Throughout World War II, inside many occupied lands and countries, the German forces executed and terrorized huge numbers of people.

Many were accused of damaging the occupation and with working with the resistance to send a message to people to fall into line.

Public executions took place in front of thousands of people.

It was ruling by immense fear and even teenagers and women were condemned in this way.

One young woman who suffered a terrifying fate during the conflict was Lily Burm who was poleh hanged inside of occupied lands.

Her execution was immensely public and her body was left up on the execution structure for some time to strike fear into the hearts of the population.

But why did this young woman suffer the terrible fate of pole hanging? Lily B was a young Jewish woman who grew up inside of Yugoslavia.

Judging by her surname, she may have been referred to as an ethnic German and her family may have had German roots.

However, as she was Jewish, she was seen in the eyes of the Nazis as someone who should be persecuted.

She was a member of a Jewish youth organization known as Young Guards in the region of Novisad in Yugoslavia.

However, when the Germans and Axis forces invaded part of her country, she began to get involved in resistance activities against the Hungarian authorities who had been tasked with occupying her region.

She was also involved in sabotage groups in the region who caused constant problems for the occupiers.

This was in 1941 when the Axis were very much in the ascendancy during World War II.

But in September of that year, Lily became embroiled in an incident which would cost her her life.

She was arrested on the 20th September 1941 by members of the Hungarian military police and she was seized as it was said she was carrying a weapon.

Now this might sound not too serious, especially during time of war.

She was carrying presumably a gun during the time, but her trial in front of a military court deemed that she was dangerous and involved in the resistance.

It’s not known whether she was betrayed or passed over to the occupiers by someone who informed upon her and then collaborated.

Lily Burn was then sentenced to death, and with this the method of execution was Hungarian pole hanging.

This method utilized a 3 m pole or post and the condemned would be secured to it via a chest sling and then a system of ropes would be passed around the top and bottom of the post via pulley.

The executioner stood behind the post and when the chest sling was released the condemned dropped a short distance and the executioner tried to force the head to one side in an attempt to snap or dislocate the neck.

It was a rough ordeal and a rough method and was performed very much in public.

This is the fate that Lily Burn met on the 25th of November 1941.

She had been sat on death row for a few months but she was executed outside of a military barracks and hundreds of people had been gathered to watch.

But why specifically pole hanging? Well, countries that fell under the former influence of the Austrohungarian Empire utilized pole hanging as a method of execution.

The Hungarians who condemned and executed Lily were experts in using this and they performed it to send a very clear message to people in the local area not to defy their occupation.

The sight of her suspended on the post was meant to horrify and also terrify people into submission.

It was deemed by executioners at the time to have been a method which was relatively quick and also humane.

Executioners thought that a pole hanging could bring about death within just a matter of seconds.

And they thought this was much more humane than even using a traditional gallows with a trap door.

The reality was not that though and often it went wrong and left the condemned slowly strangling on the post and they would be struggling for some time.

It was also very public meaning that lot saw the struggle and it would have been very harrowing to witness.

So, Lily Burn was executed as she was said to have been involved in a resistance group and was caught allegedly carrying a weapon.

But the method of pole hanging was meant to send a clear message to people in the local area to fall into line.

And it was meant to be a way of deterring people from joining resistance groups.

But at the heart of the story was just a young woman who suffered persecution and who wanted to try to do her bit to rid the occupiers from her country.

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