slezan
02.08.04, 14:13
Ciekaw jestem, czy to też Was tak bardzo poruszy:
Otto von Guericke, Burgomeister of Magdeburg, recorded the destruction of the
city by imperial troops in May of 1631.
[Page 211] So then General Pappenheim collected a number of his people on the
ramparts by the New Town, and brought them from there into the streets of the
city. Von Falckenberg was shot, and fires were kindled in different quarters;
then indeed it was all over with the city, and further resistance was
useless. Nevertheless some of the soldiers and citizens did try to make a
stand here and there, but the imperial troops kept bringing on more and more
forces - cavalry, too - to help them, and finally they got the Krockenthor
open and let in the whole imperial army and the forces of the Catholic
League, - Hungarians, Croats, Poles, Walloons, Italians, Spaniards, French,
North and South Germans.
Thus it came about that the city and all its inhabitants fell into the hands
of the enemy, whose violence and cruelty were due in part to their common
hatred of the adherents of the Augsburg Confession, and in part to their
being imbittered by the chain shot which had been fired at them and by the
derision and insults that the Magdeburgers had heaped upon them from the
ramparts.
Then was there naught but beating and burning, plundering, torture, and
murder. Most especially was every one of the enemy bent on securing much
booty. When a marauding party entered a house, if its master had anything
[Page 212] to give he might thereby purchase respite and protection for
himself and his family till the next man, who also wanted something, should
come along. It was only when everything had been brought forth and there was
nothing left to give that the real trouble commenced. Then, what with blows
and threats of shooting, stabbing, and hanging, the poor people were so
terrified that if they had had anything left they would have brought it forth
if it had been buried in the earth or hidden away in a thousand castles. In
this frenzied rage, the great and splendid city that had stood like a fair
princess in the land was now, in its hour of direst need and unutterable
distress and woe, given over to the flames, and thousands of innocent men,
women, and children, in the midst of a horrible din of heartrending shrieks
and cries, were tortured and put to death in so cruel and shameful a manner
that no words would suffice to describe, nor no tears to bewail it . . . .
Thus in a single day this noble and famous city, the pride of the whole
country, went up in fire and smoke; and the remnant of its citizens, with
their wives and children, were taken prisoners and driven away by the enemy
with a noise of weeping and wailing that could be heard from afar, while the
cinders and ashes from the town were carried by the wind to Wanzleben, Egeln,
and still more distant places. . . .
In addition to all this, quantities of sumptuous and irreplaceable house
furnishings and movable property of all kinds, such as books, manuscripts,
paintings, memorials of all sorts, . . . which money could not buy, were
either burned or carried away by the soldiers as booty. The most magnificent
garments, hangings, silk stuffs, gold and silver lace, linen of all sorts,
and other household goods were bought by the army sutlers for a mere song and
peddled about by the cart load all through the archbishopric of Magdeburg and
in Anhalt and Brunswick. Gold chains and rings, jewels, and every kind of
gold and silver utensils were to be bought from the common soldiers for a
tenth of their real value. . . .
history.hanover.edu/texts/magde.htm
