马德

indy

ON THIS DAY: 20 MAY 1631

The Sack of Magdeburg occurred in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany during the Thirty Years' War. Considered the worst massacre of an infamous conflict, the sacking resulted in the deaths of approximately 20,000 of Magdeburg's population - both defenders and civilians - and is notorious even to this day.

With a population of over 25,000 inhabitants and then one of the largest cities in Germany, Magdeburg's citizens were Protestant. When they refused to pay a demanded tribute to the Holy Roman Emperor in 1631, it was besieged by Imperial and Catholic League forces from 20 March.

The citizens waited in vain for relief from Swedish forces and were forced to sue for peace. The message did not reach the Imperial commanders in time and the fortifications were breached. Once the gates were opened, the Imperial troops went beserk. Mass gang rapes, murders and torture were reported while the city became consumed in a huge fire.

Most of the victims of the sack suffocated or burned to death in the inferno, which also destroyed 1,700 of the city's 1,900 buildings. Of the 25,000 inhabitants, only 5,000 survived with 1,000 of these having fled into Magdeburg Cathedral. One of the Imperial commanders chillingly wrote afterwards, "I believe over 20,000 souls were lost. It is certain that no more terrible work and divine punishment has been seen since the destruction of Jerusalem. All of our soldiers became rich. God with us."

Magdeburg did not recover for another century and in 1632 only 449 inhabitants were recorded. Such was the devastation that 'Magdeburgisieren' ('Magdeburgization') became a common term signifying total destruction. The sack was written about by later writers like Friedrich Schiller and Berthold Brecht.

Even in the 21st Century Magdeburg and the Thirty Years' War has so scarred Germany that a German author has written, "Never before and also never since, not even during the horrors of the bombing during the Second World War, was the land so devastated and the people so tortured." Although this might sound exaggerated, particularly with regard to the Holocaust, it is estimated that as much as 50 percent of some regional German populations were killed between 1618-48 with most regions numbering 25-40 percent in terms of casualties.

indy