Richtstätte bei Ohrensen, Medieval execution site near Ohrensen, Germany
Richtstätte bei Ohrensen is an execution site near Ohrensen in northern Germany. The raised ground stands away from both villages and is now surrounded by fields and low vegetation.
On October 31, 1842, Anna Marlena Princk was executed here after being convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic. The execution was the last public one of its kind in the area and marked the end of a centuries-old practice.
The place name refers to its former role as a spot where justice was carried out outside the village boundaries. Such locations reminded people of the strict legal order that governed rural life at a time when punishment was a public event.
The hill stands in open terrain between two villages and is best reached on foot or by bicycle. Excavations in 2020 uncovered remains that are now buried again beneath the ground.
Archaeologists found a coffin weighted down with stones, suggesting a belief that the deceased might otherwise return as a spirit. The coffin was not oriented in the usual east-west direction, showing that the deceased was symbolically excluded.
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