Katharina Bernburg

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Katharina Bernburg (also Katarina Bernburg, Catharina Berenburg, Katharina Albericht from "Rorschen", wife of Jacob Bernburg, * around 1550 in Rohrsheim ; † June 6, 1597 in Wernigerode ) was a victim of the witch persecution in Wernigerode during the reign of Count Wolf Ernst zu Stolberg . She is also called Forstersche or Albrechts, maybe she was widowed twice.

Process flow

So far, 250 witch trials have been identified for the territory of Saxony-Anhalt . However, the number of victims is likely to be higher. Around 55 people were sentenced to death at the stake in witch trials from 1521 to 1665 in Wernigerode.

The accused were - depending on their jurisdiction - initially questioned in "goodness" in the building of the municipal district court or in the office building (today the restaurant "Altes Amtshaus"). The district court was responsible for the city and the district court for the rest of the county. The embarrassing interrogation followed: The executioner of Count zu Stolberg tortured in the building of the old chancellery at Wernigerode Castle .

The accused were among other things accused of having attended the Brocken and other places of the Witches' Sabbath , the dance with the devil. Participation in the Witches' Sabbath and Flight of the Witches were central charges in the early modern witch trials in addition to the devil's pact , the devil's bond and the transformation into animals (e.g. werewolf ) and the magic of damage .

In 1583 there were several defendants in a chain trial. Under the torture, Anna Suprang confessed on April 22, 1583 and was executed at the stake with three other women on July 17, 1583 . It was the blackest day in the history of the witch trials in Wernigerode. In 1597 many of the accused were executed. The names of 16 women are known: Angnette, Drewes Hintze's wife, Zillie, Drewes Blumen's widow, the Richtersche, Hans Brun's wife and twelve others accused of witchcraft, including Ilse Arnecken von Darlingerode, Katharina Bernburg and five foreigners.

Peregrinus Hühnerkopf [Hünerkopf], bailiff at Westerburg Castle , was a notorious witch hunter. He sent 30 women to the stake for alleged witchcraft. In order to save her life, Katharina Bernburg fled the area of ​​the Westerburg. In Wernigerode, 25 kilometers away, she was soon arrested and put on trial.

Bailiff Peregrinus Hühnerkopf, whose wife was sick, saw the cause of her health problems in black magic by witches. He wrote to the mayor of Wernigerode on May 27, 1597 about Katharina Bernburg and urgently asked for administrative assistance: “I was told that you have arrested Katharina Bernburg, who had escaped from here, and interrogated her under torture. Without a doubt, through your official act, she has confessed to what she has done here. I would particularly like to know the following: Recently three women announced (under torture) that they had infected my dear housewife with an illness. My wife has been very sick since last year and has great abdominal pain. Please send me Katharina Bernburg's confession that I know whether she has admitted that it is her fault. I will return the favor on the same or different matters when the opportunity arises. "

In the torture chamber at Wernigerode Castle, Katharina Bernburg protested her innocence: “No confession made with kindness”, which means that she protested her innocence. But it didn't help her. She collapsed on the torture rack on May 26, 1597 and finally confessed everything the witch judge wanted to know. Accusations and accusations that sound incomprehensible from today's perspective, brought her death at the stake:

  • 1. How did she get involved with the devil? Six years ago she borrowed bread from her child's mother in Rohrsheim. The child's mother said to her: If she was so poor and in great need, then she would assign her a devil's seat [devil as a lover] - she would get enough of that.
  • 2. Your Teufelsbuhle is called Fedderbusch. It was coal black with a cow's foot scratched open, came to her through a hole in her house and gave her a penny every time.
  • 3. He was with her six times and committed fornication with her.
  • 4. He did not do it like another guy, his "gschänke" [penis] was cold, blue and small.
  • 5. Her lover had promised her money, he probably wanted to feed her.
  • 6. You met other women for the witches dance at the crossroads to Rohrsheim.
  • 7. A black man was her minstrel, she went out behind the dance with her devil's chair.
  • 8. This dance was arranged for the purpose that every devil wanted to see who had the most beautiful bride.
  • 9. She always flew there very quickly on a billy goat.
  • 10. Her Buhle reported to her that the wine they drank at the witch's dance had come from the cellar of Westerburg Castle.
  • 11. Hans Braun's wife had inflicted the “good children” [bewitched sick spirits] on the wife of the bailiff in Westerburg, so that she could no longer be helped. Because a couple [good children] died with her.
  • 12. When she first had to deal with her courtiers, after four weeks she had two pairs of “good children” from him. [4 weeks - menstruation?]
  • 13. She hexed these two pairs of “good children” with her godchild (child of Henning Gebhardts) with this blessing: “Go to the child, destroy it, that it comes away from this world.” And she had the child for so long tormented that it had died - that was what her devil's woo wanted.
  • 14. Her lover said to her: Because she was old and shabby, he would no longer commit fornication with her. Only after her death did he want to deal with her soul. But she didn't promise him and didn't want to do it.
  • 15. This morning the devil was with her in prison, told her that she should be his own if he would help her get away. He also predicted everything that should be done with her.
  • 16. When she danced with her courtiers, he took her by the hand and after holding the dance she went back to the gate on a billy goat at midnight.
  • 17. The fact that she killed her godfather's child so innocently [by the "good children"] worries her even more.

The witch trial file closes with the words: Katharina Bernburg was justified with the fire on June 6, 1597, that is, she was burned at the stake.

After their execution, Count Wolf Ernst zu Stolberg was dissatisfied with the confession sent by these women. Katharina Bernburg, also known as Forstersche, has made a confession and has been sentenced to death for her crimes and devil arts. On August 8, 1597, he ordered the clerk Matthias Queck in Wernigerode to press ahead with the interrogation of the devil whores: You have to squeeze out from the other accused whether they know any more devil whores. They should be introduced to the torture master and everything should be presented to them with great seriousness. If they continue to deny, they are to be "attacked sharply." Tell us what these devil whores confess!

Commemoration

Wernigerode memorial plaque for the victims of the 2017 witch trials

On April 6, 2011, Andreas Vogt submitted an application to the City Council of Wernigerode to rehabilitate the victims of the witch trials for moral and socio-ethical reasons. The culture committee and the city council have not yet made a decision. On January 21, 2017, a memorial plaque for the victims of the witch trials at the old office building was set into the historic city wall.

See also

swell

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Names of the victims of the witch trials / witch persecution Wernigerode (PDF; 30 kB), accessed on May 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ Application by Andreas Vogt for the rehabilitation of the victims of the witch trials by the council of the city of Wernigerode (PDF; 397 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Bernburg, Katharina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Victims of the witch trials in Wernigerode
DATE OF BIRTH around 1550
PLACE OF BIRTH Rohrsheim
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1597
Place of death Wernigerode