Simon Bingelhelm

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Notice board at the Daneilshöhle

Simon Bingelhelm , called Tausendteufel von Halberstadt , (* around 1565 ; † June 2, 1600 in Gröningen ) was a man from the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt who was accused of multiple murders and other acts and who was eventually executed .

Capture

In the spring of 1600 a man was captured who was believed to be Halberstadt's thousand devil . He was brought to Gröningen, the then residence of the Bishop of Halberstadt , Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig , and imprisoned there, interrogated several times, including under torture .

Confessions

During the interrogation, the man stated that his real name was Simon Bingelhelm and that he was born in Halberstadt.

He confessed to numerous break-ins and thefts, primarily in Halberstadt, but also in Wernigerode , Reddeber , Ermsleben , Hoym , Aschersleben , Seehausen, Ballenstedt , Eilenstedt , Heimburg , Klein Quenstedt , Westerhausen , Dardesheim , in Prenzlau in the Brandenburg region from Salzwedel , Haldensleben , Neuhaldensleben , Calvörde , Derenburg , Herzberg , Oschersleben , Schermcke , Krottorf and Quedlinburg .

He is said to have boasted that he was the arsonist of the Drübeck monastery in 1599 . He watched from the neighboring mountain. He also stole a goblet from the church in Rade and eleven thalers from the poor box of St. George's Church in Derenburg. He also broke into the Martini church in Halberstadt with others and stole the offering . Before Helmstedt , he stabbed a man for two groschen and near Bernburg (Saale) a farmer. In Benzingerode he had killed a young woman eight days before Pentecost 1599th In the forest between Hornburg and Osterwieck , he tried to rape an 18-year-old girl and later killed her.

During interrogations, which also took place under torture, the man confessed to a total of 71 different crimes, including involvement in 26 murders. Among other things, he is said to have attacked a pregnant woman whom he killed with his cronies. Then they slit open her body to get to the unborn child, from whose bowels he then made candles for his next break-in. He was also involved in the robbery and killing of at least five small children.

The following was noted in the interrogation protocol:

“Confess that he, Black Hans, Pothans, Rickel and the fat Marten zu Hessen [on the road from Halberstadt to Wolfenbüttel ] took a child of three or four years from a man outside the gate. Wanting to sell the same to a Jew in Berßel , who, however, did not keep the child because it was a little medl. Had they taken it and buried it in the earth up to the armpit at the Huy on the Lange Wiesen and thrown it with beards, Pothans would have thrown off the child's head. Put the head in a cave at Huy-Neinstedt and bury the other in the ground. The child would always have laughed if she threw at it.
Confess that he, [der] Schwartze Hanß, Pothans and Rickel had stolen four children of 3 and 4 years old, […] Had the children for eight days in Danneil's cave in Huy, and asked him to negotiate them with the Jews to help which children the Jews do not want to have. That is why they beat them to death, three buried in Jürgenholtz above Schwanebeck and one near the Warthe above Sarckstedt . "

execution

About his execution on June 2, 1600 in Gröningen it says: "And was attacked with pincers, dragged to the court town, then quartered and came to an end."

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jonas Eberhardt, Jörg Brückner : A thousand devils, the tall Jörg and other bad boys . In: New Wernigeröder newspaper . Wernigerode: Jüttner, Vol. 12 (2001), 7, p. 22.