The Diary of Caspar Kruse III, Executioner: Goslar, 3 April 1635 – Swedish Soldiers Again

 Today another regiment of Swedish soldiers entered our city. This time they did not come as enemies who seized the walls, but as “allies” who had to be quartered. The regiment numbered 1,304 men, an endless procession of pikemen, musketeers, and cavalry who marched through the city gates and spread out across our districts.

The Council had ordered that citizens open their homes. Each family was assigned soldiers who were to be given shelter and food. The burden is heavy, for the winter stores are scarcely finished, and this year’s harvest has not yet come in. I heard women weeping as their beds were taken, and children giving up their places to rough men who spoke no German except a few curses.
I myself was spared from soldiers in my house, perhaps because no one dares to burden me in my office. Yet I see the tension in the streets: carts of hay and grain vanish into the barracks, barrels of beer are tapped for the troops, and our citizens stoop under the levy.
I thought back to the occupation of 1632, when Goslar bent under the hard hand of Colonel Bergström. This time it is different: the city remains governed by its own Council, yet the burden of housing and feeding so many men is scarcely bearable.
For my office little changes. Death and filth continue to come, and the soldiers, as long as they are here, will bring their share of dead and wounded. I continue to do what is expected of me, and receive my pay — though this time indirectly also paid by the citizens, who are already squeezed dry.
The Swedes, it is said, will remain until 23 July. That is still months away. I pray that Goslar endures this time without new plundering or disease.
I feel like a man standing on the riverbank while the river once more floods its banks: the water overwhelms everything, and I can only watch and try to keep my own house standing.




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