The Diary of Caspar Kruse III, Executioner: Goslar, 1 August 1635 – Swedish Soldiers Again

 Barely a week after the regiment of more than a thousand Swedish soldiers had left Goslar, the drumming of drums and the clatter of hooves echoed once more through the streets. This time a company of horsemen and a regiment of infantry entered the city, under the command of Colonel Hamson.

The people stood powerless along the streets. Some lowered their eyes, others muttered curses into their beards, but no one dared resist. The memory of the months of hunger and scarcity, when 1,304 men had to be fed and housed, is still fresh. And now it begins all over again.

The riders took up quarters in the stables and inns by the Breite Tor, while the infantry was distributed across the districts. Houses were broken open again, barns seized, and the marketplace was crowded with carts and tents.

The Council decreed that the citizens must once more provide food and lodging. On Marktstraße I heard a woman cry: “We have not a crumb left from the last time — how are we to bear this?” Her words were drowned out by the laughter of soldiers tapping barrels of beer.

The citizens are exhausted and impoverished. There is scarcely any flour, meat, or hay left. The people groan under the heavy burden, and I see despair in their eyes.

For me personally, once again, little changes. My office continues, soldiers or no soldiers. I know that in the coming months I shall more often have to lay out the wounded and the dead, that my knives must remain sharper than ever.

Yet I feel pity for my fellow townsmen. They are plundered again and again, not with weapons but with requisitions. Their houses and cellars are emptier than ever, their hearts heavy.

Colonel Hamson has announced that his troops will remain until 22 October. Nearly three full months more must Goslar feed and house them.

Tonight, as I wrote this by candlelight, I heard outside the hoofbeats of riders and the shouting of drunken soldiers roaming the street.

Softly I prayed: Lord, give us strength to endure this, and let the day soon come when this city may breathe again.



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