Krystyna Ceynowa

Krystyna Ceynowa, also spelled as Cejnowa (died 1836), was an ethnic Polish victim of murder by lynching and an alleged witch in Germany. Accused of sorcery, she was subjected to the ordeal of water and drowned in Ceynowa (today Chałupy). She was among the last people in Europe to be subjected to lynching on the grounds of sorcery and witchcraft.

Background

Krystyna Ceynowa was the widow of a fisherman, living at Ceynowa on the Hel Peninsula, in the German Province of Prussia. She was regarded as suspicious by the community for various reasons, such as the fact that she was not a church-going person, which gave her a bad reputation in the eyes of the congregation: she never went to mass, and it was said that black crows were attracted to her chimney. People suspected that she was a witch. The authorities, however, were not willing to conduct a witch trial at this time.

The murder

She was taken captive by a lynchmob determined to test her to see if she was a witch. Her suppressors were called from Zoppot, and she was subjected to the ordeal of water during an illegal trial. The ordeal took place in the Baltic Sea - she was transported in a boat and thrown overboard. To the disbelief of many, she remained afloat for a long time, which was taken as an evidence of witchcraft, whereas nobody thought that her gown and skirt had acted as a buoy. When Ceynowa did not drown, the people found her to be a real witch and killed her with their paddles.

Her case exemplifies the fact that the belief in witchcraft continued among the public long after the legal authorities stopped accepting the charges of witchcraft, and that the public took the law into their own hands when they suspected witchcraft even after the courts had stopped accepting such charges.

See also

References

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