1940’s.
Sorry, can’t remember which book.
Probably The Theory and Practice of Hell by Eugen Kogon but it could have been another.
Hundreds of people were brought to view hangings in order to discourage people. I met a middle aged Jewish man in the 1970s who as a boy in Poland (a part later ruled to be in the Soviet Union) was brought into a large room and there was a row of dead people all hanging from the rafter.
One of the several stolen childhood books (which? I can’t remember) said all the local Jews were awakened in the middle of the night and brought out to witness a baker being hanged for violating the new prohibition against Jews baking bread. This was to make an example of him. Soon they weren’t allowed to ride on public transportation, meaning walking miles to and from work.