Barbara Zdunk

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Barbara Zdunk, (d.1811), was an alleged Polish witch. She was the last Polish woman to be executed for witch craft, the last person executed for witch craft in Prussia and most certainly the last person in Europe to be executed for such a charge.

Zdunk lived in the city of Reszel, an originally Polish city which was made a part of Prussia in 1772. This marked the end of the blooming of the city, a process which was finished by the great fire of the city in 1806. Zdunk was blamed for causing the fire and was accused and found guilty of witch craft. She was executed by burning on a hill outside of the city. Her trial was handled by Prussian authoritites, as Reszel was then a Prussian province, so she can be seen both as the last Prussian and the last Polish victim of the witch hunt. She would also have ben the last European to be executed for sorcery, though this is normally said to have ben Anna Göldi (1782).