Anneliese Michel

Early life Born Anna Elisabeth Michel on 21 September 1952 in Leiblfing, Bavaria, West Germany, to a Roman Catholic family, Michel and her three sisters were raised by their parents, Joseph and Anna. She attended Mass twice a week. When she was 16, she experienced a severe convulsion and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. In 1973, Michel attended the University of Würzburg. Her classmates later described her as "withdrawn and very religious". Michel's treatment in a psychiatric hospital did not improve her health and her depression worsened. Long-term treatment did not help, either, and she grew increasingly frustrated with her medical care after having taken pharmacological drugs for five years. Her escort in Piacenza was convinced that she was suffering from demonic possession because she was unable to walk past a crucifix and refused to drink the water of a Christian holy spring. |author=Father Ernst Alt

Michel's mother said that she saw stigmata on her daughter. Michel believed she could communicate with Mary, mother of Jesus.

Michel's family and community became convinced that she was possessed and consulted several priests to request an exorcism. Renz performed the first session on 24 September. Michel began increasingly speaking about "dying to atone for the wayward youth of the day and the apostate priests of the modern church." Toward the end of her life, Michel began to refuse food. She weighed , suffered broken knees from continuous genuflections, was unable to move without assistance and was reported to have contracted pneumonia.

Prosecution After an investigation, the state prosecutor maintained that Michel's death could have been prevented as late as one week before she died.

In 1976, the state charged Michel's parents and priests Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz with negligent homicide. The parents were defended by famed Nuremberg trials defense attorney Erich Schmidt-Leichner and the priests' defense counsel were paid by the church.

Trial The trial began on 30 March 1978 in the district court and drew intense interest. Doctors testified that Michel was not possessed, stating that the manifestations of demonic possession were a psychological effect of her strict religious upbringing as well as her epilepsy. Schmidt-Leichner argued that the exorcism was legal and that the German constitution protected citizens in the unrestricted exercise of their religious beliefs. The defense played tapes recorded at the exorcism sessions, sometimes featuring what was claimed to be "demons arguing" to assert their claim that Michel was possessed. Both priests claimed that six demons identified themselves as Lucifer, Cain, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Adolf Hitler, and an evil priest named Fleischmann.

Michel's father, Joseph Michel, died in 1999. In a 2006 interview, Anna Michel stated that she did not regret her actions, saying, "I know we did the right thing because I saw the sign of Christ in her hands".