Helena (Hellene Mechthildis) Curtens (1722 in

Gerresheim Gerresheim is one of the City of Düsseldorf, Germany's fifty quarters. Part of Borough 7, it is located in the eastern part of the municipality. Gerresheim is much older than Düsseldorf itself, having been an independent city with a rich histor ...

– 19 August 1738 in Gerresheim) was an alleged German

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

. She was one of the last people executed for sorcery in Germany and the last person executed for this crime within the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

area. Her case is one of the most known cases in Europe, as she was long thought to be the last person executed for this crime in Germany. Curtens was arrested after reports about observations of the ghost of a 14-year-old girl. She was exposed to

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

, during which she pointed out her neighbour Agnes Olmans. Olmans was the daughter of a woman called Zaubergreth, who was rumoured to have been a witch. They were accused of having intercourse with demons. Olmans denied the charges and demanded to be exposed to the

ordeal of water Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, tri ...

. This was denied to her, as this method was no longer used in the area. Both Curtens and Olmans were judged guilty of sorcery and sentenced to be executed. They were executed by burning 19 August 1738. Curtens and Olmans are often claimed to be the last people executed for sorcery in Germany. In reality,

Maria Renata Saenger von Mossau Maria Renata Singer or Saenger von Mossau (1680 – June 1749) was a Bavarian nun executed for heresy, witchcraft, apostasy and satanism, one of the last people executed for these charges in Germany and Europe. Life Maria was inducted in the c ...

was executed in 1749 and the farmer

Anna Schnidenwind Anna Schnidenwind (née ''Trutt''; 1688 in Wyhl – 24 April 1751 in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl), was one of the last people in Germany and in Europe confirmed to have been executed in public for witchcraft. It was for the devastating fire of Wyhl o ...

, ''née'' Trutt in 1688, was executed in

Endingen am Kaiserstuhl Endingen may refer to: * Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, Germany *Endingen, part of Jakobsdorf municipality in Vorpommern-Rügen, Germany *Endingen, Switzerland Endingen (Swiss German: ) is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aa ...

24 April 1751 convicted of having caused the great fire of

Wyhl Wyhl () is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. It is known in the 1970s for its role in the anti-nuclear movement. Wyhl was first mentioned in 1971 as a possible site for a nuclear power st ...

s by a pact with Satan. The last execution for sorcery in Germany likely occurred in Landshut in 1756. Anna Maria Schwegelin was sentenced to death for sorcery in 1775, but she died in prison and was never executed.

References

*Clemens-Peter Bösken: ''Ehrenrettung für Richter Schwarz: der Prozeß gegen Agnes Olmans und Helene Curtens aus Juristensicht.'' In: ''Rund um d. Quadenhof (Düsseldorf-Gerresheim)'' 46 (1995) *''Anna Schnidenwind geborene Trutt'' (Broschüre), Endingen, 2001 *https://web.archive.org/web/20110929054508/http://www.historicum.net/themen/hexenforschung/lexikon/alphabethisch/a-g/art/Duesseldorf_Hex/html/artikel/6730/ca/91ef3e53c8d7bc3fc71c79bbec39c3a9/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtens, Helena People executed for witchcraft Executed German women 18th-century German people People executed in the Holy Roman Empire by burning Executed people from North Rhine-Westphalia People from Düsseldorf 1722 births 1738 deaths Witch trials in Germany 18th-century executions in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century German women