Katharina Steb

Katharina Steb (* in Laiz ; † July 23, 1666 in Sigmaringen ) was a victim of the persecution of witches in Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen .

The investigation files that have been preserved in the Sigmaringen State Archives to this day, an inconspicuous folder with court files in the State Archives' storage facility, provide information about Katharina Steb, who comes from Laiz. The court found it proven that she was a witch . Defamation and torture were the basis of the verdict. She was charged with witchcraft and executed as an alleged witch on July 23, 1666 in Sigmaringen.

Prologue and Inquisition

Katharina Steb from Laiz had no choice in 1666, she had to sue the son of her neighbor Michael Noll for defamation. The young Noll claimed in public that Steb had patted him on the right shoulder and that it had turned into a painful lump. He believed Steb was a witch, so he went to see her so that she could undo the damage spell. According to Volker Trugenberger, head of the State Archives, what we consider to be a terrible superstition today was a reality for people in the 17th century. They were convinced that there was magic and witchcraft. So the woman had no choice, she had to complain, otherwise young Noll would have complained. Witchcraft was punishable by death.

Steb stated that she was unable to inflict this type of damage. The princely officials decided to initiate an inquisition to examine this. Numerous neighbors gave testimony that the Steb had harmed them through witchcraft. Hanß Michel Bürckhle recorded that his foot had become lame because the witch cursed him with a tuft of hair. Geörg Paur explained that his horse boy had died of berries he had got from the witch. Others stated that it was because of them that the calves and pigs perished. It made a frost in the spring, and pears and apples died. Steb was arrested.

Torture, investigation and interrogation

According to Trugenberger, evidence in the criminal law of the time was insufficient. For a conviction you needed either witnesses or a confession. Torture was used to get the confession. Steb was tortured, but initially did not confess. The court tightened the torture methods.

Steb was also examined: It was believed that the devil put birthmarks as a seal on the bodies of women with whom he is said to have had sexual intercourse, that witches cannot cry and that they react conspicuously to consecrated things. All the evidence spoke against Steb.

The officers also interrogated people who incriminated the woman with new stories.

Ultimately, when the executioner put in the Spanish boot - a leg screw that pressed the shin and calf together until the bones broke - she confessed. In her confession, she claimed to have committed sexual immorality with the evil spirit in male form. In addition, she denied God and the saints, struck a calf and a boy in the name of the devil, "made a frost and thus spoiled apples and pears". The devil gave her a black powder and eventually appeared in front of the hole in the prison tower himself.

judgment

Now it was easy for the judges, at that time the city council: They could sentence them to death at the stake. Prince Meinrad I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen pardoned her to death with the sword. Katharina Steb died on July 23, 1666 because she was slandered as a witch.

Trivia

The torture chamber in the gallery of Sigmaringen Castle with its rare instruments is evidence of this earlier jurisdiction.

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b} A witch excited to be tortured - protocol of a Sigmaringer witch trial . Archival reading with music from the Sigmaringen State Archives on October 19, 2008. The archivists Birgit Meyenberg and Sibylle Brühl brought them out to tell the tragic story of Katharina Steb in an archival reading in the “Looking Back” series.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Vera Romeu: Archives tell the story of a supposed witch . In: Schwäbische Zeitung from October 25, 2008