Original subtitles

THE WITCH

A cultural and historical presentation in moving pictures in seven parts.

BENJAMIN CHRISTENSEN wrote the script and produced this film

between the years 1919 and 1921.

For the photography I am grateful to Mr. Johan Ankerstjerne

and to Mr. Richard Louw for the art direction.

My main sources are mentioned in the theater's program.

Let us look into the history of mysticism and try to explain

the mysterious chapter known as the Witch.

The belief in sorcery and witchcraft

is probably as old as mankind itself.

When primitive man is confronted with something incomprehensible,

the explanation is always sorcery and evil spirits.

In Persia, the imaginary creatures depicted in the following picture

were thus believed to be the cause of diseases.

The English scientist Rawlinson and French scientist Maspero

show us pictures of evil spirits

believed to have resided amongst the first civilizations.

The belief in evil spirits, sorcery and witchcraft

is the result of naive notions about the mystery of the universe.

Here we see how the ancient Egyptians perceived the shape of the world

(according to Maspero).

The ancient Egyptians believed that high mountains

surrounded land and water on all sides.

The sky was believed to be made of steel and supported by strong pillars

that rested on the high mountains.

The stars, like lamps, hung from the sky on ropes.

According to the beliefs of other ancient civilizations,

the sky was vaulted and the earth shaped into terraces.

The evil spirits of ancient times became devils in medieval folklore,

sneaking around and tempting children.

The devils lived in the depths of the Earth,

which in the late Middle Ages was thought to be a stationary sphere

at the center of the universe.

Surrounding the Earth and its waters —

—the medieval man first imagined a layer of air —

—then a layer of fire —

—and outside the fire were the planets, moving celestial bodies.

Each planet was attached to a transparent, movable sphere.

And outside the planetary spheres

were the fixed stars arranged in a sky of their own.

Above it all, in the tenth crystal sphere,

sits the Almighty surrounded by nine angel choirs...

...and he is the one that keeps the spheres revolving.

Deep down in the Earth's core lies hell,

where those tempted by the devil shall suffer forever.

In the upper part of the following picture (from the French historian Lacroix)

we see devils stuffing the damned into large cauldrons.

A sinner is thrown straight into the fire under one of the cauldrons.

A devil pours nasty oozing brimstone from a horn down a man's throat.

Two monsters torment some of the damned with their sharp teeth.

I have found a strange old mechanical representation of hell,

which offers a good understanding of the beliefs in the Middle Ages.

Observe the eagerness with which the two devils

tend to the fire under the cauldrons!

During the Middle Ages, devils and hell

were considered real and constantly feared.

Witches were thought to have signed an unlawful pact with the devil,

and therefore they were burned at the stake.

The floating figure at the top of the picture

is a devil coming to get the witch by lifting her up into the air.

These next two pictures of pyres

are from German Life in the Past in Pictures.

In this image a witch is milking an ax handle.

In the following image a witch has cast a spell on a man's shoe.

Witches usually meet in councils.

And after the gathering they might, for instance,

sneak into a barn and bewitch a cow.

The small angular symbol under the drawing

was usually carved into the barn door as protection against witches.

In this primitive drawing, a sorcerer and a witch cast spells,

setting a village on fire.

Witches were believed to curse people with diseases

with the help of witches' powder and magic potions.

Notice how the sick person is laying naked in bed.

That was customary in the past.

It was a general belief that the witch was naked at night when,

during the so-called witches' Sabbath, she danced with the devils.

Women who wanted to participate in the "Sabbath"

sneaked away to a witch...

...where they could have their backs smeared with "witch ointment."

The magic of the ointment would allow them to fly through the air.

From a work by the French doctors Bourneville and Teinturier

I have taken the following pictures of the witches' Sabbath...

...a secret satanic rite which thousands of women claimed to have participated in.

At the Sabbath, witches and sorcerers first desecrate the church's holy cross.

The devil christens each participant of the Sabbath with devils' names.

And a ceremonial banquet is held.

The Sabbath food was often prepared from corpses from the gallows.

All witches had to show the devil their respect by kissing his behind.

After a merry dance with the devils,

the witches fly home at the first crow of the cock.

These scenes are often depicted in famous pictures of the witches' Sabbath

from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 2

Through imagination we now journey to the underground home of a witch

in the year of our Lord 1488.

"Tonight the stars shine favorably over the gallows hill."

"Ugh, what a stench!

This thief's body has hung too long on the gallows."

"When a thief's finger is too dried out

it can no longer lend the brew any healing power."

"Hurry and open up, Karna, so that the passersby won't see me."

"Karna, can you perchance get me a love potion

that has power over a pious man of the church?"

"Here, young maiden, take a potion of cat feces

and dove hearts, boiled during the full moon."

"A drop of this in a man's drink will soften his heart at once."

"Karna, can I have an even stronger potion?"

"If the maiden wishes to drive the man out of his wits for love..."

"...I have a potion boiled in May from a young and playful male sparrow."

"Hold your coins, maiden! First smell my ointment!"

"This ointment is good,

should you wish to travel to Brocken one night."

"Secretly smear this ointment on

and the pious monk might come directly to your chamber."

"You will then fly high up in the night air together

and he will bestow upon you many hungry kisses."

"Listen, Brother, shouldn't we pray

before we embark on such a bold enterprise?"

"O Holy Mother,

forgive us for cutting open a person's dead body with a knife!"

"It is not from untimely curiosity that we sin so badly..."

"...but so that the causes of many terrible diseases

might be revealed to us."

"Help! Hurry! The peace of the cemetery has been desecrated by two witches."

Such were the Middle Ages, when witchcraft and the devil's work

were found everywhere.

Thus did many strange events come to pass.

"You shall not lie here and bewitch the legs of honest people, devil woman!"

"You watch out! Now your filthy mouth shall remain open for all eternity."

As with witchcraft, so it is with the devil:

people's belief in him was so strong during the Middle Ages

that he became real.

The devil is everywhere and takes all shapes.

He shows himself as a nightmare, a raging demon, a seducer,

a lover and a knight.

The devil's companion can be young and beautiful,

but she is more often old, poor and miserable.

Is it due to your eternal fear of the pyre that you get drunk night after night,

you poor old woman of the Middle Ages?

When the evening bell tolls in the night

and all the fires in town are covered with ashes,

the devil fetches Apelone for his adventures.

High up in the air lies Apelone's dream castle,

and there the devil fulfills all her secret wishes.

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 3

In Rites and Rights in the German Past by Franz Heinemann,

we can observe pictures of inquisition judges at work.

A woman accused of witchcraft is thrown into the water

to find out whether she is guilty or not.

In History of Customs, Edward Fuchs shows us how the accused is tied up.

Two executioners use oars to move the accused into deeper water

where she can't touch bottom.

If she floats, she will be pulled up and burned.

If she sinks, the judges thank God for her innocence.

I will now illustrate a witch trial from beginning to end

that takes place at the time

when the pope sent traveling inquisition judges to Germany.

"Oh, my husband could not have been struck by dizziness so suddenly

unless a witch cast a spell on him!"

"Be comforted, Anna, wife of the printer,

the power of the lead will soon reveal it."

"O powerful Saturn, allow this lead to show

if Jesper the Printer is bewitched."

"It is written here in the shape of the lead

that his dizziness is due to atrocious witchcraft."

"Oh, Peter, look. Where is the evil witch?"

"You might see that witch before you wish to..."

"...before I wish to."

"Jesus' holy cross and wounds!

I did not hear you come, Maria the Weaver!"

"Oh, maiden, please have mercy on me,

a poor woman who has to go begging from door to door!"

"Are you hungry, Maria? If so, sit down."

"Here. Eat now, if you can, in the name of Jesus."

"Watch out, little sister, watch out. That woman has evil eyes."

"The youngest servant of the inquisition

may not exchange words with a strange maiden."

"How wonderful! It burned like fire when the young maiden took my arm."

"Young maiden, you know quite well

that what you're accusing this woman of endangers her life!"

"Swear by the cross that you are not deadly enemies!"

"Let's go, young men, before her feet are lifted

so that the evil witch won't turn us all into mice."

"Now you can have a scalding death, just what you deserve,

you damned mistress of the devil!"

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 4

So that she is not wearing hidden witch powder,

two "honest" matrons will change the clothes of the accused in jail.

"Maria the Weaver was just brought here, accused of witchcraft."

"Master, look carefully,

there might be witch powder hidden in the hair on the witch's body."

The suspect's nights are now dictated by the inquisition judges.

Two honorable men try amiably to persuade her to confess.

If she stubbornly denies her charges, they will use a kind of mental torture.

"Woman, see here the seven holy words of Jesus on the cross,

written on consecrated parchment."

"I will hang them around her neck

so that the devil will no longer help her to be silent."

"Does she see this length of consecrated wax as the Body of Christ?"

The accused is taken backwards into the torture chamber,

so as not to bewitch the judge when entering.

"For the last time I ask:

Does she want to confess her witchcraft and her misdeeds?"

"Let her suffering begin so that we might put an end to the harshness of her heart."

"Oh, you learned men!

How do you expect me to confess to that which is not true?"

"Well, Rasmus the Executioner! Let now the evil witch's body sting."

"Let her catch her breath, Rasmus the Executioner,

and loosen the screw a little at a time as she confesses her sins!"

"Oh, learned men!

I confess that I've given birth to many children fathered by the devil."

"And when I gave birth, Karna and her coven helped me."

"If I am spared the pain,

I will confess that Trina has smeared me with witch ointment."

"Oh, yes, learned men, miserable me has flown

through the night air to Brocken on Trina's broom."

"And there sat the devil's grandmother with all her witchcraft."

"And there, many a witch who had not accomplished enough evil deeds

was treated miserably by the devil."

"And there they spat on Mass and upon all that is holy."

"And a meal of toads and unchristened children

was cooked by Karna."

"Listen, Maria the Weaver,

did you also see the devil put his mark on the witches' foreheads?"

"Oh, learned men, I saw the witches kiss the evil one on his behind."

"And the mother of Anna, the printer's wife,

wished me a scalding death —"

"— that damned woman, I saw her kissing the evil one so tenderly...

and Sissel, her servant — that old fool — was also there."

"And Elsa, who kicked me some time ago, she shall also burn at the stake."

"She passed Martin the Writer's door one moonlit night with her sister."

"And they cast a difficult spell on Martin the Writer

with the water they threw against his door."

"And it was the very same night that death took Martin the Writer."

"And now I will tell you everything about the witches,

who yell after me in the street where I live."

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 5

So begins the endless cycle of the witchcraft era.

Each witch gives 10 others away. The town wardens have much to do.

If you oppose the capture of a witch, you must be a witch yourself.

The destiny of young Anna, wife of the printer, is sealed.

So now only two people are left in Jesper the Printer's haunted house.

During the witchcraft era it was dangerous to be old and ugly,

but it was not safe to be young and pretty either.

"Brother, help me. My thoughts are sinful."

"Bare your body, Brother!"

"I'll whip your sinful body

and your poor soul until you are purified."

"O Brother, why did you stop beating me with the scourge?

Now my soul will surely be damned."

"Father Henrik, Brother John is spellbound."

"A witch appears in his cell and tempts him."

"And she has grabbed him by the wrist."

"Stand up, Brother. Father Henrik is coming."

"Brother, you have not accused the maiden of witchcraft, have you?"

"You know the punishment for those who refuse to witness against a witch."

And so they fetch you too, young maiden, to give you their infallible test.

"In the name of the Holy Trinity, if you are not a witch,

you will now shed tears!"

"See for yourself — you cannot shed tears, as you are allied with the evil one."

We assume now that the young woman resists;

that no threat and no pain can persuade her to confess.

I have tried to find out how these pious inquisition judges

behaved in such circumstances.

And I see before me some scenes,

which I believe I have not depicted too darkly here on the white screen.

"Wake up, young maiden! I bring you great happiness."

"See, young maiden, I give you your freedom —

if you would just show me a small favor in return."

"Why do you taunt me, monk?

What favor can a poor creature like me show you?"

"Teach me the beautiful art of making thunder with this water!"

"If you do not want to take my word, young maiden,

stand up and look out at the jail courtyard."

"Did the guards leave?"

"Yes, they went far away, maiden. The keys are now in my hand

and I can secretly take you out through the town gates tonight."

"And I swear eternal silence to you, maiden,

about all you will reveal about witchcraft with thunder."

"Remember, maiden, that Jesper, the printer's child,

is all alone in the world, without any relatives besides you."

"Oh, Father Henrik, see the tears of the young maiden.

Look, she cries, hence she cannot be a witch."

"Silly boy! Don't you know that witches secretly smear themselves with spittle

so that we might believe it to be tears?"

"Here, maiden, see the child who will miserably perish

as a dishonorable, rejected witch's offspring without you."

"Stand here and listen to all the maiden's words,

so that later you may bear witness against her."

"And will you secretly open the jail door for the child and me if I speak?"

"Then I will tell you that I once heard a traveling stonecutter mention..."

"...that when witches call for thunder, they put their hands in the water..."

"You hardened witch!

Before the sun is down tomorrow, you will burn alive at the stake."

"And then they will burn you too, maiden,

as edification for man, as sweet scent for God."

And one pyre after another burns in the town square

until the judges will one day move on to the next town.

The witch madness, like a spiritual plague,

ravages wherever these judges go.

In the span of a few centuries, over eight million women, men and children

were burned as witches.

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 6

There are witch confessions that are completely insane.

Many women, for instance, confess that — transformed into cats —

they soiled the altar during the night, while two devils in the shape of animals

stood guard at the church door.

But confessions also exist which may well be close to the truth

from the time when superstition ruled.

Many women were burned because they confessed

that they bewitched a marriage bed by "tying knots."

For each knot, a pregnancy is destroyed.

And the happiness of a whole house could be ruined

with witch hair and metal crosses.

Many women have probably used such magic tricks

and believed in their destructive effects.

But to fully understand the witches' confessions,

we must take a closer look at the devices in the torture chamber.

You and I would probably also be driven to confess mysterious talents

with the help of such tools. Isn't that so?

The French doctor Paul Regnard describes how this collar was used.

The collar was tightened with the help of four taut ropes.

The wrists and ankles of the accused

were tied to two iron rods screwed to the floor.

When a fire bowl was put under the poor victim —

—his movements became so violent

that the spikes of the collar entered his neck.

Doctor Regnard shows another picture, which speaks for itself.

It is simply called "After the interrogation."

The "painful interrogation" preferably began with a "lighter" torture.

The thumbscrew, for example.

One of my actresses insisted on trying the thumbscrew

when we shot these pictures.

I will not reveal the terrible confessions

I forced from the young lady in less than a minute.

In the convents during the Middle Ages, fear of the devil

escalated into an almost hopeless despair.

The pious submitted themselves to many a regrettable self-punishment.

Often a single nun was seized by insanity,

and suddenly thereafter the whole convent was overtaken —

—a mysterious, contagious insanity.

In writings that have survived to this day,

these unhappy women wrote down with touching simplicity

how the devil penetrated the convent.

"Get thee behind me, Satan!"

"May all good saints stand by me!

Sister Cecilia is conniving with the evil one."

How these religious women must have suffered

before their nerves abandoned them and insanity broke out!

In their biographies, this desperate cry is always found:

The devil forced us into it!

"O Holy Mother, the evil one has a terrible power!"

"Look, now he forces me into doing what I want the least!"

"Burn me at the stake, pious fathers!

Can't you see what the evil one forces me to do?"

"Take me! Don't you see him?

The evil one stands over there and threatens me."

To be continued.

THE WITCH Part 7

We leave aside actual devil possession (speaking in tongues and convulsions)

and come to present times.

The majority of witches in the old days were poor women;

those who nowadays are taken in by pious organizations and nursing homes.

One or more traits that might make an old woman noticeable

was enough to bring her to court during the witchcraft era.

Let us not believe that the devil belongs solely to the past.

The lovely old woman who plays the role of Maria the Weaver in my film

once raised her tired face to me during a pause in the shoot —

—and said: "The devil is real. I have seen him sitting at my bedside."

With the old woman's permission, I show here a prayer book

in which a woman (from 1921!) claims to know the devil's true form.

The witch's insanity can be explained as nervous exhaustion,

which I will attempt to illustrate here.

I ask my viewers to understand

that in the following scenes I let the same actress —

—portray many different patients suffering from related nervous disorders.

I have personally known a very nervous young woman

who often walked in her sleep.

Why did she always perform in her sleep

the deed she feared most of all to perform?

Like a witch forced by the devil, this woman —

both when sleeping and awake —

succumbs to a mysterious craving to strike matches.

Had this obsession anything to do with the morbid fear of fire

she developed after one broke out in her home?

She stated that she felt as if she were fighting

against an unknown force stronger than her own will.

Isn't there something "witchlike" about this sleepwalker

who moves through the slumbering household with her matches?

Doesn't she remind us of the nun

who walks through the chapel with her knife, forced by the devil?

This poor woman, also in a dreamlike state,

does just what she fears the most.

These compulsive acts, these somnambulistic, dazed conditions

are consistent with the nervous diseases we call hysteria.

And there are still more connections

between the medieval witch and the modern hysterical person.

We remember, for instance,

that the witch received nightly visitations from the devil.

For the present-day witch it is not the devil,

but rather a famous actor, a popular clergyman

or a well-known doctor who disturbs the calm of the night.

The hysterical person will undoubtedly say

that these celebrities come to her through the wall or window.

Notice how deliberately this unconscious woman holds onto her bed.

Artificial mannerisms like this are always exhibited by people afflicted by hysteria.

In the Middle Ages it was believed that during the Sabbath

the devil put some invisible marks on the witch's body

where all sensitivity vanished.

The executioner often found insensitive areas

on the back of the accused.

"I see clearly that you are a witch.

You do not even feel the master's instrument on your back."

Today this strange insensitivity is considered a symptom of hysteria.

"No, Doctor, I do not feel you touching my back at all."

"Yes, it is as I thought. Your daughter is suffering from hysteria."

"From what you told me, I must strongly recommend

that we detain your daughter for the time being in my clinic."

"It would be a pity if your daughter

were to have an unpleasant exchange with the police."

Poor little hysterical witch!

In the Middle Ages you were in conflict with the church.

Now it is with the law.

"Will you please step into my office."

"Or would you prefer that I call the police?"

"Your name? Do you have a card?"

"Your address? Do you have a telephone in your home?"

"Thank you, that's fine. You can leave. I will contact you later."

"If my family learns about this, I will be committed."

"I beg you to understand that I am an unhappy, sick person.

I do not know what I am doing."

"I have been tormented by a persistent fear during the war.

I am a broken person."

"It is as if an unknown power compels me to commit these terrible thefts."

"Look. I just stole this little, expensively bound Russian book."

"What shall I do with it? I do not know a word of Russian."

"My husband died in the war, and I have not been the same since..."

"I promise not to pursue this matter,

but I have to ask you never to visit my store again."

Centuries have passed, and the Almighty of medieval times

no longer sits in his tenth sphere.

We no longer sit terrified in church, staring at the frescoes of devils.

The witch no longer flies away on her broom over the rooftops.

But isn't superstition still rampant among us?

Is there an obvious difference

between the witch and her customer then and now?

We no longer burn our old and poor. But do they not often suffer bitterly?

And the little woman, whom we call hysterical —

alone and unhappy, isn't she still a riddle for us?

Nowadays we lock away the unhappy soul in a mental institution —

or if she is wealthy, in a modern clinic.

And so we will console ourselves with the notion

that the mildly temperate shower of the clinic

has replaced the barbaric methods of medieval times.

THE END.