Reign of Terror June 1793 and the end of July 1794, there were 16,594 official death sentences in France, of which 2,639 were in Paris. There was a sense of emergency among leading politicians in France in the summer of 1793 between the widespread civil war and counter-revolution. Bertrand Barère exclaimed on 5 September 1793 in the Convention: "Let's make terror the order of the day!" They were determined to avoid street violence such as the September Massacres of 1792 by taking violence into their own hands as an instrument of government. Robespierre in February 1794 in a speech explained the necessity of
Public execution in Dębica gallows were set - one in the square, another in the vicinity of the St. Jadwiga church. The purpose of the execution was obvious - to intimidate the population of the town. It is difficult to establish how many people witnessed the event. At some point a truck entered the square, carrying three young men, members of WiN. The hangman, whose name probably was Stanisław Swieca, haltered all of them and soon afterward the truck drove off, leaving the condemned in the air. The square was surrounded by the Communist agents who checked everything, making sure the execution was carried