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'Witches' pardoned 400 years after executions
Published: 30 Jun 12 12:20 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120630-43473.html
Cologne City Council has pardoned 38 women nearly 400 years after they were sentenced to death for suspected witchcraft, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
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385 years later, in a symbolic gesture by the Cologne City Council, Henot and 37 other "witches" executed by local authorities are to be pardoned and rehabilitated, wrote Die Welt newspaper on Saturday.
Councillors voted unanimously to pardon the former Cologne inhabitants in a vote on Thursday, rejecting "any violation of human dignity and human rights," wrote the paper.
The move was not a judicial act - authorities in modern day Germany do not have the power to overturn rulings made under the Holy Roman Empire. Instead, the move was intended to highlight how easily a person can be defamed to the point of no longer being seen as human, but a demon that deserves to die a horrible death.
Hartmut Hegeler, a retired pastor from Unna who had submitted a citizen proposal to pardon the "witches" was said to be "very relieved" following the vote on Thursday. He is now hoping a mass will be held in the Cologne Cathedral as a gesture of reconciliation by the diocese, according to the article.
The decision makes Cologne the 14th local authority in Germany to distance itself from historical witch trials. But not all rehabilitation gestures have been agreed without opposition, wrote the paper.
When a citizen from Dusseldorf proposed that two women burned at the stake there in 1738 be rehabilitated, there was an objection from a citizen who claimed pardoning the women would amount to challenging his Catholic faith, wrote the paper. His objection was overruled.
Historians estimate the total of 25,000 women and men were sentenced to death in Germany in the past for having entered into a pact with the devil, according to the article.
The Local/jlb
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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Your comments about this article:
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The same is true in Asia, where the Japanese have steadfastly refused to acknowledge crimes and actions taken during WWII. There are a few survivors to whom this might mean something, but national societies are still at odds about it. Would an apology change anything? Not really. The leaders speaking those words weren't involved and can hardly be considered "guilty" in any way. But, the lack of an apology still matters, and it comes up regularly.
In the US, the government finally apologized to the interned Japanese-Americans, and has even made some efforts to Native Americans. A few real victims of the former are still alive, while only the descendants of the latter remain. Does it matter? Not to many.
@Landmine As to the cost, it's minimal. In any larger picture, it's invisible. If we now know it was wrong, why not say so? What's the down side?
wa
How about lets concentrate on the now and prevent things from happening in the first place.
***." the move was intended to highlight how easily a person can be defamed to the point of no longer being seen as human......"***
it has nothing to do with an "OOPSIE".
@Landmine This certainly wasn't "quick" unless you're thinking in cosmic time frames. Cheap? Well, on the scale of government spending, it probably is. Likely less than a million Euros total cost. Easy? Obviously not easy enough, or else it would have been done. Heck, if they can get this one done, perhaps they can move forward and clear the names of some of those killed in organizations like White Rose or the Edelweiss Piraten. Only the criminal regime believed they were truly criminal.
It's progress...in a way...and we see little enough of that these days.
wa
It does not make those killed alive, but it may be a reminder to the living:
Whatever you believe to be a hard and fast rule today may be absolutely wrong tomorrow. Besides, many people did profit one way or the other when pointing at a man or woman they did not like - once accused of witchcraft, there was almost no way out - and so people were out of the way.
Furthermore: Both Women ans men were affected - after all, a witch could take any personality (male, female, child, animal,...)
I think these pardons are overdue - in all German cities were these executions took place.
Thank you for putting that right - it is a start to think over our heritage.
TheWonderer
The RC church should be put out of business.
Murder, torture, child rape, etc.
If you give them money, you're giving your approval.