"Mary Schweidler, the amber witch" by Wilhelm Meinhold is a German novel published in 1838. Originally presented as an authentic 17th-century chronicle, this literary hoax tells the story of Maria Schweidler, a pastor's daughter falsely accused of witchcraft during the Thirty Years' War. When a rejected suitor conspires against her, Maria faces trial and torture, confessing to crimes she never committed. The deception fooled critics across Germany, sparking debates about historical authenticity that Meinhold intended as a challenge to modern biblical scholarship. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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