Otto von Guericke, Burgomeister of Magdeburg, recorded the destruction of the city by imperial troops in May of 1631.
(211) So then General Pappenheim collected a number of his people on the ramparts by the New Town, and brought them from there into the streets of the city. Von Falckenberg was shot, and fires were kindled in different quarters; then indeed it was all over with the city, and further resistance was useless. Nevertheless some of the soldiers and citizens did try to
make a stand here and there, but the imperial troops kept bringing on more and more forces - cavalry, too - to help them, and finally they got the Krockenthor open and let in the whole imperial army and the forces of the Catholic League, -
Hungarians, Croats, Poles, Walloons, Italians, Spaniards, French, North and South Germans.
Thus it came about that the city and all its inhabitants fell into the hands of the enemy, whose violence and cruelty were due in part to their common hatred of the adherents of the Augsburg Confession, and in part to their being imbittered by the chain shot which had been fired at them and by the derision and insults that the Magdeburgers had heaped upon them
from the ramparts.
Then was there naught but beating and burning, plundering, torture, and murder. Most especially was every one of the
enemy bent on securing much booty. When a marauding party entered a house, if its master had anything (212) to give he
might thereby purchase respite and protection for himself and his family till the next man, who also wanted something,
should come along. It was only when everything had been brought forth and there was nothing left to give that the real
trouble commenced. Then, what with blows and threats of shooting, stabbing, and hanging, the poor people were so
terrified that if they had had anything left they would have brought it forth if it had been buried in the earth or hidden away
in a thousand castles. In this frenzied rage, the great and splendid city that had stood like a fair princess in the land was
now, in its hour of direst need and unutterable distress and woe, given over to the flames, and thousands of innocent men,
women, and children, in the midst of a horrible din of heartrending shrieks and cries, were tortured and put to death in so
cruel and shameful a manner that no words would suffice to describe, nor no tears to bewail it . . . .
Thus in a single day this noble and famous city, the pride of the whole country, went up in fire and smoke; and the
remnant of its citizens, with their wives and children, were taken prisoners and driven away by the enemy with a noise of
weeping and wailing that could be heard from afar, while the cinders and ashes from the town were carried by the wind to
Wanzleben, Egeln, and still more distant places. . . .
In addition to all this, quantities of sumptuous and irreplaceable house furnishings and movable property of all kinds, such
as books, manuscripts, paintings, memorials of all sorts, . . . which money could not buy, were either burned or carried
away by the soldiers as booty. The most magnificent garments, hangings, silk stuffs, gold and silver lace, linen of all
sorts, and other household goods were bought by the army sutlers for a mere song and peddled about by the cart load all
through the archbishopric of Magdeburg and in Anhalt and Brunswick. Gold chains and rings, jewels, and every kind of
gold and silver utensils were to be bought from the common soldiers for a tenth of their real value. . . .
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