March 23, 1532 - Final Anabaptist Drownings

Zurich, Switzerland. Photograph. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The term “Anabaptist,” meaning “rebaptizer,” was originally used as a label of reproach during the sixteenth-century Reformation. Anabaptists rejected infant baptism, arguing that baptism should follow personal profession of faith. Because they had been baptized as infants within state churches, their adult baptism was considered a second baptism—hence the name.

This theological conviction carried severe consequences. Both Catholic and Protestant authorities viewed Anabaptists as socially disruptive, in part because baptism was closely tied to civic identity in state-supported churches. Rejecting infant baptism was therefore seen as rejecting the social order itself.

In Zurich, Switzerland, civil authorities implemented a grim form of punishment: drowning, sometimes mockingly referred to as the “third baptism.” On March 23, 1532, Heinrich Karpfis and Hans Herzog became the last Anabaptists executed by drowning in Zurich.

The persecution of Anabaptists reveals that the Reformation era was not only a conflict between Protestants and Catholics but also among Protestants themselves. While seeking reform, many reformers still relied on state power to enforce religious conformity.

The legacy of the Anabaptists would endure through groups such as the Mennonites and later Baptists, who emphasized believer’s baptism and religious liberty. Their suffering contributed, over time, to broader conversations about freedom of conscience in the modern world.