The Bastard Who Executed The Top Nazis | BEHIND THE BASTARDS

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The Bastard Who Executed The Top Nazis | BEHIND THE BASTARDS
Robert is joined by Courtney Kocak to discuss John C. Woods, the American tasked with executing the Nazi High Command.
Original Air Date: January 7, 2020
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There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.
New episodes twice a week on iHeartRadio.
#BehindtheBastards #BehindtheBastardsPodcast #RobertEvansBehindtheBastards #BehindtheBastardsMerch #BehindtheBastardsJohnLandis #BehindTheBastardsHost #BehindtheBastardsIvermectin #BestBehindtheBastardsEpisodes #BehindtheBastardsBestEpisodes

[@W34T13Y]

He died as he lived, hanging something incompetently

[@kevinwillems8720]

Poetry

[@SavageGreywolf]

There's an argument to be made that Woods considered himself good at his job because his 'clients' always ended up in the desired state. You know, eventually.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

The idea that he got his foot in to the hanging game by sitting in on an execution where the Hangman asked for a volunteer from the audience to assist him, like a stage magician, is hilarious

[@matthiasnagorski8411]

Best case scenario is that he lied about the hangings in Texas and Oklahoma. Lynchings didn't always make the paper back then. He may, indeed, have witnessed and participated in hangings prior to taking the job.

[@waterandafter]

That was the first thing that crossed my mind when that part of the story came up

[@YukitsuTimes]

I knew who the guy who did this was before watching the episode, and I secretly think that someone in charge of the process knew exactly what they were doing.

[@KaiTenSatsuma]

Well now you can be rest assured that sometimes the Universe just coalesces in a way that is actually satisfying.😄

[@HairTrigger223]

"He was drafted as a combat engineer... this man should not build bridges" Fuck the bridges, the bigger concern is they're the guys who got to use flamethrowers...

[@DeliveryMcGee]

The Engineers build, but they also do demolition. He was in charge of quite a bit of explosives.

[@Aryasvitkona]

​@@DeliveryMcGeeto be fair, if you know how a thing is put together, you can be VERY effective at making it not be together anymore

[@DeliveryMcGee]

@@Aryasvitkona That's the joke! If you know how to build a thing, you know its weak points.

[@firefox5926]

33:22 i mean to be fair they didnt ask if those were hanging or lynchings and it was the 1940s...

[@noxthemc7717]

Finally, a bastard I can get behind.

[@MrGksarathy]

The Woods vs Stryker incident seems to be a case of murder hobo vs proto-4 chan troll, and I'm here for it.

[@ItRemindMeOfHome]

Pour one out for my favorite sociopath, MSGT Woods

[@dabwiso784]

Oh man. Imagine if Hitler had survived to be captured and was taken out by this guy😂

[@GodzThirdLeg]

Realistically this guy would probably not have been the guy to hang Hitler, simply because the guys who would have captured Hitler most likely would have been the Soviets and they definitely would not have agreed to let anyone but them to be in charge of executing Hitler.

[@matthiasnagorski8411]

​@@GodzThirdLegand he would not have made it to hanging day.

[@Pikepaw]

The picture of John C Woods looks a lot like Kevin from The Office. It makes this a lot funnier. If we make a movie about the war criminal hangings, they should definitely cast Brian Baumgartner to play Woods

[@GlenGarcia1961]

Oh, the Disney Franchise Opportunities: "Honey, I Hung the Nazis",...

[@robertborland5083]

2:02 I appreciate this statement. I am reminded of Greg Grandin's biography of Henry Kissinger "Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman" (2016). (Disclaimer: I still need to listen to the Kissinger episode series, but I have a feeling Robert may have used the book as a reference.) The central theme of Grandin's book is to understand Kissinger's actions as being based on the idea of self-actualization where one's greatness - whether a state or individual - is determined by their ability to bend reality to their own desires, incentivizing spontaneity and action. Reality is not a constraint with objective truths or inescapable history but something sufficiently motivated individuals could create if they manage to overcome cultural and legal inertia. In the case of his foreign policy, conveying the United States's willingness to use its power ferociously would be an important objective. In the case of the Nixon campaign, this justified using backdoor-diplomatic techniques to secure a Nixon-Vietnamese deal involved utilizing Kissinger's own power to shape the political landscape into something that fit his own desires. Asking whether these actions would harm people, be legal, or have negative long-term effects is less prominent than utilizing sheer power to bend reality to his own will. This trend of the podcast's titular "bastards" from across history who are confident in their own skill - perhaps too confident in cases such as John C. Woods - but are unwilling to sit down and reflect on their own flaws and biases comes up frequently. I know this was an off-the-cuff answer on (my fellow) Robert's part, but it is one I find quite interesting.

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

I definitely agree, this story absolutely makes me feel way more patriotic.

[@mikemuhn5729]

If they make his story into a movie, I nominate Zach Galifianakis for the lead.

[@chris999999999999]

Just as a note, there's no need to say "electrocuted to death". The word is a portmanteau of "electric" and "execute", so being electrocuted necessarily means you died. Non fatal electricity is a shock. Caused by failing to properly...conduct oneself *rimshot*

[@THEHAR0LD]

If it weren't for the fact that it would be in massively poor taste, I could see this as a Cohen Brothers movie starring Tim Blake Nelson. I can see the low light final scene with ambiguous shadows that might be a paper-clip guy or might just be a coat on a door knob or something. I can also see Nelson a-hyucking his way through botched executions. Also, I don't think this guy is all that bad, he just seemed like he was a little slow, and in a death penalty society the exact sort of person that would end up being an executioner.

[@robertborland5083]

I would end it with how John C. Woods's story really did end; it could work thematically to express the futility of ascribing meaning to history. That being said, I do appreciate your idea!

[@IHateMyAccountName]

We were given Jojo Rabbit only a few years back. I think this can be made.

[@abbywheeler9025]

Halfway through so far. I'm getting an enormous laugh out of the military literally diagnosing this man with 'mean, dumb, and stinky' disorder.

[@KaiTenSatsuma]

37:40 - Normally I would consider that a feature of "you fucked up so bad we're hanging your ass like it's 1700", not a bug, but I can see how that's also unethical

[@werwolfnate]

Is a bastard who's a bastard to bastards a bastard?

[@willowarkan2263]

He does look a bit gormless. Like he looks like he could be part of a bit by the three stooges.

[@sholem_bond]

I think the equating of ego with self-esteem is pretty wrong, IMHO. I would argue that most terrible people have huge egos, but these serve to overcompensate for massive holes in their self-esteem and sense of self-worth, that they learned to temporarily plug with inflicting pain onto others or feeling powerful over others. Good self-esteem as I understand it doesn't drive you to desperately seek a sense of control or power or approval; it prevents or decreases that type of behavior. Just like actually loving/liking yourself (while having a realistic understanding of and appreciation for your own personal worth) makes it easier to love others and treat them in a loving/kind way, hating/loathing yourself makes it easier to want to hurt others, or to be apathetic toward their suffering (as the individual case may be). Tbh people like Hitler (IMHO) probably had/have a big ego and an underdeveloped sense of self-esteem or self-worth. It's kind of a similar phenomenon to stuff like clinical narcissism, or some forms of NPD and ASPD, which can be and often are triggered/partly caused by trauma. Having an inflated sense of your own greatness based on delusions of grandeur and inordinate self-centeredness, isn't what I'd call healthy self-esteem, or healthy anything. Also, participation trophies don't do shit for most people's self-esteem either way, LOL. There's also apparently a ton of millennials and zoomers who never received any, so I question how widespread this practice even was. (I can't really cite most of this, but I'm not talking out of my ass either. Psychology was my hyperfixation for multiple years, and was also my undergrad major. For most of my time in undergrad I was planning to become either a psychologist (with a PhD) or a therapist/social worker (with a Master's). That all didn't end up happening because burnout, but the overwhelming developmental/social psych research consensus we see suggests that better self-esteem is associated with better mental health outcomes, and with being a better person, or at least seeming to be a better person (you at least don't get caught committing crimes or antisocial behaviors).)

[@sholem_bond]

24:51 oh hey it's the probable ancestor of "Antisocial Personality Disorder," "sociopathy," "psychopathy," and other similar diagnostic labels that are frustratingly vague and IMHO just a diagnostic way of calling someone "evil," which I hate.

[@justinbrown4607]

The Cs was something people joined when I was in HS in the 90s ::)

[@christianlederer5668]

One of the main reasons that the US declined to continue prosecuting nazis or simply let them go was because they needed to keep the Germans on their side against the Soviets for the upcoming cold war and executing all of their relatives for war crimes would not have been good for that relationship.

[@chellybub]

It should have been Pierrepoint

[@annafdd]

It actually was Pierrepoint. He was one of the executioners at Nuremberg.

[@rustomkanishka]

Pierrepoint was a civilian contractor and British. He definitely did some of the hangings but they had to fly him in and his fee would be separate. I'd argue that his salary was well earned, but hey, who cares? Woods would be around.

[@marocat4749]

I think my favourite bastard is the dilbert guy, or the one who ran a waterpark with teenager. Reinhard heinrich for scamming his role into running a department is interesting.

[@TheeGrumpy]

12:26 Ernst Röhm is *not* the John Lennon of Nazism. Obviously, he's the Stu Sutcliffe.

[@firefox5926]

34:43 yeah but it was like the 1940s so he must have been to at least one of to lynching right...

[@SesshyLover777]

Japan meanwhile, we bungled that!

[@VooshSpokesman]

Love from a Shark3ozero and Vaush fan!

[@Wendy_O._Koopa]

You see, everybody else gets to say "not see" except me. Whenever _I_ say it, they delete my post. My account's probably been flagged from false reporting, or something.

[@Wendy_O._Koopa]

Other people false reporting _me,_ I mean...

[@andrewweaver2517]

I still enjoy the HITLER! intro.

[@sashiebgood]

It's HANGED, not HUNG. Sheesh, you'd think Robert would know this.

[@ianporter2446]

I know it's pedantic, but it keeps bothering me too 🤦

[@sashiebgood]

@@ianporter2446 It's like when someone is talking about a cache (pronounced "cash") of weapons or supplies and pronounces it "cash-ay", which is spelled the same, but means having status or drip. *So many* people do that too and it drives me nuts.

[@ludo_narr]

Hey, that's not very cache money of you.

[@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957]

I'm not mad that Nazis suffer, but an execution isn't about the condemned, it's about us. The morality of demanding a life to make society whole is definitely debatable, and i tend to think it's unacceptable as a moral precept, but even for those that view it as fair recompense, a slow death is below the dignity of a society claiming moral superiority over the condemned.

[@noxthemc7717]

On one level, I kind of agree. But I'll carve out an exception for Nazis

[@huckthatdish]

I am anti death penalty generally. But architects of genocide is the one exception I make. Genocide is such a massively evil act that I think it can be treated separately from other crimes

[@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957]

@@huckthatdish true. But if our natures are truly different from theirs, as we tend to claim they are, then it should be quick and as painless as possible.

[@origami_dream]

@@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957 I don't find that argument remotely persuasive. It's a false equivalency. If our natures are truly different from theirs, we won't sadistically torture innocents to death. That's all the difference that's needed. Not killing innocents because of immutable characteristics; only killing people who want to kill people because of immutable characteristics. If we only execute people who deserve it, we've done the job of showing our natures are different more than adequately, regardless of the method of execution. We don't hate them because they exist; we hate them because they are genocidal monsters who hate us because we exist and want us all to die. I don't care much one way or another the manner in which they're not around anymore, only that they're not around anymore.

[@LexYeen]

There's lots of things to say about the death penalty as a concept and how it should be implemented. I figure if the accused is a literal Nazi and responsible for the deaths and dehumanizing treatment of thousands to millions, however, there's much less to say so long as they're _removed._

[@sholem_bond]

"Hobo" this originally aired in 2020, holy fuck

[@SteeleJohnson-o7u]

wow.... he's literally me....

[@justcommenting4981]

The whole concept of international law is laughable in itself and doubly so when placed on a moral/logical framework.

[@tauronmitronion377]

Why?

[@justcommenting4981]

@@tauronmitronion377 point out a single time international "law" was imposed on anything other than a country that was already destitute or subjugated. The only international law of practical relevance is from trade deals that allow the corporations of powerful countries to decimate the lives of people where they do business.

[@firefox5926]

26: not unless you are much much older than you sound lmao you might be thinking of the kkk lol

[@dennisbloomquist9220]

Nice job getting like a couple of like ditzes who know like know just about nothing about the topic and didn't bother doing any research. I like, turned it off a few minutes in.

[@troyblose4316]

Take the word “like” out of your vocabulary.

[@SgtKaneGunlock]

bro this is like a couple years old

[@tunczyk110]

@@SgtKaneGunlock yeah and they haven't gotten any better about this

[@caelvanir8557]

@@tunczyk110Like, dude. Just like calm down

[@FiggFig]

i don’t expect much from these types. cool info though

[@Fenriswaffle]

@@FiggFig Forever curious what 'these types' means~