A German officer looks on as the wife of a hanged man kisses her husband's hand

A German officer looks on as the wife of a hanged man kisses her husband's hand


The woman, whose body is hanging in the middle of the group, owned a restaurant under which the Germans found a tunnel that led to the cemetery and was the suspected escape route for the sniper.

On the back of the photograph, there is a caption in German handwriting: "The wife of a hanged man kisses her husband's hand. In the background, our technical superior inspector." Captions on the back of photographs, such as this one, taken by a German military photographer attached to a propaganda unit, were usually supplied by the photographer himself.


PhotographerGerhard Gronefeld


Date1941 April 23


LocalePancevo, [Serbia; Vojvodina] Yugoslavia


Variant LocalePancsova

Panchevo

[Banat]

Serbia

Photo CreditUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park

Event HistoryThe action was carried out on orders from the city commander, Lieutenant Colonel von Bandelow, in reprisal for the killing of 4 German soldiers by civilians on 18 April 1941. Altogether 22 civilians were hanged in the cemetery, while 18 more were publicly shot against the cemetery wall by troops with the "Grossdeutschland" regiment

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