Dorothea Meermann

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Dorothea Meermann (also: Orthie ) (* 1547 in Bernau near Berlin ; † August 18, 1619 ibid) was a victim of the Bernau witch hunt .

The memorial for the victims of the Bernau witch trials

Life

She was a widow. Her grandmother, mother and daughter Catarina Selchow, who were also victims of the witch hunt, are mentioned. Her son-in-law Hans Becker was legally educated and took over her defense.

Partial list of one of the victims of the witch trials in Bernau

Witch trials in Bernau near Berlin

Processes concerning magic took place in Bernau in 1536, 1537, 1583, 1617–1622, 1653 and 1658. The town's Tobias Seiler chronicle from 1736 contains 22 witch trials. During the witch hunts, at least 25 women and four men were accused, charged, tortured and, for the most part, executed for alleged sorcery. In the years 1617–1622 alone, 16 people fell victim to the witch trials, of which one man and five women died as a result of torture. There were seven acquittals, three of which were married couples, some of which were only acquitted after death.

The beginning of this almost five-year witch hunt coincides with the visit of Elector Johann Sigismund , who visited the city in 1617. When the elector's carriage horses collapsed dead, the driver shouted that witches had killed the horses. The city council immediately arrested some women.

In the years 1616 to 1622 the city secretary Thomas Beling led the witch trials on behalf of the magistrate. Master baker Jürgen Crone and his wife were arrested on the basis of information provided by another accused woman. Among other things, they were accused of making bread and rolls of the most beautiful taste, which was only "done with the help of an evil spirit". Crone and his wife were burned alive, the man on April 24, 1618. The woman, previously allowed to give birth, was publicly burned to death on July 31.

Witch trials against Dorothea Meermann

The Dorothea Meermann case has been extensively documented. A few years earlier, Dorothea Meermann's grandmother and mother had been executed for witchcraft . If a family member had been suspected or charged with witchcraft in the past, it was assumed that the mother had passed the magic on to the daughter and that the devil would have an easy time in the family. Dorothea Meermann was under suspicion for half of her life. In 1617 she was publicly accused by Gertrud Mühlenbeck, who at the time of this statement was herself accused of sorcery. Under the torture, Gertrud Mühlenbeck named a large number of the later accused. In this way, as in many other places, a process chain came about.

According to Mühlenbeck's testimony, Dorothea Meermann was arrested and her neighbors and relatives were heard as witnesses under oath on December 2, 1617 in the Bernau council. The chronicle mentions the following gravamina (allegations): The journeyman nail smith Conrad Tiechel said that a grayish black monster sat on the roof of the merman. You feed the dragon. The kite would have been seen flying in and out of their house . She would have locked herself in her house for days when Ms. Grunow was taken to prison. Then she would have run from one place to another in the city and see what it said about her. The crouching swore that Orthie had given her a pancake in which hair and blood were baked. Your neighbor Matthes Kröchel complained that his grain was moldy.

Thomas Belling, the city secretary, reminds the court that the merman mother and grandmother had already been convicted of sorcery and burned at the stake. That was enough evidence of the council's decision to have her tortured. The charge was: for sorcery .

It could happen that even family members joined the chorus of accusers to dismiss suspicions. The Anna Mund case can be found in the Seiler Chronicle . When she escaped the torture, her husband returned the accused to the court.

Dorothea Meermann's family, however, stuck to her. Her son-in-law Hans Becker was her defense attorney in court and wrote a letter to the elector in May 1619 to bring about the conclusion of the trial. This makes it clear that they could not bear any further costs and would bow to the judgment. Now the council also wrote a letter to the sovereign.

She did not admit any of the allegations against her under the torture. Dorothea Meermann remained in custody and grew weaker and weaker. The elector did not make a decision, but passed the case on to the Faculty of Law in Frankfurt.

Then she should be subjected to more severe torture by another executioner. But the citizens were afraid of the wizards' revenge and initially prevented the council from torturing the accused again. First there was a popular uprising against the further torture of the accused Dorothea Meermann.

A confession from the accused was necessary for a death sentence. Because of this, it was decided to continue the torture. Dorothea Meermann was pulled by the breasts with glowing tongs. Seiler writes in his chronicle: Since the torture with this Orthie Meermann has been carried out again in the toughest way, it happens that the same dies unexpectedly in the custodie (custody) . The proceedings dragged on for two years until Dorothea Meermann died under torture. On the morning of August 18, 1619 a guard brought Dorothea out on his back so that she could relieve herself. When the guard tried to take her back inside, her body was lifeless on the floor. The council and the executioner inspected the body. They stated that her neck was broken. Her body was buried in unconsecrated earth at the High Court.

Witch trial against Catarina Selchow

Catarina Selchow, the daughter of Dorothea Meermann, came under suspicion of witchcraft when she spoke to the executioner who carried out the torture on her mother. She was sentenced to death by burning in 1621. Among other things, she was accused of sending her mother's evil spirit to prison, which put her to sleep and took away her pain. Catarina Selchow was burned on June 1, 1621. She is said to have been a beautiful young woman and with her ears and white skin so shimmered through the gowns, which she is always busy, not having imagined a little. Hence how did not let the messenger come to her body before the cremation! Catarina Selchow was executed two years after her mother was tortured. Her grandmother had previously been a victim of the witch hunt. According to Seiler's chronicle, the last witch trial took place in Bernau in 1658.

Partial list two of the victims of the witch trials in Bernau

Memorial to the victims of the witch hunt in Bernau

Today, the names of Dorothea Meermann (Orthie Meermann) and her executed family members are on a memorial next to the executioner's house in Bernau. It commemorates the 25 women and three men who were persecuted, tortured and executed for alleged sorcery between 1536 and 1658. The "Memorial to the victims of the witch hunt in Bernau" was designed by the artist Annelie Grund and erected in 2005 with the help of the state of Brandenburg, the professional association of visual artists, the district of Barnim, the city of Bernau and donations from citizens of Bernau. Since then, the memorial and the subject of witch hunts in Bernau have been actively used on several levels of society. There is a concept of the association "Education-Encounter-Current Events" for school project days with a city exploration game. The artist Annelie Grund launched the Bernau initiative for the socio-ethical rehabilitation of the victims of the witch madness, which was decided by the city council of Bernau near Berlin on April 6, 2017.

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Sources and literature

  • Tobias Seiler: Description of the royal and electoral Brandenburg central Brandenburg city of Bernau , 1720–1736 (the Bernau city chronicle)
  • Birgit Schädlich: The charge is 'magic' . In: Contribution to the calendar Kiek times Bernauer Geschichte (n), Bernau 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ When witches had wild orgies with the devil
  2. ↑ The city council of Bernau near Berlin decided on April 6, 2017 the socio-ethical rehabilitation of the victims of the witch trials.
personal data
SURNAME Merman, Dorothea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merman, Orthie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Victims of the witch trials in Bernau
DATE OF BIRTH 16th Century
PLACE OF BIRTH Bernau
DATE OF DEATH August 18, 1619
Place of death Bernau