The Bamberg Witch Trials Madelyn and Grant
The Bamberg witch trials; one of the largest witch hunts of the time. Men , women, and children were accused and executed for being a witch in Germany. The ruler of Bamberg at the time, Prince-Bishop Gottfried Dornheim, went on a killing spree of sorts. It wasn't considered bad because they were deemed witches. Conflicts and agricultural problems were happening left and right and he wanted something or rather, someone, to blame. So he blamed witches. The accused were tortured, questioned, and murdered. Once you were accused, you were already dead. Not even the rich were safe. When they were accused, their possessions were taken by the government, making Dornheim rich. Dornheim went as far as to build Drudenhaus(literally meaning witch prison) to house the accused and put them through misery like no other.
Drudenhaus, the ultimate witch prison. This is where the majority of the tortures and interrogations took place. This prison could hold 30 to 40 prisoners and was full of torture chambers. After building this prison, Dornheim hired and installed full time interrigators, torturers, and executioners. No one was left out when in came to persecution, torture, and execution. Men were tortured. Women were tortured. Children and BABIES were tortured. Even after being condemned, you were still tortured, all the way up to your final day of hell on earth.
The most thoroughly recorded trial of Bamberg was the Johannes Junius trial. The 55 year old mayor of Bamberg, liked by the people and supposedly considered an enemy to no one. He considered multiple people friends, but even a friend will crack when they are subjected to enough pain. 6 people confessed against Junius, not without torture, all of which he knew. Junius was accused of being a witch in June of 1628. On June 28, 1628, his first interrogation took place. The interrigators ask him to confess voluntarily. A man present at the time took notes on what Junius said: " He has never renounced God; God will not forsake him; if he were such a wretch he would not let himself be so tortured; God must show some token of his innocence. He knows nothing about witchcraft ..." After this, he was subjected to unimaginable pain and suffering. Thumbscrews, strappado, and leg screws. After many torture sessions and interrogations, he still didn't confess. The torturer begged him to confess because he knew Junius couldn't last much longer with the torture. The torturer told him to make something up that will prove him a witch. And so he did. He confessed that he was to kill his children. He also confessed that a woman that turned into a devil goat seduced him and made him renounce God. "Dr. Braun replied: You are a scoundrel. Oh no, I cried, I am certainly not that, not in the slightest, I am as honourable as all of you, but if it continues like this, then no honourable man in Bamberg is safe, you just as little as me or anyone else." To further prove that he was a witch, he defiled a sacred cracker that was given to him. He was then condemned to death.
During his trial, Junius wrote a sad letter to his daughter Veronica. He told her that he was innocent in every way and that he would die innocent. "Innocent have I come into prison, innocent have I been tortured, innocent must I die. For whoever comes into the witch prison must become a witch or be tortured until he invents something out of his head and--God pity him--bethinks him of something." He said this to his daughter in the letter. I have already talked about this; the prisoners had to confess to the crimes that they did not commit. To create stories and situations in their heads so that the torture would cease. As I have already said, that was not the case. He tells her of his first interrigation. He also tells her of his tortures. He names the people that confessed against him. "Dear child, six have confessed against me at once: the Chancellor, his son, Neudecker, Zaner, Hoffmaisters Ursel, and Hoppfen Els--all false, through compulsion, as they have all told me, and begged my forgiveness in God's name before they were executed. . . . They know nothing but good of me. They were forced to say it, just as I myself was..." Junius, a man accused of witchcraft by friends, subjected to unimaginable torture because they named him, still found a way to forgive those people. A man sentenced to burn still found room in his heart to forgive those responsible for his unnecessary torture and death. This shows that no one was safe from the trials, not even Junius, a man full of forgiveness and religion. And so the tragic story of Johannes Junius comes to a fiery end on August 6, 1628.
The Bamberg witch trials ended in 1631, resulting in 300-600 unnecessary deaths. Business was suffering due to the trials so Emperor Ferdinand stopped the hunt. This long, sad, and unnecessary event truly ended when Dornheim died in 1632.
The End
