question about final scene *spoilers*

i was confused by the hanging scene because the idea behind hanging someone is to break their neck, and this did happen in the film as the doctor pronounced him dead a few seconds after he fell, but what i cant understand is how his neck would break when he only appeared to fall a few inches, was this just for the film and the safety of the actor or is this exactly how a hanging was carried out in Poland

i know that when we used to hang people in Britain a technique called the "long drop" was used and the condemned criminal would fall a certain distance according to their weight to make sure their neck would break