February 25
1536 - Anabaptist-leader Jakob
Hutter captured and torutured to death. In Moravia the Anabaptists found
leadership from an unlikely source. Jakob Hutter, a hatter with little
education, became head of a band of Anabaptists and taught them to prosper by
sharing in common what they owned. Anabaptists were persecuted after a rebel
sect of the group earned German King Ferdinand's wrath and the king ordered all
anabaptists to be rooted out. Peaceful Jakob Hutter and his wife became hunted
fugitives. Tracked down in the Tyrol, they were captured on this day. Tortured,
whipped, and immersed in freezing water, they received no mercy from their
captors. Perhaps the water torture was designed to mock baptism since their name
"anabaptist" means rebaptiser. In the end they perished by fire as King
Ferdinand's orders overruled the protests of local officials. The two were
doused with brandy and burned. Years later, still oppressed, surviving
Hutterites emigrated to the United States. Today thousands live in Canada, the
United States and Paraguay. Most speak
German
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