Why, evil hour,
do you mingle with needless fear?
You are—and so you must pass.
You will pass—and so this is beautiful [...].“Nothing Twice”
This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful passages in the work of Wisława Szymborska. How many bad hours befall us in life… It would surely be difficult to count them. Fortunately, nothing lasts forever, and after the storm the sun comes out again.
Today’s story is not one of those with a happy ending. It is a perfect example of how Lower Silesia inspires writers of the highest calibre. Bolesławiec has already become famous more than once, including through literature by Grażyna Hanaf. As it turns out, Ząbkowice Śląskie also inspired one of the most widely read and frequently adapted horror novels. This is Mary Shelley’s Mary Shelley “Frankenstein”, the first novel in the science-fiction genre.
The main character of the thriller is the scientist Victor Frankenstein. He attempts to unravel the age-old mystery of death. During his experiment, he uses electricity to revive a dead person. The experiment succeeds only partially, however. The man who returns to the world of the living looks like a monster. His appearance frightens people, and above all, he takes revenge on the scientist’s family and on the scientist himself.
The origins of the book are intriguing. Several factors may have influenced its creation. First, the name Frankenstein is not only the title of a literary work or film, but also the name of a town in Lower Silesia. Ząbkowice Śląskie bore this name until 1945. Its origin probably goes back to the first settlers who established themselves in the area. They came from Franconia, a historical region of Germany. Another explanation is that the name was borrowed from earlier unsuccessful town foundations: Frankenberg and Löwenstein. This may be how the name Frankenstein arose. In any case, the name itself proves nothing. Frankenstein is also a district and an independent municipality in Germany.
Ząbkowice Śląskie is associated with a very sad story known as the Frankenstein gravediggers’ affair. It took place in 1606. At that time, an epidemic was raging in the town—a fairly common occurrence. It affected many Silesian towns of the period. The plague decimated, among other places, Nowogrodziec and Lubań. In Ząbkowice, however, the Black Death took a different form. More than 2,000 residents died as a result of the disease, including over 500 children. This figure represented 30% of the entire urban population. It soon became clear that the gravediggers were responsible for the spread of the disease. They made powder from human corpses and scattered it throughout the town. The 87-year-old beggar Kacper Schetts was considered particularly responsible for distributing the poison. In September 1606, Wacław Förster, who had practised the profession for 28 years, his assistant Jerzy Freidiger, from Strzegom, and Kacper Schleininger were arrested. Their relatives were arrested as well.
The gang’s activities were driven by profit. They stole valuable objects from the dead and looted their homes. Poison obtained from human bodies was sprinkled on door handles, knockers and thresholds. The gravediggers realised that the plague was becoming an increasingly profitable business. The whole affair came to light thanks to Förster’s farmhand, who informed on them.
The trial took place on 4 October (other sources give 20 October). At first, the medical commission appointed to investigate the extraordinary events did not believe the accusations. It was thought that the whole matter was superstition and rumour. This changed when valuables and the aforementioned poison were found on one of the gravediggers. During the investigation, the accused confessed to many improbable acts, such as eating human hearts and the desecration of a young virgin’s corpse by the assistant from Strzegom. These statements were most likely extracted under torture. We can only imagine what methods were used in seventeenth-century Lower Silesia.
We know the detailed account of the so-called gravediggers’ affair thanks to the local press. The newspaper “Newe Zeyttung”, published in Augsburg, carried the following note:
In the town of Frankenstein in Silesia, eight gravediggers were apprehended, among them six men and two women (according to the “Annales Frankostenenses”, five men and three women). Under torture during the investigation, they confessed that they had prepared a poisonous powder and scattered it several times in homes, smearing thresholds, knockers and door handles, as a result of which many people were poisoned and died.
[Zob. Marcin Dziedzic, Gabriela Połutrenko, Afery śląskich grabarzy, „Sudety” 2004, nr 2/35, s. 12].
“Newe Zeyttung” also reported how the sentence was carried out: mutilation and being burned alive at the stake (17 people were executed as a result of the affair):
First, they were all led around the town. Then they were torn with red-hot tongs and their thumbs were cut off. The older gravedigger and one of the assistants, who was 87 years old, had their right hands cut off. Then both were chained to a post, a fire was lit from a distance, and they were roasted. The new gravedigger from Strzegom had his male member torn out with red-hot tongs. Then he too was chained to the post with the others, boiled and roasted. The remaining people were brought to the stake and burned.
[Ibidem].
Any connection between the writer and the Silesian town of Frankenstein may be questioned. The unpleasant affair took place in 1606, while Shelley’s novel was written 210 years later. The author may simply never have heard of the story. The young writer may have received help from Dr John Polidori, who was interested in vampirism. In 1819 he published the short story “The Vampire”. He was fascinated by various poisons. He prepared one himself and used it to commit suicide two years later. It is quite possible that, while staying in Switzerland, Polidori came across the original or a reprint of “Newe Zeyttung” and told the entire story during a meeting with the writer at Lord Byron’s villa on Lake Geneva.
The gravediggers’ affair from Ząbkowice reverberated widely throughout Silesia. It is quite possible that this event also influenced young Mary Shelley’s writing of the horror novel that gained worldwide popularity. Many subsequent film adaptations of “Frankeistein” depart considerably from the literary original. Victor Frankenstein was not insane. The author created a scientist-philosopher whose dream was to conquer death. At the same time, the scholar wondered whether he could assume the role of God the Creator, and whether his experiment exceeded the laws of nature. This issue is repeatedly omitted in film.
Mary Shelley was an emancipated woman whose views extended beyond her era. Perhaps this enabled her to create such an original literary work. The writer’s own life was as tragic as Victor Frankenstein’s fate. After her mother’s death and rejection by her stepmother, she went to live with relatives in Scotland. After returning to her family home, she met her future husband, the poet Percy Shelley, under unfortunate circumstances. Percy was not a suitable husband candidate, as he was already married. The couple paid no attention to public opinion. At just 16, Mary fled England with her lover. The poet’s first wife, Harriet, unable to bear the betrayal and abandonment, committed suicide in 1816. This cleared the way for the lovers to marry. Mary and Percy’s time together in Switzerland was the apex of their happy marriage. He died in a storm on 8 July 1822; Mary died 29 years later. The literary world remembers her as a visionary, a woman who achieved extraordinary success during the difficult years of the Romantic era.
Paweł Skiersinis
The author is a blogger and a history enthusiast, particularly interested in the history of Lower Silesia and Poland. Why Lower Silesia? As he puts it: “Why not? The most interesting history is the history around us, concerning us and our ancestors.”
He adds: “I try to present history from a different angle, in an engaging way—not like a typical book, full of dry dates and facts. My articles concern facts that we will not find in textbooks or well-known publications. The history of Lower Silesia is undoubtedly interesting and fascinating, so it is worth devoting at least a brief moment to it from time to time.”