Bamberg’s Dark Secret

It was love at first sight, both with my husband and the city of Bamberg where he was born. Walking through the historic city centre with its stunning architecture it is hard to believe that it harbours a dark, secret past. 

This harmless-looking building is the so-called “Malefiz Haus”, built in record time by Prince Bishop Johann George II Fuchs of Dornheim, it was a prison with a “built-in” torture chamber for interrogating those accused of witchcraft, a courtroom and a chapel. In the 1600's Bamberg was at the heart of a major witch hunt which resulted in the torture and death of about 1000 innocent people, sadly a record for the whole of Europe. Don't get me wrong as a Scot, I'm not pointing the finger, King James VI of Scotland wrote a treatise “Daemonologie” in 1597 leading to the persecution of witches in Scotland and after his ascent to the English throne in 1603, there too. As for religion both Catholics and Protestants were involved, Martin Luther saying “I have no compassion with these witches, I would burn them all!”. I was just surprised to find such a beautiful place that I know so well was the European witch hunt capital, I'm not alone, till about 2008 very few people in Bamberg itself knew about its history.

The “whys” are  answered in the turmoils of the period, most people associate witch hunts with the middle ages, however it was the late 1500’s  and then the 1600’s  that saw the pinnacle of witch trials; wars, the reformation and counter-reformation, famine and disease were major contributors. 

In Bamberg the Prince Bishop Johann George II, Fuchs of Dornheim was happy to stamp out the evil of witches, as he saw it, in his Bishopric. What was interesting was his choice of victims, yes, there were the lonely, poor old widows and those who were accused due to family or neighbourhood squabbles but the Prince Bishop and his auxiliary Bishop Friedrich Förner took things even further, killing 5 mayors of Bamberg, clerics, local councillors,  many of the rich landowners and businessmen. While easy to point the finger at both the Catholic and Protestant churches, don't forget judges, doctors, men of law, town councils and citizens were all involved in the process of accusations, trials and executions. 

One good example of this was the arrest of Dr Georg Haan, Chancellor of the Hochstift Bamberg, an opponent of the witch hunts; in 1627 he went to Speyer to complain to the Imperial court about what was going on in Bamberg, in his absence his wife and daughter were accused, arrested, tortured and executed. On his return, he too suffered the same fate; the following year his second daughter and one of his four sons were similarly accused, tortured and executed. The Haan family was virtually wiped out. 

Bamberg had seen a couple of extremely cold summers, where crops had frozen in the fields, many of those accused had admitted to causing these climate disasters, along with communing with the devil, taking part in witch Sabbaths and having mediums. The names of the victims and their confessions and what tortures they were submitted to can be read online and in the Stadtarchiv Bamberg, one such entry really stuck in my mind,

Anna Wassermann was accused and arrested on 7.01.1630, she was interrogated then whipped (76 lashes), questioned again, then followed 3/4 of an hour  in leg presses (like thumbscrews but for your legs), more questioning, 11/4 hours on the Spanish mule (with weights), more questioning, followed by being hoisted up on her arms for 30 minutes. She resisted all attempts to extract a confession, she was then confronted by two of her accusers who claimed she was well known in her village as a witch because she “ sold more butter than her two cows could produce.” Anna, never admitted to witchcraft, dying in captivity on 3.05.1631, demonstrating the devastating consequences of petty jealousy and ignorance. 

In  Bamberg neither wealth nor reputation could save you, however there were many voices raised against what was going on including that of the Emperor and the Pope who tried to save the life of Dorothea Flock, who although pregnant, was tortured and confessed. Prince Bishop Johann Georg II, Fuchs of Dornheim got wind of the family’s appeals to higher authorities and executed Dorothea quickly before the pardon from the Pope arrived. 

Reading the lists of victims, alongside such details like how much their fortune was estimated at, how often and how they were tortured, how many others they accused (it was important to find more witches) their conviction, followed by the date of their execution has made this foray into Bamberg’s past very personal and has touched me deeply. The Malefiz Haus was destroyed in around 1637, the last prisoners being released ahead of the arrival of the Swedish troops in 1632 ( having been sworn to secrecy about the torture they suffered).The unfortunate victims who met their death in Bamberg (and Zeil near Bamberg where the first executions took place. In the Witch Tower a documentation centre has been opened) suffered death through beheading, hanging, being burned at the stake and often didn't survive their incarceration in the Malefiz house, (the Bamberger Inquisitors were very proud of inventing new methods of torture). 

Bamberg’s dark secret finally got a monument in 2013, it's called The Brandmal and I will be paying it a visit in the future. Even here many people think that it has been situated out of sight (behind the Villa Geyerswörth) instead of  at the Cathedral, Alte Hofhaltung, Franz Ludwig Straße or Schönleinsplatz, all places associated with the witch trials or executions. 

Bamberg executed approximately 3 times as many witches as were executed under the Spanish Inquisition in the whole of Spain (the Spanish were more concerned about hunting heretics). Statistics are of course tricky but with an estimated 60,000 deaths in Europe of those 25,000 in Germany and 1000 in Bamberg alone illustrates how grim the events truly were.

This blog post can only really skim the surface but reading up on events has led me to view this beautiful city and UNESCO world heritage site with slightly different eyes, beauty and tragedy lying very close. On the one hand I would hate the death of so many innocent people (regardless where) to be turned into a tourist attraction however we have to remember the victims, the names of at least 300 are known (if you are interested you can google a bit and find a list of the victims names). Today I would like to honour those less well-known, found on the list of victims  at www.anton-praetorius.de 

In Memory Of  

Eva Rennlein 

Katharina Förster

Margaretha Kernerin

Margaretha Weinmennin

Antonia Kretzerin 

Paulus Pfister

“You are innocent and not forgotten!”