Pole Hanging – History’s Most BRUTAL Execution Method
It was an execution method used at the end of World War II to bring traitors’ lives to an end in front of crowds of thousands of people. Pole hanging was something that executioners claimed was actually more humane than using the traditional gallows, but often a pole hanging did go wrong. It was used mostly in Czechoslovakia and Hungary to bring the lives of terrible collaborators of the war to an end, and there were even some women who suffered this brutal fate.
In this documentary compilation video, we look at pole hanging in detail and explore why it was one of the worst and most brutal methods in history. Pole hanging, as mentioned, was deployed mostly inside of Czechoslovakia and also Hungary, and it was known as the Austrian gallows. It had been used for many years and decades within these lands and was favored over using a gallows.
Even in the years after the war, pole hanging was the most popular execution method in these countries, but to those who attended the public executions, the method did appear rather severe and also shocking. It utilized a 3-m post or a pole, and the condemned would be brought out from their prison cell, and they were made to stand in front of the vertical post or pillar.
It would be usually two executioners or an executioner and his assistant who worked with this method, and a rope was attached around the feet of the condemned person first and was then passed through a pulley at the bottom of the pole. After the condemned was hoisted to the top of the pole by using a chest sling across their middle, and this was passed under the armpits, then holding them in place.
After this, a noose was looped around the neck of the condemned, and this was held in place ready for the short drop. When the executioner was ready, the chest sling would be released, and the condemned would then jerked downwards, and the executioner’s assistant guided the fall using a foot rope, and the executioner would be stood behind the condemned on a small step behind the post.
He would place the heel of his hand under the jaw of the condemned, and this would then increase the force upon the neck at the end of the drop. And the executioner attempted to manually dislocate the neck by forcing the head to one side. As mentioned, some executioners claimed that this was more humane and also quicker in delivering death than using a drop gallows, such as a scaffold which was used in Landsberg prison by the Americans at the end of World War II.
But at the end of that conflict, there were a number of war criminals who were condemned using pole hanging. And these were captured in harrowing images showing how brutal it could be. One of the most infamous men to be subjected to this was Kurt Daluege, the Nazi chief of the Order Police, who had hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of police officers under his command who committed many atrocities.
Daluege was condemned at the end of the war, and he was brought out to the pole in front of Prague’s Pankrác prison. And on the 24th of October, 1946, he was executed on the post in front of a crowd who had been gathered to witness the proceedings. Another man who was executed on this same post was Karl Hermann Frank, the Nazi police chief and official inside of Bohemia and Moravia.
And he was involved in a number of reprisal executions and massacres following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the man known as the Butcher of Prague. Frank was executed on the same post as Daluege, but earlier in May 1946, in front of a crowd of around 5,000 people. Another man who was condemned on the execution post after World War II was Heinrich Jöckel, an SS official who worked inside of the fortress prison and concentration camp of Theresienstadt.
And he was known for murdering and mistreating prisoners. Jerchel was condemned in the same manner as the other Nazis on the post. These executions were all performed inside of Czechoslovakia, and in particular mostly in Prague. But inside of Hungary, there were more pole hangings carried out. Those who were condemned inside of the nation were brought out in front of the Academy of Music in Budapest normally.
Where a number of execution posts were there for the executioners to work upon. The executioners here would perform series of executions, not usually just one. And they would put a number of prominent members of the government to death. One of the most powerful and infamous men who faced this was Ferenc Szálasi, the former leader of the nation of Hungary, and also the former prime minister.
Szálasi was briefly in power for less than a year, and he was a Nazi collaborator with the Arrow Cross party. He was responsible for the deportations of roughly 650,000 people to the death camps, where they were then exterminated in their droves. Szálasi’s government were also deeply in the pockets of the Nazis.
But at the end of the war, he was declared a traitor and a war criminal, and was on the 12th of March, 1946, executed by pole hanging. He was executed alongside two of his former ministers and the party ideologist. And a collection of posts were actually cemented into the floor, and these were the ones used for his and his government officials’ executions.
Szálasi was the last of the men to be executed that day, and he walked past the bodies of the others. Szálasi, however, probably died from slow strangulation. As it took a number of minutes for him to be rendered unconscious. As the drop was not sufficient to snap his neck immediately, and his arms and legs had been bound to prevent him struggling during the execution.
There were actually many others who were condemned within Hungary in exactly the same manner, in exactly the same place, in front of the Academy of Music in Budapest. And this also includes a woman. This woman’s identity is not the most well known, but it is considered that she was most probably a woman named Maria Nagy.
It’s not known what she did, but she was condemned after World War II, presumably for treason, which was a capital offense and something punishable by pole hanging. And Maria Nagy may have actually sold out her neighbors to the Nazis, who then sent to concentration camps. This is based on the fact that many Nazi collaborators at the end of the war were executed.
And for her actions, Maria Nagy was pole hanged, being one of only a few women to be subjected to this, especially after the Second World War. There was also a killer priest, Andras Kun, who led a death squad inside of Hungary. And his men and soldiers slaughtered hundreds of people. He was on the 19th of September, 1945, pole hanged as well.
Pole hanging was at the end of the Second World War seen as a method that was a ruthless and brutal one. And the executions were usually performed in public, in front of very large crowds. Thousands of people flocked in their droves to see this method being used, and many of those struggled for minutes before they succumbed to their death.
It was, as mentioned, stated to have been allegedly more efficient than using the gallows to bring about death. But whether this was a reality remains to be seen, as it did rely on the skill of the executioner and his assistant to bring death about in a prompt and speedy manner. Pole hanging is not to be confused with traditional hanging by the neck or gallows.
Instead, this method involved bringing a condemned person to a 3-m tall post or pole. Then an executioner and his assistant took possession of the condemned and they passed a system of ropes around pulleys at the top and bottom of the post. A chest sling suspended someone off the ground and then when everything was ready, the drop was released and the executioner tried to dislocate the neck of the condemned using the heel of his hand and he would be stood behind on the pole.
In other variations, the person would be hanged in a manner that left them struggling for some time, their weight painfully distributed in a way that prolonged death. This execution method is often associated with the Austro-Hungarian military and penal traditions, especially during the 18th and 19th century.
It was particularly popular under the Habsburg monarchy who used it to punish not only criminals, but also political dissidents, rebels and soldiers accused of desertion or treason. Unlike the short drop hanging or long drop methods, both of which are designed to cause near instantaneous death by neck breakage or strangulation, pole hanging was a method which could result in a prolonged execution.
Death could take some matter of minutes. The method relied on pain, suffering and also public spectacle rather than efficiency. Victims would often suffocate slowly or experience some internal bleeding or die from shock or dehydration. Thus, there is overwhelming historical and physiological evidence that pole hanging was one of the most painful execution methods used in Europe during the early modern period.
Hungary, as part of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was a primary region where pole hanging was deployed. One of the most notorious periods during which this form of execution was used in Hungary was during and after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 to 1849. The revolution, which aimed at securing national independence from the Habsburgs, was brutally suppressed by Austrian forces.
In the aftermath, the Austrian authorities carried out mass executions of Hungarian revolutionaries. While some were executed by firing squad, others were subjected to pole hanging as a form of humiliation and deterrents. The most infamous instance is the execution of 13 martyrs of Arad in October 1849. Though the generals were technically hanged by the neck, it is widely believed that the Austrians deliberately used primitive and painful hanging methods akin to pole hanging in some cases, prolonging the suffering of the condemned to make an example of them.
Additionally, during peasant uprisings and nationalist revolts in the 19th century in Hungary, local commanders sometimes ordered improvised pole hanging as field punishments. These executions were performed quickly with the intent of instilling fear into rebellious communities. In the Czech lands, especially Bohemia and Moravia, pole hanging was also used under the rule of the Habsburgs.
One of the earliest significant uses was during the suppression of the Bohemian revolt as part of the larger 30 Years War. After the decisive Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, the Austrian authorities executed many of the Bohemian rebel leaders. While many were beheaded, pole hanging was used for lower-ranking participants, especially those considered traitors or common criminals.
These executions often took place in town squares where the condemned was left hanging in view of the public for extended periods. This form of execution served not just as punishment, but also as symbol of Habsburg dominance over rebellious territories. Later during World War I, as national consciousness grew in Czech and Slovak territories under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, deserters and nationalists were sometimes punished with pole hanging.
Austro-Hungarian military field courts had sweeping powers and often sentenced suspected spies and traitors to immediate execution. Field executions using makeshift poles became disturbingly common and their painful nature became a point of resentment amongst the oppressed nationalities. One of the most crucial aspects of pole hanging was its role as a public spectacle.
Unlike more clinical methods such as the guillotine, pole hanging was designed to demonstrate domination through pain and humiliation. The condemned was often stripped, displayed, and left to die slowly in full view of the crowds. In many cases, the bodies were left suspended long after death as a warning to others.
The pain inflicted was both physical and psychological. There are accounts of victims pleading for mercy or attempting to end their own lives to avoid this form of execution. In some countries and territories, this form of hanging became so feared that it was later replaced with faster methods as changing attitudes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began to see such brutality as excessive and uncivilized.
By the early 20th century, pole hanging had largely fallen out of favor replaced by more standardized and less visibly torturous methods of execution. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I, newly formed nations like Hungary and Czechoslovakia adopted more modern penal codes abandoning medieval punishments.
But they still deployed pole hanging even after the Second World War as notorious Nazis such as Kurt Daluege and Karl Hermann Frank, were executed using pole hanging. The legacy of pole hanging remained in the cultural memory of these nations in literature, historical accounts, and public consciousness. It remained a symbol of imperial cruelty and national suffering.
Used after World War II as a form of execution against traitors, survivors of these regimes or descendants of the executed often carried the trauma of these executions as part of their own national identity. To finish, pole hanging, also known as the Austrian gallows, was unquestionably a painful and also at times prolonged method of execution designed to induce suffering both as punishment and as a public warning.
It relied on a skilled executioner and his assistant bringing death quickly, but sometimes this did not work. Its usage in Hungary and Czechoslovakia during time of revolt and rebellion underscore underscores its role as a tool of imperial oppression. Historical accounts, physiological effects, and its eventual abolition all point towards its inhumanity.
Pole hanging represents not just a brutal method of execution, but also a broader historical legacy of pain, control, and authoritarian justice in Central Europe. Initially, it was believed that executioners thought that they could bring death quicker than using a standard gallows, but there were many times where pole hanging went wrong, and it took many minutes for the condemned to die on the 3-m post.
After World War II, what shocked many people was the public nature of many of the executions that took place to punish prominent war criminals and some of the conflict’s worst offenders. Inside public squares, they were gallows set up, and German soldiers who were convicted of war crimes were marched in front of thousands of people who wanted to see some form of vengeance.
And these men were then hanged. Even women encountered this grim fate as female concentration camp guards were even strung up. But inside of Hungary and Czechoslovakia specifically, there were many people who were subjected to the execution method of pole hanging. Pole hanging was the method which the executioners who performed it claimed was much more humane and quicker than using a gallows.
But the actual reality of this was rather false. Pole hanging was rough and it often went very, very wrong. But why this happened was much worse than you’d ever imagine. Pole hanging was also known as the Austrian gallows and the execution method dated back to the Habsburg period and it was used in nations that fell under Austrian influence, such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
It was a variation of the short drop and it had a number of different steps. It was much more complicated when compared with a traditional gallows. Firstly, the condemned was made to stand before a special vertical pole or post, which was usually secured into the ground. This was roughly around 3 m in height.
Then the rope was attached around the feet of the condemned and this was then passed for a pulley at the base of the pole. And the condemned would be held in the air by a chest sling, which ensured they didn’t drop. This was held under the arms and then the executioner and his assistant looped a narrow noose around the neck of the victim and this was then held in place on a hook at the top of the pole.
Now the executioner and the assistant had to both work together and work well to ensure that this method succeeded, worked well and was relatively successful. When the time was ready, then the drop would be released and the assistant guided the fall through the use of a foot rope and the executioner, who was stood usually on a step behind the condemned, would try to push the head to one side.
Now, that was done to try and dislocate the neck using the force of the short drop with it. Now, as mentioned, this took place prominently at the end of the Second World War and it was used to bring the lives of many Nazi war criminals to an abrupt end, including those who had terrorized Czech and Hungarian people, but also traitors and collaborators.
But, the method was often very unreliable and it went wrong a lot of the time. Firstly, the executioners intended for the victim to have their neck broken or at least dislocated, but this did not work a lot of the time. When the executioner tried to force their head to one side, often the neck did not dislocate, meaning that the noose around the neck snapped taut and the victim just slowly strangled to death.
This could take many, many minutes and often the condemned was seen struggling and kicking and wriggling around on the pole as they fought what was happening to them. This was much less humane than was intended and often the executions were carried out one after the other. For example, in Hungary, many members of the government, the Arrow Cross Party, were pole hanged in Budapest for betraying their own people and sending many of them to concentration camps.
Men such as Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi and many of his other ministers were pole hanged all together. The executioners on different posts tried to perform the method effectively, but this led to slow strangling a lot of the time, which was certainly not intended. Yes, it brought the intended death, which was the intended result, but it was very slow.
There were ultimately too many variables and things that could go wrong with pole hanging. The many, many steps on the pole could all go wrong, and this then increased the chances of an execution becoming very botched. Unlike the standard gallows, which was much more simpler and straightforward, as in a noose secured over a crossbeam and then wrapped around the neck, and then a stool which the condemned was stood on being removed or a trapdoor being opened.
Pole hanging was much more complicated and complex. The executioner also had to coordinate himself well with his assistants, and they were working together as a team, and it was a team job. But, still things could go very wrong, even with the most experienced pair, men who’d maybe been working together for many decades working in tandem.
Now, pole hanging as a method was also incredibly public, and thousands of people flocked to see executions using that method. The public could also get, well, relatively close to the execution, which was being carried out right in front of them. The public nature also put more pressure on the executioners, but when this wasn’t performed well, even children witnessed the struggles and fights of the executed.
Spectators would even hang out of windows and even climb buildings so they could get the best view. It all seemed rather medieval at times, but let’s remember this was roughly 80 years ago. But, there was a need for the citizens of these countries to see those who oppressed them being brought to justice. Let’s remember for many years they’d lived under very, very rough occupation, and many of their neighbors, family, and friends had been deported to concentration camps where they were ultimately killed within minutes of
arriving there. Pole hanging was also longer to perform than a gallows hanging. The multiple steps and also the procession to the post took many, many minutes and psychologically for the condemned, this was rather rough. The whole process was rather slow. It was not over very quickly. Neither was there one single drop resulting in a snapped neck.
So, those who faced pole hanging knew that over the course of several agonizing minutes, that their fate would be sealed. So, for many, many reasons, pole hanging could go very wrong and each step in the process could be a big problem for the executioner and his assistants. The method claimed the lives of many former politicians who sold their nations out during World War II and also many notorious Nazi war criminals who became known for their cruelty.
But, pole hanging was no more reliable than the gallows and it is remembered in history today as one of the most brutal and ruthless public execution methods ever used. The pole method of hanging, or the Austrian gallows as it was known, emerged in Austria in the late 19th century. An executioner from there, Josef Lang, claimed that the method was more humane than the American standard drop hanging and he claimed that when performed right, that the criminal suffered for less than a minute.
The post was usually around 3 m tall for the execution and it required a number of different steps to be performed by an experienced executioner and also an assistant. This is how pole hanging went. Firstly, the condemned person was brought over to the pole or post and they would have a rope attached around their feet and it was passed through a pulley at the bottom of the pole.
Then, the condemned was hoisted up into the air to the top of the pole and they were held in place by a chest sling across their middle that passed under their armpits. This prevented them from falling prematurely. Following this, a narrow noose was passed the neck of the prisoner whilst in mid-air, and this was then secured to a hook at the top of the pole.
Once everything was checked, the chest sling was released, and the condemned then fell downwards, and the executioner’s assistant would guide the fall using a foot rope. Now, the executioner performed a very important job, and he would be stood on a platform or a step just behind the condemned. He placed the heel of his hand beneath the victim’s jaw, and the aim of this was to increase the force on the neck during the drop, and then for the executioner to manually dislocate the neck of the condemned by forcing the
neck to the side. There were cases when this did not happen, and the neck was not dislocated, meaning that prisoners took longer to die, and they were choked to death over the course of a few minutes. Now, pole hanging was used by Czechoslovakia and Hungary at the end of the Second World War, and prominent war criminals, such as Karl Hermann Frank, was executed in this way.
Karl Hermann Frank, who had caused a huge amount of suffering inside of the land, being a Nazi official, was executed in this way. The hangman covered his face when the drop took place, and the execution was successful as Frank didn’t struggle after. Also executed in this manner, on exactly the same pole, was the chief of the Nazi Order Police, Kurt Daluege.
Inside of Hungary, there were many members of the former collaborationist government who were executed using pole hanging. Former Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi was pole hanged in front of the Budapest Academy of Music on the post. Czechoslovakia continued to use pole hanging up until 1954, and a number of women were also condemned on the post, too.
But, pole hanging required a very skilled executioner and his assistant who knew what they were doing, and when carried out successfully, it could be effective. It was very public, and there was little concealment, and in front of the crowd, if it did not go well, then someone was publicly strangled to death without the neck being snapped.
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