The Diary of Caspar Kruse III, Executioner: Goslar, 14 March 1633 – The Departure of the Swedes


This day the Swedish troops, under the command of Colonel Bergström, have departed from our city. Since their entry in January of the last year, their presence has weighed heavily upon Goslar. Now they marched once more through the gates, but this time outwards, their carts laden with treasures stolen from houses, churches, and guilds.
The people have suffered terribly during their stay. The farmers brought scarcely any grain to the market, for their stores were ever seized. Many homes were plundered, and some families utterly ruined. I saw women weeping along the streets—not from joy that the soldiers were gone, but from grief at what was left behind: empty cellars, silver vanished, lives torn apart.
The city, once proud, remains desolate.

For myself, little has changed through all these months. My work went on as always. The dead kept coming, the cattle kept dying, and the executioner’s blade still awaited command. Where once my orders came from the Council, in these months they came directly from the Swedes. Colonel Bergström made it plain that order must be kept, and in this he dealt with me in a manner most proper.
I must confess that I worked well with the occupiers. They left me undisturbed, paid me on time, and demanded no more than what my office required. I was not harassed as so many others were.

The Return of the Council
Now that the Swedes are gone, Mayor Cramer von Clausbruch has once more taken up the rule of the city. For me little changes: the orders come again from the Council, as before. Yet I feel relief. For though I was left untouched, I beheld the suffering of my fellow citizens. I saw their fear, their poverty, their humiliation.
Tonight I gave thanks to God that the foreign soldiers have at last departed. May the wounds of Goslar heal, though the scars will remain deep.
For me the office continued as it ever was, but for the people around me the burden was too great. Therefore I am, despite all, glad that the banners of the Swedes are gone from our walls.




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