[1] Responsible for carrying out capital punishment in the Prussian provinces, he executed at least 144 people,[1] primarily by beheading with an axe, but also with guillotines.
Gröpler learned the horse butcher's trade and business and ran a laundry in Magdeburg named Aegir.
Together with his successor Ernst Reindel [de], Gröpler was one of the last executioners in Germany performing executions by beheading with an axe.
[5] In April 1924 Gröpler signed a contract that made him the sole executioner in Northern Germany.
That Gröpler performed the Nazi salute during the executions at each interim report earned him an admonition to refrain from such practices.
[6] On 2 July 1931 the 48-year-old German serial killer Peter Kürten, who once described himself as the Vampire of Düsseldorf and as a wild animal, was executed in the Cologne prison, Klingelpütz, with the Fallbeil (guillotine).
[7] Time quoted on 13 July 1931: "Herr Groepler, a stolid individual whose profession forces him to lead a rather unsocial existence, left his cosy home in Magdeburg last week with a bag of tools and a coil of new rope.
The two had been sentenced by the People's Court on charges of espionage and were beheaded by Gröpler on 18 February 1935 in Plötzensee Prison.