A very old 'Fachwerk' building in Nördlingen, Germany with swastikas drawn on it's door in 1934
A half-timbered building in all of it's Grimm's fairytale-esque beauty before they were modernized for the tourists following WW2.
This town has had an interesting history and below are listed some highlights:
- The witch trials in the early modern period in Nördlingen have been well documented. Between 1589 and 1598, 34 women and one man were burned at the stake for the crime of witchcraft, and one co-defendant midwife, Barbara Lierheimer, died while in custody. The trials of Maria Holl and Rebecca Lemp became especially well-known. In 1589, Pastor Wilhelm Friedrich Lutz delivered sermons against the radical witch persecution of Nördlingen City Council, prior to the Council's execution of the first alleged witches in May 1590. One of the three women executed in that year was a carter's daughter, Ursula Haider, who was arrested on 8 November 1589 and burned on 15 May 1590. The trial of Ursula Haider was by described by Ulrike Haß in her book Teufelstanz.
- It is often said that in 1604 a shortened and simplified version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was performed in Nördlingen and that this was one of the first performances of any Shakespearean play outside England.
- During the Second World War, a total of 33 people were killed in and around Nördlingen by air raids conducted in the spring of 1945. The train station and several houses were destroyed, and St. George's Church was severely damaged. However, most of the historic district of the city was spared.
A very old 'Fachwerk' building in Nördlingen, Germany with swastikas drawn on it's door in 1934
A half-timbered building in all of it's Grimm's fairytale-esque beauty before they were modernized for the tourists following WW2.
This town has had an interesting history and below are listed some highlights:
- The witch trials in the early modern period in Nördlingen have been well documented. Between 1589 and 1598, 34 women and one man were burned at the stake for the crime of witchcraft, and one co-defendant midwife, Barbara Lierheimer, died while in custody. The trials of Maria Holl and Rebecca Lemp became especially well-known. In 1589, Pastor Wilhelm Friedrich Lutz delivered sermons against the radical witch persecution of Nördlingen City Council, prior to the Council's execution of the first alleged witches in May 1590. One of the three women executed in that year was a carter's daughter, Ursula Haider, who was arrested on 8 November 1589 and burned on 15 May 1590. The trial of Ursula Haider was by described by Ulrike Haß in her book Teufelstanz.
- It is often said that in 1604 a shortened and simplified version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was performed in Nördlingen and that this was one of the first performances of any Shakespearean play outside England.
- During the Second World War, a total of 33 people were killed in and around Nördlingen by air raids conducted in the spring of 1945. The train station and several houses were destroyed, and St. George's Church was severely damaged. However, most of the historic district of the city was spared.