Born: Unknown, Germany
Died: 1781
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: NA
Anna Maria Schwegelin was born into poverty near Kempten im Allgäu and served as a maid. In 1751, a Protestant was employed in the house as a coachman, and converted to Catholicism. Schwegelin tried to prevent his conversion; it is also said that she abandoned her Catholic faith to marry a Protestant, but that the marriage plans were broken off. In 1769, she injured her leg, and the following year, she was sent to the poor house. Suspicions of her (and the coachman’s) involvement in Satanism led to an arrest; she reportedly freely confessed having made a pact with the Devil. She was judged guilty and sentenced to be executed on 11 April 1775, but by July 1775, the case seems to have been forgotten, and Schwegelin remained in jail, where she died of natural causes in 1781.
It was long believed that her sentence was carried out, which would have made her the last person executed for sorcery in Germany. She was the last person to be sentenced to death for sorcery in Germany. She has also been described as the last person to be executed for witchcraft in Europe, but that was a Polish woman, Barbara Zdunk.