Christina Johansdotter Suicide By Proxy

In 18th-century Germany and Austria, some devout Christians were so afraid that suicide would send them to hell that they searched for a loophole that would still let them die and reach heaven. They murdered very young children, believing the children would go to heaven and that the state would execute them for the crime, giving them time to confess and repent to a priest shortly before death.

Over 300 such child murders were recorded in the region, which was later described as suicide by proxy. A contemporary case that showed the same theology in action was Swedish murderer Christina Johansdotter, who killed a child in Stockholm in 1740 so that she would be executed rather than condemned for suicide.

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