The term Scharfrichter (German for executioner, literally: "keen judge") refers specifically to a tradition of executioners in the German states.
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Using a sword of execution, they had the responsibility of actually executing prisoners; his assistant, the "Löwe" (lion), would carry out tasks such as forcibly conveying prisoners to the presence of a judge (while roaring, whence the name), "rubbish clearance", burying unwanted bodies, and carrying out brandings.
Bückler’s grandfather Otto Philipp Bückler was born about 1709 in Hilscheid in the Idar Forest near Thalfang, worked as a headsman and a knacker and died in 1777 in Merzweiler.