Herta Kasparova, a female
collaborator who worked with the Germans during the
occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War ll, at the
time of her execution by pole hanging...
Herta Kasparova was born on 01st June, 1923, in the
small Czech town of Trest', into a world that never
treated her gently. From birth, she lived with a visible
disability—a damaged right leg that caused a
pronounced limp. In a society that prized physical
normalcy and conformity, especially in the interwar
years, this marked her early. As a child and adolescent,
she was mocked, isolated, and made painfully aware
that she was seen as different. Long before politics
entered her life, she had already learned what it meant
to be vulnerable and watched.
When Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia,
survival often depended on language, usefulness and
proximity to power. Herta spoke both Czech and
German fluently, a skill that suddenly gave her value in
a brutal system. The Gestapo in Trest' used her as a
translator, placing her in rooms where fear dictated
every word. She translated documents and
interrogations, and later was accused of acting as an
“investigator,” reporting on suspected dissidents
within her own community. Whether driven by
coercion, fear, a desire for protection, or a fragile
sense of belonging, her role tied her fate tightly to the
occupiers.
After the war, the moral landscape shifted violently
and quickly. Collaboration trials swept through
Czechoslovakia, fueled by grief, rage, and a desperate
need for justice or vengeance. Herta was arrested,
tried, and sentenced to death. She was just 23 years
old.
On 13th September, 1946, at 6:38 p.m., she was
executed by pole hanging, a method designed not for
mercy but for spectacle and punishment. The
execution device was stark and imposing. When she
was brought before it, terror overtook her body. Her
legs collapsed beneath her, and guards had to lift her
upright. Witnesses noted her visible fear as the ropes
were tied, her chest strapped, her body raised. In her
final moments, the procedure was carried out with
calculated brutality, ending her life publicly and
decisively.
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