the devil and his witch
In the year 1618 the city of Bamberg had about 12.000 citizens.
In the year 1648 only 7.000 inhabitants were left.
A part of these people were victims of the 30-year war.
Another part have fled the city because of fear of being persecutet and between
1000 to 1500 people were murdered by the catholic inquisition.
- The end of the witch persecution saved the city to become bankrupt.
Between 1626 and 1630 nearly the whole city council was executed on the stake.
The wealthy businessmen were killed as well, so that Bamberg was already nearly ruined before the swedish troops conquered the city.
884 citizens of the Hochstift of Bamberg are the named victims in the historic files of the city archives.
Together with an estimated number of undetected cases it might be more realistic to talk about 1000 victims minimum.
The witch persecution in Bamberg and Würzburg is the worst in history.
For a very long time, the people called the city of Bamberg: the treasure of horror.
The abandoned gardens at the old city wall were called “Trudengärten” (Gardens of the witches) until the 19th century.
A lot of rich citizens had also left the city forever and so the economic importance of Bamberg diminuished...