Everything you want to know about witch persecution in Germany
The main phase of witch persecution in Germany extended from approximately 1580 to 1650, with a peak between 1626 and 1631. The first documented witch trials began as early as the 15th century, but mass persecution reached its peak in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The last legal witch trial in Germany took place in 1775 in Kempten, where Anna Schwegelin was executed.
The Bamberg witch trials (1626-1631) under Prince-Bishop Johann Georg II. Fuchs von Dornheim are considered the most devastating with approximately 900 victims. The Würzburg witch trials under Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg claimed a similar number of victims. Other notorious persecutions took place in Trier (1581-1593), Cologne, and the Rhineland. Particularly tragic was the case of Mayor Johannes Junius in Bamberg, whose heartbreaking farewell letter to his daughter has been preserved.
About 75-80% of the accused were women, particularly widows, elderly women, midwives, and healers. However, men, children, and even high-ranking individuals such as mayors, councillors, and clergy were also accused of witchcraft. Social outsiders, people with physical abnormalities, or those in conflict with neighbors were particularly at risk. In Bamberg and Würzburg, wealthy citizens were also accused, often to confiscate their assets.
The most common torture methods included thumbscrews, the rack (torture bench), water ordeal, and 'painful interrogation' with glowing tongs. The 'witch test' by water ordeal was widespread: if the accused was tied to water and floated, she was considered guilty; if she drowned, she was innocent. Under this extreme torture, most accused confessed to everything demanded of them, including naming other alleged witches, which led to chain reactions of accusations.
The 'Malleus Maleficarum' (Hammer of Witches) was a work written in 1486 by the Dominicans Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger, serving as a guide for identifying, persecuting, and punishing witches. The book described alleged witch characteristics, interrogation methods, and legal procedures. Although it was never officially recognized by the Catholic Church, it had enormous influence on witch persecutions in Germany and throughout Europe. It shaped the image of the witch as a woman who had made a pact with the devil.
Witch trials ended through a combination of several factors: Enlightenment and critical thinking led jurists and scholars to question witch doctrine. The Jesuit Friedrich Spee von Langenfeld published his 'Cautio Criminalis' in 1631, denouncing the illegality of witch trials. Rulers increasingly recognized the economic and social damage of persecutions. Prussia abolished the death penalty for witchcraft in 1714, Bavaria followed in 1746. The Enlightenment and Age of Reason ultimately made witch persecution untenable.
Many German cities have symbolically rehabilitated their witch trial victims in recent decades. Cologne did so in 2012 for all 37 documented victims. Bamberg, Würzburg, Osnabrück, and other cities have also erected memorials and issued official rehabilitations. In 2008, three executed women were rehabilitated by the city council in Ruhrort. These rehabilitations are important acts of historical justice and recognition of the injustice suffered, even though they cannot undo the suffering.