1946: Laszlo Baky and Laszlo Endre, Hungarian Holocaust authors
March 29th, 2012 Headsman
On this date in 1946, fascist Hungarian politicians Laszlo Baky and Laszlo Endre were executed by hanging in Budapest for their role in the decimation of Hungarian Jewry.
These two charmers were major figures in Hungary’s horrible final months of World War II.
Post-Stalingrad, the Hungarians had realized they were yoked to the losing side and started looking for an exit strategy; instead, early in 1944, they got a German occupation.
This occupation lifted the virulent anti-semites Baky and Endre into national power, because along with keeping Hungary in the Axis coalition, the Nazis also forcibly overcame its junior partner’s former reticence about Jewish genocide.
And they had to work fast, because by that next winter the Red Army was seizing Budapest. These enthusiastic fascist operators did not fare well by the postwar government.
Most photos from Kuruc.info (the garishly branded ones) and the Yad Vashem database (the not garishly branded).
Laszlo Endre under arrest.
Both men, just prior to their execution.
* To do justice to the breadth of the human capacity, this is also the time and place where we find Raoul Wallenberg minting lifesaving Swedish passports by the thousands.
Also on this date
- 1944: Roger Bushell and others for the Great Escape
- 1946: Phillip and William Heincy, father and son
- 1935: Thomasina Sarao, miscalculated
- 1796: Francois de Charette, Vendee rebel
- 1720: Charles Vane, an unsinkable pirate
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Capital Punishment,Crimes Against Humanity,Death Penalty,Execution,Hanged,History,Hungary,Infamous,Mature Content,Politicians,Power,Public Executions,Treason
Tags: 1940s, 1946, adolf eichmann, anti-semitism, fascism, final solution, holocaust, laszlo baky, laszlo endre, march 29, photography, world war ii
March 30th, 2012 at 12:28 am
Excellent article(s). This is one of the most interesting sites I have come across and that’s saying a lot. Keep up the great work!
April 6th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
I am confused by the photos, what was the execution method for Baky and Endre?
At first i thought they were to be hung, but then it appears they are prepared for a firing squad, and then it appears they were strangled?
April 9th, 2012 at 10:15 am
[...] the compulsion of internal politics) to much the same end, although quite plausibly with much less gratuitous bloodletting in the camps. Accidentally abating the Holocaust would be a very significant plus, of course, but [...]
February 20th, 2013 at 6:48 am
This method of executions is known as the “Austro-Hungarian “pole” method”
The condemned is made to stand before a specialized vertical pole or pillar, approximately 10 feet (3.0 m) in height
A rope is attached around the condemned’s feet and routed through a pulley at the base of the pole
The condemned is hoisted to the top of pole by means of a sling running across the chest and under the armpits
A narrow diameter noose is looped around the prisoner’s neck, then secured to a hook mounted at the top of the pole
The chest sling is released, and the prisoner is rapidly jerked downward by the assistant executioners via the foot rope.
The executioner stands on a stepped platform approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) high beside the condemned, and guides the head downward with his hand simultaneous to the efforts of his assistant