Anna Goeldin – The Last Witch

Anna Goeldin -- The Last Witch is a novel by Swiss writer Eveline Hasler, first published in German in 1982. It imagines the life of Anna Göldi (Göldin in the contemporary spelling, indicating the female gender in the name; Goeldin is a variant of the spelling without the special character). Goeldin who was executed by decapitation in 1782 in Glarus, Switzerland. Goeldin has become known as the last person to be executed for witchcraft in a German-speaking country.

Hasler incorporates contemporary documents in her novel, setting the quotes apart in italics.

In her afterword, Hasler summarizes the "unexpected publicity" of the trial. The term "judicial murder" was coined by the historian August Ludwig Schlözer in connection with the trial. The novel was adapted into a feature film with the same title, Anna Göldin – Letzte Hexe by Swiss filmmaker Gertrud Pinkus in 1991.

Summary

The novel follows Anna's life beginning with her arrival in Glarus until her death. The novel also includes flashbacks of Annas life from her memories of being a small child until the reason she moved to Glarus. In 1782 Anna was accused of harming a child and brought to trial in Glarus. Following a lengthy trial, she was sentenced to death by decapitation. Anna Goeldin is most famously known for being The Last Witch killed in Europe.

Anna Goeldin was born in Sennwald Switzerland in 1734. She was born into a “free family” where her father was a farmer, and her mother ran the household. She was the fourth of eight children. After her father died, she dropped out of grade school to help her mother tend to the land and the animals. Between the ages of 13 and 40 she worked as a house servant for several different families. One of note would be the Zwicki family. The other of note would the Tschudi family.

While working as a maid Anna had two different love affairs. One was with Jakob Roduner, a local apprentice to the master cabinet maker. They had a child out of wedlock and Jakob left Anna alone to serve in the military. This child died and Anna was forced to confinement in her childhood home for 6 years as she was under suspicion for child murder. She escaped her childhood home to her sister's house where she then assisted as a midwife. As a midwife she was introduced to the Zwicki house where she then became their housemaid. The second man Anna had premarital relations with was Melchior Zwicki. Melchior had hoped that Anna and he could get married once society became more accepting of people from different societal classes marrying. He had promised Anna that not only they could get married some day, but he would be extremely careful as they continued to further their physical connection. However, Melchior's mother was strictly against marriage. Anna Goeldin again had a child out of wedlock. Anna placed this child into foster care, then immediately left the household to find work someplace else.

Upon leaving the Zwicki family, Anna found work with the Tschudi family. Anna worked here as the housemaid taking care of the home and becoming a nanny for at least 4 of the children. Most notably the daughter Anna Maria became very attached to Anna Goeldin. After 17 months working for the family, the girl and consequently the father Doctor Johann Jakob Tschudi accused Anna of placing pins in his child’s milk. The pins were enough to get Anna released from her position. For weeks after Anna left, the child continued to spit up pins and other pieces of metal, and Mrs. Tschudi and others assumed witchcraft, leading to a formal accusation with the court of Glarus.

Upon Annas departure she regularly moved through several villages to avoid being caught by the “runner” (the man sent to get Anna and bring her to court in Glarus). Eventually Anna was caught while working in a tavern and imprisoned. During the time Anna was being held she was asked to help heal the sick child which she did. She confessed under torture to using witchcraft.

The trial lasted at least 17 weeks and was held in the Protestant Court. At the very end of the trial 32 voted for Anna to be put to death, while 30 voted against. With the results of the trial, Anna was sentenced to death. Anna died by decapitation in 1782. After her death all courts records were rewritten to omit any use of the word witch (or similar alternatives). This is peculiar as the trial was conducted as a witchcraft trial, including the requirement of a confession to a pact with the devil and application of torture.