Rainey Bethea: The photographic story of America’s last public execution, 1936
Rainey Bethea (born in 1909) was the last person to be publicly executed in the Unit…
Tag: Execution / Assassinations
The story of two Soviet prisoners of war who were killed in the Murmansk foothills, 1941
It was the night of June 29, 1941, in the foothills of Murmansk, Soviet Union. C…
German Commandos Captured in American Uniform are Prepared for Execution, 1944
The soldiers in the picture were executed after a military trial found them in v…
Execution by Cannon: A Brutal Historical Practice Used by the British and Mughals
The invention of the cannon in the 12th century revolutionized warfare, and soon aft…
Leonard Siffleet about to be beheaded with a sword by a Japanese soldier, 1943
Leonard Siffleet, an Australian commando during World War II, served in the M Specia…
Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators Through Old Photos, 1865
This set of pictures from 1865 shows the hanging execution of the four Lincoln c…
Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, is hanged next to the crematorium at the camp, 1947
Rudolf Hoess (Rudolf Höss) was the architect and commandant of the largest killi…
Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Szalasi is given the last rites before being hanged as a collaborator, 1946
Ferenc Szálasi was the leader and all-powerful head of the fascist Arrow Cross m…
Saigon execution: Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief, 1968
After Nguyen Ngoc Loan raised his sidearm and shot Vietcong operative Nguyen Van…
The Last Public Execution by Guillotine, 1939
In the early morning of 17 June 1939, Eugène Weidmann became the last person to …
Vasily Blokhin: History’s Most Prolific Executioner
Vasily Blokhin is recorded as having executed tens of thousands of prisoners by …
Cabinet ministers lined up for execution after a coup d’état in Liberia, 1980
On April 12, 1980, Samuel Doe led a military coup, killing President William R. …
Nazi General Anton Dostler is Tied to a Stake Before his Execution by a Firing Squad, 1945
General Anton Dostler was a general of the infantry in the regular German Army d…
Facing the Death: the different expressions of six Polish civilians moments before death by firing squad, 1939
It’s interesting to see the range of emotions displayed by these men: anguish, d…
Russian spy laughing through his execution in Finland, 1942
A Soviet spy laughs at his executioner in a picture taken in Rukajärvi, in East …
Georges Blind, a member of the French resistance, smiling at a German firing squad, 1944
This was a mock execution attempting to get the resistance fighter, Georges Blin…
Japanese Troops Using Prisoners of War for Target Practice, 1942
The Japanese treatment of prisoners of war in World War II was barbaric. The men…
The last Jew in Vinnitsa, 1941
A picture from an Einsatzgruppen soldier’s personal album, labeled on the back a…
Execution of a German Communist in Munich, 1919
On the reverse of this photograph reads: "Zum ewigen Andenken an den Spartakiste…