The witch hunt in Croatia

Zanimljivo je da su upravo progoni vještica i procesi usmjereni prema njima, a za koje se vjerovalo da djeluju pod utjecajem zlih sila, doveli do pogubljenja velikog broja ljudi koji su pod najrazličitijim optužbama okrutno bili ispitivani i mučeni od strane inkvizicije. Ona je služila iskorjenjivanju svakog oblika vjerovanja protivnog crkvi pa se za nju može reći da je djelovala i kao svojevrsna crkvena policija. Čarobnjaštvom je smatrano svako povezivanje čovjeka s đavlom, a koje se vršilo sklapanjem formalnog ugovora s đavlom. Tim ugovorom čovjek je postavljen njemu u službu, a zauzvrat bi dobio posebne moći. Na temelju dosadašnjih istraživanja ovog pitanja možemo zaključiti da je "masovno ludilo" ili fenomen progona vještica bio prisutan u zapadnim europskim zemljama pa tako i u Hrvatskoj, gdje masovni progoni heretika prestaju tek potkraj 18. stoljeća. O tim procesima postoje brojni dokumenti. Većina optuženih bile su žene, ali na optuženičkoj klupi ponekad su se javljali siromasi i starci, najčešće oni koji nisu imali nikoga tko bi se za njih zauzeo. Vještice su bile žrtve ljubomore, ljudske zlobe i neznanja. Uvjerenja u vještice zasnivaju se na vjerovanjima koja je crkva o njima izgradila još u vrijeme srednjeg vijeka. Kako bi se optuženog/optuženicu navelo na priznanje pribjegavalo se raznim oblicima torture, a na kraju bi to dovelo do spaljivanja na lomači.It is interesting that pursuit of witches and processes directed at them, for whome it was believed that were under the influence of evil forces, led to the execution of a large number of people who were accused under strangest charges and subjected to crule interrogation and torture by the inquisition. The inquisition served to eradicate any form of belief that opposed church, so it can be said that it acted as some form of ecclesiastical police. Wizardry was considered to be any conection between a man and the devil, which was performed by signing a contract with the devil. With that contract man was put under devils will, and in return he got special powers. Based on todays research of that question we can conclude that "mass hysteria" or phenomenon of witch hunt was present in western european countries, as well in Croatia, where mass prosecutions of so called heretics ended at the end of 18th century. There are numerous documents about those processes. Most of the people prosecuted were women, but sometimes on the prosecution chair would sit beggars and old folk, who had noone to stand up for them. Witches were victims of jealousy, humankind malice and ignorance. Believes in witches are based on beliefs which church developed in middle ages. In trying to make accused confess to its sins, they resorted to many kinds of torture, which led to burning alive at stakes