Ripping a woman's breasts off was popular in 1599 Bavaria. The
iron would usually be heated to red-hot and then used to slowly
rip the breasts from the body. It would be used for such crimes
as heresy, adultery, self-induced abortions, blasphemy and other
"hideous" crimes. It was also used as a tool for interrogation.
Cold or red-hot, the four claws slowly ripped to formless masses
the breasts of countless women condemned for heresy,
bloasphemy, adultery, self-induced abortion, erotic white magic
and other crimes and unforgivable acts. In various places at
various times in some regions of France and Germany until
the early nineteenth century a "bite" with
a red-hot ripper was
inflicted upon one breast of unmarried mothers, oftentimes while
their child, splattered with maternal blood, writhed on the
ground at their feet. Besides the punitive function, breast-ripping
also served as an interrogational and juridical procedure.
A device that was used to rip the breasts off of woman, and
on occasion, mens testicles. The way it was used was entirely
the executioner, he could either use it cold or heat it up to
a white glow increasing the horrible pain. Just one of many
formed from the method of Mastectomy
Some tortures were devised with women specifically in mind.
Mastectomy was one of them. Although both men and women could
have the skin torn off them with red- or white-hot pincers,
mastectomy was a distinctly feminine device. One torture manual
recommended particular attention be paid to female breasts as
they are "extremely sensitive, on account of the
refinement of the veins."
Mastectomy first became popular in 1599 Bavaria. The most famous
case is that of Anna Pappenheimer. After already being
tortured with the strappado, a public demonstration was in order.
Anna was stripped, her flesh torn off with red-hot pincers,
her breasts cut off. As if this was not enough, the bloody breasts
were forced into her mouth and then into the mouths of her two
grown sons. . . . This fiendish punishment was thus used as
a particular torment to women. But it was more than physical
by rubbing the severed breasts around her sons' lips, the executioner
made a hideous parody of her role as mother and nurse,
imposing an extreme humiliation upon her.