?'
Marianne Elise Kürchner was called up before the People's Court, whose president, Roland Freisler, was famous for both his long raving speeches berating defendants, and his death sentences. She admitted to telling the joke but said she hadn't been herself at the time, feeling bitter about the recent loss of her husband at the front.
Freisler would have none of it and she was immediately sentenced to the guillotine.