Death row in wartime: British Pathe releases harrowing archive footage of executions during conflicts across the world
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Death row in wartime: British Pathe releases harrowing archive footage of executions during conflicts across the world
Executions were sometimes filmed, but not shown to public by Pathe
The footage went straight to archive as it was deemed too harrowing
With
his sweaty hands bound behind his back and his face covered with a
blindfold, the man's body convulsed as bullets riddled his torso.
He
was one of several Germans killed by a US military firing squad just
outside the town of Braunschweig, Germany in 1945 because he deemed a
spy.
However two of the spies lined up in the disused quarry were in
fact simply members of the Hitler youth, aged just 16 and 17 years old.
They were gunned down and then dragged into the coffins which were in the ground nearby.
The harrowing scene is just one of several images of death row in war time released by British Pathe.
The
film archive states: 'While Pathe didn’t shy away from screening very
real and very harrowing footage of say the Holocaust; films showing
someone’s life end by execution were not generally shown to the public.
The
prisoner and his crimes are unknown but whatever they were, he was
found guilty. The camera rejoined the prisoner and a firing squad in a
wooded area where the prisoner was allowed to smoke his last cigarette
before being shot dead
'However, on occasion these events were filmed but went straight to archive.
'Capital
punishment has been carried out in almost all societies and although
these films of execution may make for shocking viewing, they still
provide a raw, unedited account of events from a certain time.'
Another scene shows British officers and soldiers escorting General Shampei of the Japanese Army to his execution post.
Shampei was charged with crimes of murdering Australian prisoners of war.
The firing squad were volunteers of the Northamptonshire Regiment.
In their archives another historical clip shows the hanging of the Nazi General Kurt Daluege.
He was found guilty of war crimes and he was hanged in 1946 at Pankrác prison in Prague in front of a crowd of people.
Daluege became Vice-Proctector of Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation
He
was responsible for carrying out the orders of razing the village of
Lidice to the ground, plus having all the adults in the village of
Ležáky murdered.
Many of the women and children were deported to Nazi concentration camps.
One
of the most graphic scenes is from 1911 footage during the
Italo–Turkish War which shows 12 lifeless bodies hanging from the
gallows in a mass execution.
There is not any information on what
crimes these men were supposed to have committed or their identity, but
the Italian authorities adopted many tyrannical methods against the
rebels, such as public hangings as a retaliation for ambushes.
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