Augustin Rösch (11 May 1893 – 7 November 1961) was a German

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, Provincial, and significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. Active in the Kreisau Circle German Resistance group, he was arrested in connection with the 1944 July Plot to overthrow Hitler, but survived his imprisonment.

Life

Rösch was born in

Schwandorf Schwandorf is a town in the Upper Palatinate in Bavaria, Germany, which is the seat of the Schwandorf (district), Schwandorf district. It lies on the river Naab. Geography Geographical location Schwandorf is located at the intersection of ...

and entered the Jesuit order at the age of 18. During World War I, he was drafted into the army and fought at

Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...

. He was ordained as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1925. Together with Otto Faller, he headed the

Stella Matutina (Jesuit School) Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Feldkirch, Austria, was a Jesuit school that operated in 1651–1773, 1856–1938, and 1946–1979. History, scholarship, international flair The “Kolleg” began in 1649 but opened formally in 1651. In ...

in various leadership positions from 1925 until 1935. In 1935 he was named Jesuit Provincial, a post which he occupied to the end of "the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

" in 1945. He appointed

Alfred Delp Alfred Friedrich Delp (; 15 September 1907 – 2 February 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic ...

to be his representative at the resistance meetings. After the failed coup against Hitler, he went into hiding in a farm. He was found, arrested, tortured and brought to the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. Sent to interrogation to Berlin, he was freed in light of the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

of the Soviet Union. After the war until his death, he was heading the Bavarian

Caritas Internationalis Caritas Internationalis (Latin for ) is a confederation of 162 national Catholic relief, development, and social service organisations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. The name Caritas Internationalis refers to both the ...

from 1947 to 1961.Bleistein Chapters 4-5

Notes

Sources

* Augustin Rösch, Roman Bleistein (Hg.): ''Kampf gegen den Nationalsozialismus,'' 1985, * Hans Niedermayer: ''Augustin Rösch: ein Mann des Widerstands im Dritten Reich. Jahresbericht Dom-Gymnasium'', Freising, 1994/95, S. 8-24 * Roman Bleistein: Augustin Rösch. ''Leben im Widerstand. Biographie und Dokumente.'' Frankfurt a. Main 1998, in: Theologische Literaturzeitung, Ausgabe 125, 2000 S. 182-184, {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosch, Augustin 1893 births 1961 deaths 20th-century German Jesuits People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Roman Catholics in the German Resistance Members of the 20 July plot Dachau concentration camp survivors

Life

See also

Notes

Sources