Out of the 13th century came the Vehmgerichts or, more commonly, the Holy Vehm. These Christian “police” were formed in Westphalia, Germany in an effort to create law and order during a time of chaos. What began as a societal necessity, quickly became a corrupt secret organization. They became the judge, jury, and executioners of the guilty and the innocent, working in the shadows to promote their own personal agendas.
How It All Started
Westphalia was in utter chaos. Men were robbed, beaten, and murdered. People who said they were Christian committed sacrilege. There was anarchy everywhere, until a group of men formed a secret society and named themselves the Holy Vehm. Their goal was public vengeance and they dedicated themselves to murdering anyone who might be a heretic.
In the beginning, these self initiated men received the blessings of both the Emperor and the Church. They were permitted to seek out wrongdoers, judge them, and execute them as they saw fit.
Over time, they grew powerful and the people feared them. Power and corruption plagued the Vehm as many criminals felt that the only way to avoid being killed by the Vehm was to join them. By the 14th century the Vehm had over 100,000 members. [SOURCES 1, 2]
Swearing In
First and foremost, all men seeking admittance into the Holy Vehm were made to swear to uphold the Christian religion and the Ten Commandments.
Members of the Holy Vehm had to keep their identities secret so that outlaws could not seek them out and destroy them. As part of their oath, each initiate also had to swear that he would kill his family and himself if it was ever revealed that he was a member of the Vehm. The oath was then sealed with the initiate’s own blood as a witnessing judge drew a sword blade across his throat. Afterwards, the initiate would kiss the hilt of the sword to seal the deal. [SOURCE 3]
The Trial
The trials of the Vehm were similar to those of accused witches. Anyone accused of almost anything could be brought to the trial. Running away from the Vehm was nearly impossible. When the assumed guilty person was captured, the Vehm would call a meeting in the village. Every man had to appear at this trial meeting or risk being put to death for failure to show support for the Vehm. The guilty person was made to listen to the accusations and the verdict. He or she was given little to no opportunity to declare innocence to the hooded judges and executioners. After the verdict was pass, the accused was given punishment. [SOURCE 4]
Trial By Iron
Another method the Vehm used to discover whether the accused was innocent or guilty was the trial by iron. The accused had to first wash his hands in water while a bar of iron was heated up until it glowed red. The accused then had to grab hold of the glowing metal with his bare hands and walk nine paces. If the accused could accomplish this without getting burnt, he was innocent. Of course, no one could pass this “trial”, so the accused underwent torture in order to be declared guilty no matter what the actual truth was. [SOURCE 5]
False Witness
As soon as the Vehm decided a person was guilty, there would be no innocence for the accused. In the rare event when a friend or a witness for the accused would be brave enough to stand up and speak on their behalf, it never ended well. The accused would be found guilty and the person defending the accused would be hung for lying to the Holy Vehm.
An even rarer event was when the Vehm could not agree on whether the accused was guilty or innocent. In this case, the accused would still be hung so as to protect the secrecy of the Vehm. [SOURCE 1]
Punishment And Torture
The Vehm took pleasure in causing as much pain to their victims as was humanly possible. For something minor, they might break the legs of the accused. For major crimes, such as sacrilege or “arbitrary eccentricity”, the punishment was incredibly severe. The accused, whether guilty or not, was taken to a torture chamber to be slowly killed in some awful way. On other occasions, the accused was merely strung up to a tree.
One notable way the Vehm enjoyed tormenting and killing their victims was with the use of a spiked casket. Not surprisingly, the Vehm are the ones who invented this devise to cause as much terror and pain in the victim and populace as possible. The Vehm knew that they could rule over people through fear alone. [SOURCES 4, 6]
Vogelfrie
It is believed that in some cases those who were sentenced to death had a choice between torture or something called Vogelfrie, “free as a bird.” If the victim chose Vogelfrie, he was let go from his restraints and was given a head start run. After that initial head start, the Vehm were free to literally hunt the accused down like an animal.
It is unknown how often this punishment was chosen by the Vehm’s victims, but it is easy to see how people would prefer to die in a hunt than to be slowly tortured to death in one of the Vehm chambers. At least in the hunt, the victim has a small amount of hope to possibly escape the Vehm’s wrath. [SOURCE 4]
Spies Among The People
The Vehm had their own secret informants called the Fehmenotes. These informants were strategically placed to keep watch over the common people. If anything suspicious would happen or if there was a rumor about someone, the Fehmenotes would contact the Vehm. The Vehm would then arrive and block off the exists from town to make sure no one escaped.
The Fehmenotes would mingle unknown among the common people. They would pull them into conversations and try to learn all the rumors being spread throughout the town. This way, they could weed out anyone deemed guilty of any crime, real or religiously based. [SOURCE 5]
The Decline
The strength and terror of the Holy Vehm lasted well into the 16th century, but by the 17th century their numbers began to decline. By the 18th century, there were very few Vehm left. Finally, by 1811 the French had abolished their secret tribunals.
Some say that Napoleon rooted out the very last of the Vehms when he invaded Germany. Others claim that the Vehms merely went deeper underground and that the secret society remained in existence right up until the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. [SOURCE 7]
Rose Up With The Nazi Germany
The Vehm were known for their secret tribunals. They would try the accused in a closed trial and sometimes pass sentencing without the accused being present. After the punishment was passed, a summons would go out and the accused would be sought, dragged to the nearest tree, and hung.
The history and methods of the Vehm intrigued Nazi Germany. It is believed by some historians that the Nazi party brought the Vehm out of hiding so that they could act against the Jewish people, charging them with heresy and killing them off like they did in earlier centuries. Other historians believe that the Vehm were merely an inspiration for certain members of the Nazi party and that the actual Holy Vehms are long extinct. [SOURCES 8, 1]
