The witch trial

One of the most famous witch trials in German history was the Pappenheimer case. It took place in Munich in 1600 and led to the brutal extermination of an entire family. Paulus Gämperl was born in the small village of Hüttlingen in 1542. He grew up in poverty in the lowest social class and earned his living by herding pigs, begging, and petty theft until he found a job as a laborer in a brick hut in Ansbach. He worked there for two years. During this time, he also met his wife Anna, who bore him three sons, Michel, Gummprecht, and Hänsel. In order to get by, the two older sons committed various crimes together with their father. The family lived as vagrants, so to speak. This was a thorn in the side of the Bavarian government at the time, which took rigorous action against criminals and vagrants. When a thief named Geindl was arrested and accused the family, better known as the Pappenheimers, of witchcraft before his execution, claiming that they killed pregnant women to make candles for magical rituals from the embryos, a search was launched for them. The Pappenheimer family was to be made an example of in order to deter the population from committing criminal acts such as those perpetrated by the Pappenheimers. In February 1600, the Pappenheimer family was arrested at a market in Tettnang by bailiffs of the Altmannstein district administrator, and that same night, the entire family, except for little Hänsel, was taken to Abensberg. After two months in prison, the family was taken to Munich’s Falkenturm tower on the orders of Maximilian I. The first interrogation took place on April 17, 1600, chaired by Commissioner Wangereck, Rentmeier, and Dr. Hainmüller. Little Hänsel was interrogated first and beaten with a stick. After that, the other family members were interrogated one by one and subjected to severe torture. All except Hänsel were found guilty of terrible accusations such as having sexual intercourse with the devil and numerous other unsolved crimes from the last decade. The show trial, in which they were charged with 74 murders, ended with the entire Pappenheimer family, except for Hänsel, and two of their accomplices, the farmer Ulrich Schölz and the tailor Georg Schmälzl, being sentenced to death. On the day of the execution, which little Hänsel was forced to watch, all six had their skin torn open six times with red-hot tongs. Then Anna’s breasts were cut off and stuffed into her mouth and those of her two sons. After that, they were taken to the place of execution. Shortly before, a prayer was said at the cross at the Neulauer Gate. At the place of execution, the arms of the five men were broken on the wheel. The head of the Pappenheimer family, Paulus, was impaled through the anus, while the others were burned alive. Hänsel was baptized during the execution and renamed Cyrian. After the execution, six other people, accomplices of the Pappenheimers, including Cyrian, were arrested and tortured. All of them were burned alive on November 26, 1600, except for Cyrian, who was strangled beforehand. The Pappenheimer case caused a great stir throughout Germany and Europe at the time because it was one of the most cruel executions in world history.