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OfClaudia Kabel
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conclude
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An exhibition in the Fechenbach Castle Museum sheds light on the dark history of the
Witch trials in Dieburg. The impetus for the persecution came from the population. The names of the victims are public.Anyone who has ever been to the street carnival in Dieburg knows the “Mephisto” on Zuckerstrasse. The café is then usually packed, and hardly anyone suspects that the building was the town’s first town hall and that its later owner, master shoemaker and council member Philippus Kretzer, opened his doors on January 1stOctober 8, 1627 as a witch was burned, together with his wife Margaretha. Their children followed shortly after on the pyre. Kretzer’s name and job title can still be read as an inscription on the building.
Now the exhibition “Accused, Tortured, Burned. Witch Trials in Dieburg 1596-1630″ in the Museum Schloss Fechenbach, the memories of this dark chapter of the city’s history, which did not stop even before the execution of eight-year-old children like Anna Masius. 200 people, mostly women, were executed within 34 years, numerous other people were charged – and that in a place that only had about 1800 inhabitants.
On the left an original straightening sword that was used in Dieburg; next to it a copy with engraving.
© Rolf Oeser
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Although witch hunts also took place elsewhere in Wellen, what is outstanding in Dieburg in the southern Hessian district of Darmstadt-Dieburg is that so many documents exist. “In no other place are files preserved in such a large number,” the city said. Several books have been written on the subject, and the names of the victims have been published on the Internet. “The lists of names of the victims have been known since 1990,” says acting museum director Lothar Lammer. “Many Dieburg families say: ‘My ancestor was a victim of the witch hunt'”. The houses of the suspects that still exist today, which are named in various sources, are documented.
Torture instruments and virtual tours
Together with Karin Zuleger, Lammer curated the special show, which runs until June 5th. To do this, they viewed hundreds of files, most of which are in archives in Mainz and some in Würzburg. Loan items were also procured, such as the sword of the executioner North from the 16th century or wayside shrines of the episcopal electors in Mainz. Torture instruments can also be seen: leg and thumb screws, shackles and pillory. A plague coffin from 1600 is a showpiece of the exhibition and symbolizes the end of the witch hunt in Dieburg.
“The exhibition is particularly effective in combination with its accompanying program,” says Lammer. Virtual tours of historical places and processes take place, film screenings, lectures and city tours are organised. There is a reading corner with witch books for children, and the Dieburg author Yvonne Giehl will read from her children’s book “The Little Witch Ramsamsam”.
From no other place have so many files been preserved as from Dieburg.
© ROLF OESER
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The drawing of a little witch with a broom, as we imagine it today, can also be seen on one of the interrogation records from 1627 that were on display. It is the only representation of this kind, says Lammer. It is not known whether the sketch really dates back to that time or was added later. But the “Dieburg Little Witch” was used as a logo.
Guided tours and lectures, a selection
city tour on the locations of the witch trials in Dieburg on Friday, March 25, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Meeting point: Museum, Eulengasse 8. Cost 3 euros.
reading for children “The Little Witch Ramsamsam” with Yvonne Giehl on Saturday, March 26, 3 to 4 p.m. Admission for children free.
witch trial by the Kretzer family as a virtual presentation on Sunday, April 10, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Museum Schloss Fechenbach. Admission 3 euros, children/teens up to 15 years free.
lecture by Helena Geitz on church and magic in the early Middle Ages on Friday, April 22, at 6 p.m.A registration is required for all events: telephone 06071/20 02 460 or e-mail [email protected]
The exhibition is open Thursday to Saturday 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays and public holidays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The show can be seen until June 5, 2022
entire program under www.museum-schloss-fechenbach.de
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Black, life-size silhouettes trace the figures of the victims. The exhibition presents eleven cases as examples. For example that of Anna Padt, the widow of the potter Martin Padt. Her case is considered one of the most important, the interrogation will soon be set to music. Her mother was already burned as a witch in 1607. On June 26, 1627, Anna Padt was interrogated and executed on July 7. Under torture, she named 100 accomplices who are said to have celebrated a witches’ sabbath with her, says Lammer. This led to a series of new trials and executions.
Dieburg: Some houses of the victims of the witch hunt are still standing
In the urban area there are still numerous buildings related to the trials where interrogations took place, as well as places where the accused were held captive. Even the incarceration in the witches’ tower, which was blown up in 1965, or the mill tower, which is still preserved today, was part of the torture: without light, air and warmth with water and bread.
The executions took place on the Zentgalgen outside of town, near the neighboring Münster. “There were wishes from the Dieburg population that the witches should be burned on the market square,” says Lammer. However, the authorities rejected this for fire protection reasons. In addition, the condemned had already been beheaded before they were burned at the stake. The aim was to avoid unrest among the population and the possible denunciation of other people.
Device for embarrassing questioning, behind it silhouettes of the victims.
© Rolf Oeser
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“The impetus for witch hunts in Dieburg came primarily from the population,” says Lammer. None of the Mainz electors pursued it on a massive scale.
Neighborhood disputes often triggered complaints about magic. In 1596, for example, the dispute over a common access road and the drainage of the sewage from the property of the brickmaker Ewald Schütz and the councilor Martin Stoffel in the suburb of Mönfeld led to the beginnings of the witch hunt in Dieburg.
Dieburg: Mayor wants to address remembrance and warning
Distinguished citizens were also affected. Each process had to be approved by the elector by messenger. When the plague claimed more and more lives, it was decreed that the informers were now to be punished, reports Lammer. “In Dieburg, unlike in other places, the plague does not mark the beginning of the witch trials, but their end in 1630.”
Karin Zuleger hopes that the exhibition will raise awareness of this dark chapter in a new way. It is important to give the victims names and to tell their painful stories. “For very few people, this terrible time has been a topic that they have dealt with.” It also hardly played a role in schools. Mayor Frank Haus (independent) announced that he would address a symbol of remembrance and admonition in the political committees.
Interview: Pastor Hartmut Hegeler is committed to the Catholic Church for the rehabilitation of victims of witch hunts. The issue is as relevant today as it was then.
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