author
Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan
1803–1869
Best known for a pioneering 1843 history of witch trials, this German teacher and historian brought a more source-based, critical eye to a subject long clouded by myth. He also played a public role in nineteenth-century Hesse as an educator and parliamentarian.
1 Audiobook
Soldan's Geschichte der Hexenprozesse. Zweiter Band
by Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan
About the author
Born in Alsfeld in 1803, Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan was a German schoolteacher, historian, and political figure. He spent much of his career teaching at the gymnasium in Gießen, and his work earned lasting attention for its serious use of historical sources.
His best-known book is Geschichte der Hexenprocesse (History of the Witch Trials), first published in 1843. It became an important early study of European witch trials and helped shape later historical writing on the subject by treating the persecutions as a matter for careful documentation rather than sensational storytelling.
Soldan was also active in public life in Hesse, serving as a parliamentary representative as well as an educator. He died in Gießen in January 1869. No suitable verified portrait image was found from the sources reviewed, so no profile image is included.