A photograph of the corpse of Cesare Battisti, an Italian member of the Reichstag who was also hanged as a traitor, and his executioner, Josef Lang, became a postcard in 1916 during World War I. The smiling executioner and his assistant pose as if they were in a bar. The hanging prisoner is held like a trophy by the proud executioner, who shows ownership of the body with both hands. Numerous onlookers posed for pictures with the victims on the gallows. Executions were carried out openly as a voyeuristic ritual of violence, the gruesome spectacle provoking fascination and a certain lust. Photographed together with the corpses hanged on the gallows, the pictures and cards of the "Laughing Austrian Executioner" spread all over the world.
Cesare Battisti was hanged in Trento, Austria-Hungary on July 12, 1916. he was elected to the Parliament in Vienna in 1911, but when Italy went to war with Austria in May 1915, Battisti joined the Italian army. During the Italian invasion of the Trentino region, he was captured by the Austrians on July 11, 1916. Sentenced as an Austrian and a traitor, in a summary court-martial on July 12, Battisti claimed to be a prisoner of war, but was outright rejected and sentenced to be hanged for treason. Men, women, and children were executed in large numbers by military tribunals as spies and traitors. Deportations, detentions, and systematic executions suppressed the people as suspicious civilians.
Prisoners were taken directly from the courtroom to the gallows. The rope that had first strangled them was cut, and the tradition of commuting sentences was ignored, and the hangings were carried out with a new rope. Battisti shouted "Viva Trento Italia" (Long live Trento Italy!). After the hanging, the body was dumped into the castle sewers without a coffin or any markings. The executioner, József Lange, was Australian from 1900 to 1918. He served until the abolition of the Hungarian monarchy and was the executioner for 39 death sentences during that time. He was photographed on the gallows with the bodies of the hanged, and his picture and card of the "Laughing Austrian Executioner" went around the world. The executioner was often received at the station like a guest of honor and enjoyed a high social reputation.
Australian authorities photographed the hangings and created photo cards to make an example and deterrent. It backfired and Battisti became a martyr, giving the Austrians a barbaric image. Even though the authorities soon realized it, they stopped distributing the cards, making their distribution difficult to retrieve. The photos ended up in the hands of Italians and became material for anti-Austrian propaganda in Italy.
Various proponents of the war believed that it would strengthen the country, make the people stronger, and make them greater. They saw war as a way to unite the people and make them patriotic. They saw war as an opportunity to gain personal power. They sought opportunities to gain personal fame, adventure, and honor. He sought to gain great power status, to protect and expand his interests, and to acquire colonies. Bhatti's main goal was based on ethnic-centered nationalism. In Austria, he was condemned as a traitor, but in Italy, he was still considered a patriot, hero, and martyr.
