Bernhard Schwentner (28 September 1891 in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...

– 30 October 1944 near

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

-Görden) was a German

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Life

Bernhard Schwentner was born in Schwerin in 1891. After finishing '' Gymnasium'', he studied in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

beginning in 1910. In 1913, he entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

, and was ordained a priest in 1914. Until he was called into the military, Schwentner worked at the ''St.-Ansgar-Kirche/Kleiner Michel'' in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

as a vicar and a teacher. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

and, as an added responsibility, garrison clergyman at

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; East Low German: ''Niegenstrelitz'') is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 ...

. In the time from April 1917 to December 1918, he was posted to the front as a chaplain. Finally, he worked again in Hamburg as a chaplain, before he went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1924 to study Church law. He graduated with a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and canonical law. From 1927, Schwentner was the priest in the Catholic parish of

, and chairman of the conference of priests for

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

. The respectable clergyman viewed the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

' rise to power with wariness and scepticism. Schwentner met often with his officer friends from the Rechlin airbase, but in 1944, he was denounced by at least one of them to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. On 15 September 1944, he was sentenced to death by the '' Volksgerichtshof'' for undermining the troops' fighting spirit (''

Wehrkraftzersetzung ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' (German for "undermining defence force") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945. ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 by decree ...

''), and on 30 October 1944, Bernhard Schwentner was put to death. The urn containing his ashes was buried in

on 26 November 1949. After the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, many streets were named after Schwentner in places such as Hamburg, Schwerin and the last place where he worked, Neustrelitz. In 1965, a memorial to Bernhard Schwentner was built next to the Neustrelitz Catholic Church. It had on it a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

portrait of Schwentner with a thorny wreath, and it contained the urn with his ashes. The Church has since altered the monument. In the Catholic Church, he is regarded as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

Bibliography

*U. v. Hehl: ''Priester unter Hitlers Terror'', Mainz (1984) *B. M. Kempner: ''Priester vor Hitlers Tribunal'', Kirchenbote des Bistums Osnabrück, (November 3, 1946) *''Zur Erinnerung an Pfarrer Bernhard Schwentner'', Kirchenbote des Bistums Osnabrück, Nr. 31 (October 1960) *

RSHA The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...

-Report, Amt IV (October 21, 1943) *J. Torsy: ''Der Große Namenstagskalender'', Freiburg-Basel-Wien (1992) *K. H. Jahnke: ''Gegen Hitler: Gegner und Verfolgte des NS-Regimes in Mecklenburg 1933-1945''

External links

History of Catholic community of Neustrelitz
*, short biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwentner, Bernhard 1891 births 1944 deaths People from Schwerin People from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania executed by Nazi Germany World War I chaplains German military chaplains 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic priests executed by Nazi Germany German Army personnel of World War I