Alois Seyfried

Alois Seyfried (1856–1930) was an Austrian-born executioner active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He was born in Brunn am Gebirge on 27 May 1856 to Franz and Caroline Seyfried (née Herger).[1] On 1 August 1886, he was appointed temporary executioner (provisorischer Scharfrichter) for Bosnia, which was then under Austro-Hungarian occupation in accordance with the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. On 1 February 1897, Seyfried became the permanent State Executioner for Bosnia.[2]

After World War I, Bosnia became a part of the newly created Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia). Seyfried remained in the service of the new government until his retirement in 1922.[2] Upon his retirement, he stayed in Sarajevo until 1930,[3] when he left for his hometown in Austria,[4] where he died on 9 October 1938.[1]

Seyfried’s two brothers – Jozef (b. 1854) and Rudi (1852–1892) – also worked as executioners in Austria-Hungary. All three had inherited their trade from the Viennese hangman Heinrich Willenbacher, who was either their uncle or Rudolf’s father-in-law. Alois once claimed to have been apprenticed to the Viennese executioner Joseph Lang before leaving for Bosnia. Seyfried was married and had at least one son. According to a news report, his wife was a snake charmer.[5] His son was an amateur painter.[3] Alois himself played the zither and composed musical pieces. His favourite composers were Franz Schubert and Frédéric Chopin.

In his 36-year-long career, Seyfried may have hanged more than 50 people, many of them during World War I. His last victim was Alija Alijagić, who was hanged in Zagreb on 8 March 1922 for the assassination of Interior Minister Milorad Drašković the previous year.