How could this human tragedy happen?

Prolog

The focus of our work is the reign of Prince Bishop "Fox of Dornheim" and the Malefiz House - from 1627 - 1632

Particularly important, is the history of his predecessor Johann Gottfried I of Aschhausen who ruled the diocese in Bamberg and in Würzburg (from 1617 onwards)

His responsibility has to be attributed to 300 WITCH BURNINGS that terrorized the population of Bamberg in two waves. In 1612/1613 and 1617/1618 more than 300 people were killed in Bamberg in the flames of the pyre.

Solo 1617 exactly 102 people were executed as witches in the Hochstift of Bamberg publicly burned alive.

These "martyrs of the Catholic Inquisition" were undoubtedly tortured and all of them were forced to denounce their own family members before they were burned alive at "the black cross" (nowadays called "Schönleinsplatz")

A large number of original historical documents from this period are preserved in the archives of Bamberg.

Obviously the necessary buildings, dungeons and torture chambers already existed, to detain these 300 victims for weeks and month and to torture them.

These records show that so called "lists of Complices" were produced under torture from these victims and many years later, during the reign of the "Fox of Dornheim, these lists were again used to initiate new investigations of the witches Commission.

To illustrate the distribution of power between the different offices and individuals please see the following graphics: