A person’s tattoos usually have a strong, personal meaning, but in the early 1900s, tattoos often marked a person as a member of the criminal underworld.
This was especially true in France where the head executioner, Deibler, had a near cult following among those who knew they would one day be under his blade. Not surprisingly, Deibler featured predominantly in the tattoo world.
One famous line criminals had tattooed on their bodies was:
My heart goes to my mother, my head to Deibler.
Others would get the words
Promised to Deibler
or
Promised to the Guillotine
tattooed on their necks where the guillotine blade would strike.
Images of the guillotine itself were popular tattoos among men who knew that they were destined for the blade.
Sometime’s Deibler’s face was tattooed near the neck or on the shoulders so that Deibler himself would see his own likeness when he prepared the criminal for the blade.
Finally, there was the tattoo charm of a guillotine with an eye in place of the neck hole. This was believed to protect the person from being caught and being sent to face The Red Widow.
