Johan Alfred Ander

Johan Alfred Andersson Ander (October 27, 1873 – November 23, 1910) was a convicted Swedish murderer and the last person to be officially executed in Sweden.

Early life

Born in Ljusterö, Ander performed his military service duties from 1893 to 1894 at the Coastal Artillery Regiment of Vaxholm. When his military service was over he got married and tried to make a living as a waiter and hotel owner. Most of the businesses failed however (both in Strängnäs in 1898 and in Helsinki in 1903). There have been claims that Ander's excessive drinking and mistreatment of his wife were, at least partially, the reasons for the economic failures. In 1900, he was imprisoned for a few small crimes but managed to escape. In all, by the time of his final conviction, he had been sentenced three times for theft ("tredje resan stöld"). In 1909, the couple moved back to Ander's parents' house in Karlsudd.

The robbery

Ander sought a way to find a solution to his money problems, and for weeks he had been seen observing an exchange agency, "Gerells Växelkontor" on Malmtorgsgatan 3 in Stockholm. On January 5, 1910, he robbed the agency and beat the clerk, Victoria Hellsten, so severely that she died. He managed to steal 6,000 Swedish kronor in Swedish and foreign notes at the agency of which he spent some before he was caught. Some of the notes in Ander's possession were covered in blood, and this and the murder weapon lead to his being connected to the crime.

The trial and execution

During the trial, Ander claimed that he had received the money from a foreign (and unknown) man, whom he had met during his stay at a hotel in Stockholm. He never admitted to the crime, but was sentenced to death by all court instances, and he never appealed to the king to be reprieved (however, an application for clemency was made by his father). Clemency was however not granted by the king, thus making Ander the first person to be executed in Sweden in a time period of ten years. He was also the only person in Sweden to have been executed by the guillotine. The execution took place at Långholmen prison in Stockholm on November 23, 1910. The name of the executioner was Albert Gustaf Dahlman, who, thus, became Sweden's last official executioner.

ources

* Aftonbladet 11/23 1910, "Anders afrättning"
* Liv för liv (Forsberg, J. Bonnier 2005)
* Sveriges siste skarprättare A.G. Dalman (Gunne, G.O. Skandinaviska pressförlaget, 1934)