Oubliette

The Hunger Tower, also digester, is a name for a prison tower, which was in use in the Middle Ages and in early modern times. In present day region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern such towers are usually called Fangelturm.

The use of towers in both castles and town walls in a prison is occupied from the late Middle Ages in the sources. A distinction must be dungeons and prisons. The former is from above by a so-called anxiety hole accessible, the latter by means of a door.

The condemned man was locked in the starvation bunker or in the dungeon, and only supplied with " bread and water ". The idea that they had let prisoners starve in these towers as a punishment, but mainly comes from the romanticism of the 19th century. Nevertheless, not a few died after several months of exhaustion (also: cachexia ) and immune deficiency caused by nutrient and light deficiency.