John C. Woods: American Hangman Who Executed Nazi Leaders at Nuremberg

John C. Woods was the American Army executioner who carried out the death sentences of top Nazi officials after the Nuremberg Trials. John Clarence Woods remains one of the most controversial figures of the postwar era—the American master sergeant who carried out the executions of Nazi Germany’s most senior war criminals at Nuremberg. Born in 1911 in Wichita, Kansas, Woods grew up amid poverty and instability, drifting between jobs before briefly joining the U.S. Navy, from which he was dishonorably discharged with a diagnosis of “psychopathic inferiority.” His troubled past, however, did not prevent him from enlisting in the U.S. Army after America entered World War II. In 1944, when the Army announced it needed a hangman, Woods volunteered, falsely claiming experience. In reality, he had never executed anyone before. Woods oversaw dozens of military hangings in France before being selected to carry out the sentences handed down at the Nuremberg Trials. On 16 October 1946, in a gymnasium inside the prison, he executed ten high-ranking Nazi officials—including Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and Julius Streicher. Many of these executions went horribly wrong. Woods used short, miscalculated drop lengths and positioned the nooses incorrectly, causing slow strangulation instead of the intended quick neck break. Witnesses described convulsing bodies, broken noses, and death throes that lasted nearly half an hour. Some believed Woods had done this deliberately out of hatred for the Nazis.Despite international criticism, Woods expressed nothing but pride in his work. He openly boasted: “I hanged those ten Nazis… and I am proud of it.” He claimed to have executed hundreds—though the real number was closer to ninety—and carried two pistols out of fear that Germans might seek revenge. After the war, Woods was reassigned to the Marshall Islands to support U.S. atomic and aerospace programs. On 21 July 1950, he died suddenly from an electric shock while repairing a lighting fixture. Although the Army ruled it an accident, rumors persisted that it was retaliation for Nuremberg.This episode is part of the series Executioners of 20th Century.Watch the full documentary and explore hundreds of historical films at:WorldHistory.tv