![Toasting Polish Dachau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Toasting_Polish_Dachau.jpg)
The Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration (in German Pfarrerblock, or Priesterblock) incarcerated clergy who had opposed the Nazi regime of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. From December 1940, Berlin ordered the transfer of clerical prisoners held at other camps, and Dachau became the centre for imprisonment of clergymen. Of a total of 2,720 clerics recorded as imprisoned at Dachau some 2,579 (or 94.88%) were
Roman Catholics
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 ...
. Among the other denominations, there were 109 Protestants, 22 Orthodox, 8 Old Catholics and Mariavites and 2 Muslims. Members of the Catholic
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
(Jesuits) were the largest group among the incarcerated clergy at Dachau.
Background
Dachau Concentration Camp
Dachau
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
was established in March 1933 as the first
Nazi Concentration Camp
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
. Dachau was chiefly a political camp, rather than an extermination camp, but of around 160,000 prisoners sent to its main camp, over 32,000 were either executed or died of disease, malnutrition or brutalization. The prisoners of Dachau were used as guinea pigs in Nazi medical experiments.
The sick were sent to
Hartheim to be murdered, (framed as "euthanasia" in the
T4 Program).
Along with priests, other political prisoners including
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
and
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
,
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
and
homosexuals
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
were also incarcerated at Dachau.
The Church Struggle
Prior to the Reichstag vote for the
Enabling Act
An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to car ...
under which Hitler gained the "temporary" dictatorial powers with which he went on to permanently dismantle the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, Hitler promised the Reichstag on 23 March 1933, that he would not interfere with the rights of the churches. However, with power secured in Germany, Hitler quickly broke this promise. He divided the Lutheran Church (Germany's main Protestant denomination) and instigated a brutal
persecution of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He dishonoured a Concordat signed with the Vatican and permitted a persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany. The long term plan was to "de-Christianise Germany after the final victory". The Nazis co-opted the term
Gleichschaltung
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
to mean conformity and subservience to the National Socialist German Workers' Party line: "there was to be no law but Hitler, and ultimately no god but Hitler". Within a short period, the Nazi government's conflict with the churches had become a source of great bitterness in Germany.
Hitler himself possessed radical instincts in relation to the continuing conflict with the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany. Though he occasionally spoke of wanting to delay the Church struggle and was prepared to restrain his anti-clericalism out of political considerations, his "own inflammatory comments gave his immediate underlings all the license they needed to turn up the heat in the 'Church Struggle, confident that they were 'working towards the Fuhrer'". A threatening, though initially mainly sporadic persecution of the
Catholic Church in Germany
, native_name_lang = de
, image = Hohe_Domkirche_St._Petrus.jpg
, imagewidth = 200px
, alt =
, caption = Cologne Cathedral, Cologne
, abbreviation =
, type = Nati ...
followed the Nazi takeover. The regime agreed the
Reichskonkordat
The ''Reichskonkordat'' ("Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich") is a treaty negotiated between the Vatican and the emergent Nazi Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, who later be ...
Treaty with the Vatican, which prohibited clergy from participating in politics. The Concordat, wrote
William Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...
, "was hardly put to paper before it was being broken by the Nazi Government". On 25 July, the Nazis promulgated their sterilization law, an offensive policy in the eyes of the Catholic Church. Five days later, moves began to dissolve the Catholic Youth League. Clergy, nuns and lay leaders began to be targeted, leading to thousands of arrests over the ensuing years, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or "immorality". In the face of this persecution,
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...
issued his
Mit brennender Sorge
''Mit brennender Sorge'' ( , in English "With deep anxiety") ''On the Church and the German Reich'' is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi Germany, Nazi era on 10 March 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March)." ...
Encyclical, which denounced the pagan ideology of Nazism. In response, hundreds more clergy were arrested and sent to the concentration camps.
Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
wrote that the subjugation of the Protestant churches proved more difficult than Hitler had envisaged. With 28 separate regional churches, his bid to create a unified Reich Church through ''
Gleichschaltung
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
'' ultimately failed, and Hitler became disinterested in supporting the so-called "
German Christians
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany. It was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD, while parts of that area belonged to the Roman Empire, and later, when Franks and other Germanic tribes converted to Christianity from t ...
" Nazi aligned movement. Hitler installed his friend
Ludwig Muller
Ludwig may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Ludwig (surname), including a list of people
* Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and co ...
, a Nazi and former naval chaplain, to serve as Reich Bishop, but Muller's heretical views against St Paul and the Semitic origins of Christ and the Bible quickly alienated sections of the Protestant church. Pastor
Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...
responded with the ''Pastors Emergency League'' which re-affirmed the Bible. The movement grew into the
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German E ...
, from which some clergymen opposed the Nazi regime. The Confessing Church was banned on 1 July 1937. Niemöller was arrested by the Gestapo, and sent to the Concentration Camps.
He remained mainly at Dachau until the fall of the regime. Theological universities were closed, and other pastors and theologians arrested.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
, another leading spokesman for the Confessing Church, was from the outset a critic of the Hitler regime's racism and became active in the German Resistance – calling for Christians to speak out against Nazi atrocities. Arrested in 1943, he was implicated in the 1944
July Plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...
to assassinate Hitler and executed.
Targeting of clergy
In an effort to counter the strength and influence of spiritual resistance, Nazi records reveal that the security services monitored the activities of the bishops very closely – instructing that agents be set up in every diocese, that the bishops' reports to the Vatican should be obtained and that the bishops' areas of activity must be found out. Deans were to be targeted as the "eyes and ears of the bishops" and a "vast network" established to monitor the activities of ordinary clergy: "The importance of this enemy is such that inspectors of security police and of the security service will make this group of people and the questions discussed by them their special concern".
In ''Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945'', Paul Berben wrote that clergy were watched closely, and frequently denounced, arrested and sent to concentration camps: "One priest was imprisoned in Dachau for having stated that there were good folk in England too; another suffered the same fate for warning a girl who wanted to marry an S.S. man after abjuring the Catholic faith; yet another because he conducted a service for a deceased communist". Other were arrested simply on the basis of being "suspected of activities hostile to the State" or that there was reason to "suppose that his dealings might harm society".
Clergy at Dachau
![Friedrich Hoffmann priest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Friedrich_Hoffmann_priest.jpg)
Many clergy were imprisoned at Dachau.
The first churchman arrived at Dachau in 1935, but from 1940, Dachau became the concentration point for clerical prisoners of the Nazi regime. Prior to this, in the early stages of the camp, the SS had permitted a local priest to celebrate Mass on Sundays in the camp, but invented discouragements for prisoners to attend: following the first Catholic Mass in July 1933, those who attended were lined in ranks and forced to spit at, then lick at the face of the others lined up, before being beaten. The attendant priest was also humiliated and spied upon, but was permitted to hear confessions – in the presence of an SS guard. Ultimately, the SS scheduled extra work for Mass attendees and told the priest that none but two wished to attend Mass, at which point the priest ceased to visit.
On 11 December 1935, Wilhelm Braun, a Catholic theologian from Munich, became the first churchman imprisoned at Dachau. The annexation of Austria saw an increase in clerical inmates. Berben wrote: "The commandant at the time, Loritz, persecuted them with ferocious hatred, and unfortunately he found some prisoners to help the guards in their sinister work". Until 1940, clerical prisoners were initially placed in the punishment blocks 15 and 17 upon arrival, where they would remain for a time before being distributed among the other blocks. From December 1940, Berlin ordered that all clergy distributed among the Nazi network of concentration camps were to be transferred to Dachau, whereafter the camp became the gathering place for thousands of clergy of all ranks. Clergymen were transferred from Buchenwald, Gusen, Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen – though some remained, classed under other categories like "Communist" by the Nazi authorities.
The racial hierarchy of Nazi ideology saw German priests given certain concessions and better treatment than others. With the dire state of Germany's war effort in 1944, German priests were invited to join the armed forces. A few volunteered for the medical corps, most declined and the authorities gave up.
Religious activities
Despite SS hostility to religious observance, the Vatican and German bishops successfully lobbied the regime to concentrate clergy at one camp and obtained permission to build a chapel, for the priests to live communally and for time to be allotted to them for religious and intellectual activity. Priests were withdrawn from the punishment blocks and gathered in Blocks 26, 28 – and 30, though only temporarily. Block 26 became the international block and 28 was reserved for Poles – the most numerous group.
A chapel was constructed in Block 26 and the first Mass held on 20 January 1941. Two tables were put together to form an altar, and the priests made do with a single vestment and the scant accessories brought by a Polish chaplain from Sachsenhausen. The building improved in October 1941, but the altar and accessories were kept for its symbolic value. By 1944, tabernacle, candelabra, statues and stations of the cross were all present and a range of items scrounged, secretly made or gathered through food parcels. Prisoners of all trades contributed to the construction and upkeep. The tabernacle was originally decorated with metal from food tins, but from 1944 by carved pear wood, behind which stood a crucifix sent by a Munster congregation. A statue of Mary had also been donated at Easter 1943, and placed on a special altar, and dubbed "Our Lady of Dachau". Berben wrote:
Non-clerical prisoners were forbidden from the chapel – and barbed wire erected in an effort to keep the clerics separate from other prisoners. Friction and jealousies developed among the "ordinary prisoners". The SS continued to harass the chapel-going priests – snatching the eucharist, trampling rosaries and medallions. In March 1941, conditions improved again, with easing of work requirements, allowance for meditation, permission to read newspapers and use the library, and the allocation of Russian and Polish prisoners to tend to the priests' quarters. Briefly wine and cocoa were supplied. "It appears that this was due to the intervention of the Vatican", wrote Berben – though the camp guards continued to humiliate the priests.
Religious activity outside the chapel was totally forbidden. Non-clergy were forbidden to enter the building, and, wrote Berben, the German clergy feared that breaking this rule would lose them their chapel: "the clergy in Block 26 observed this rule in a heartless way which naturally raised a storm of protest. With the Poles in Block 28 it was different: all Christians of whatever nationality were welcomed as brothers and invited to attend the clandestine Sunday Masses, celebrated before dawn in conditions reminiscent of the
catacombs
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Etymology and history
The first place to be referred ...
". Priests would secretly take confessions and distribute the Eucharist among other prisoners.
From March 1943, all priests could officiate at Mass, and in 1944, Masses were held each Sunday, celebrated by all nationalities and the chapel was also used by other denominations. While Catholics could communicate in Latin, the multinational nature of the prison population made communication difficult.
In December 1944,
Karl Leisner
Karl Leisner (28 February 1915 in Rees – 12 August 1945 in Planegg, Germany) was a Roman Catholic priest interned in the Dachau concentration camp. He died of tuberculosis shortly after being liberated by the Allied forces. He has been ...
, a deacon from Münster who was dying of tuberculosis received his ordination at Dachau.
Gabriel Piguet
Gabriel Piguet (born 24 Feb 1887 at Mâcon, died 3 July 1952 at Clermont-Ferrand) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, France. Involved in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he was imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentra ...
,
Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy-d ...
had arrived at the camp in September and was able to organise for the necessary documents. The necessary objects of worship were secretly scrounged, a bishop's cross, mitre, cassock and cape were improvised and Piquet presided at the secret ceremony, enabling Leisner to celebrate his first Mass. The new priest died soon after the liberation of the camp.
Treatment of Polish clergy
![ZawistowskiAntoni](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/ZawistowskiAntoni.jpg)
The Nazis introduced a racial hierarchy – keeping Poles in harsh conditions, while favouring German priests. 697 Poles arrived in December 1941, and a further 500 of mainly elderly clergy were brought in October the following year. Inadequately clothed for the bitter cold, of this group only 82 survived. A large number of Polish priests were chosen for Nazi medical experiments. In November 1942, 20 were given
phlegmon
A phlegmon is a localized area of acute inflammation of the soft tissues. It is a descriptive term which may be used for inflammation related to a bacterial infection or non-infectious causes (e.g. pancreatitis). Most commonly, it is used in con ...
s. 120 were used by Dr Schilling for malaria experiments between July 1942 and May 1944. Several Poles met their deaths with the "invalid trains" sent out from the camp, others were liquidated in the camp and given bogus death certificates. Some died of cruel punishment for misdemeanors – beaten to death or run to exhaustion.
Polish priests were not permitted religious activity. Anti-religious prisoners were planted in the Polish block to watch that the rule was not broken, but some found ways to circumvent the prohibition: clandestinely celebrating the Mass on their work details. By 1944, conditions had been relaxed and Poles could hold a weekly service. Eventually, they were allowed to attend the chapel, with Germany's hopes of victory in the war fading.
Conditions in the camp
1942 was a painful year for the inmates of Dachau. Exhausted by forced labour and facing malnutrition, inmates were forced to sweep heavy snow. Hundreds died in Blocks 26, 28 and 30. Clergy – even the younger Germans – were set to work in plantage, cloth repair and some in office work. The arrival of a new commandant improved conditions from August of that year. Food parcels were permitted for clergy – and these came from family, parishioners and church groups, enabling secret distribution to other prisoners, but the relative comfort afforded to the priests angered ordinary prisoners. Some priests distributed their food – others hoarded it. The food parcels ceased in 1944, as Germany's communications decayed in the final stages of the war, though German priests continued to receive extra food tickets.
The clergy were excluded from administrative posts in the camp until 1943 – unsympathetic prisoners were awarded the posts prior to this. From 1943, clergy could work as nurses and provide spiritual aid to the sick – some consequently falling victim to infectious diseases.
According to
Ronald Rychlak
Ronald J. Rychlak is an American lawyer, jurist, author and political commentator. He is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law and is holder of the Jamie L. Whitten Chair in Law and Government. He is kn ...
the clergy prisoners were treated marginally better than other prisoners, however treatment worsened in the wake of Papal or episcopal announcements critical of the Nazi regime, such as
Pope Pius XII's 1942 Christmas address
Pope Pius XII's 1942 Christmas address was a speech delivered by Pope Pius XII over Vatican Radio on Christmas 1942. It is notable for its denunciation of the extermination of people on the basis of race, and followed the commencement of the Nazi ...
. One Easter, the guards marked Good Friday by torturing 60 priests. Tying their hands behind their backs, chaining their wrists, and hoisting them up by chains – tearing joints apart and killing and disabling several of the priests. The threat of further torture was used to keep the priests obedient. Food was so lacking, that prisoners would retrieve scraps from the compost pile.
An Austrian priest,
Andreas Reiser of Dorgastein, was imprisoned for putting up a notice at his church which denounced the Nazi system. Sent to Dachau in August 1938, he later wrote of his experience, saying that the prisoners were stripped to the waist, shaven headed and forced to labour through the day. A young SS guard was assigned to torment him and at one point forced Reiser to wrap barbed wire on his head as a "crown of thorns" and carry planks (like Christ "carried the cross"), while Jewish prisoners were forced to spit on him. Dachau was re-opened in 1940, whereupon German priest
Fritz Seitz
Friedrich Seitz (12 June 1848, Günthersleben-Wechmar, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – 22 May 1918) was a German Romantic Era composer. He was a violinist who served as a concertmaster, who wrote chamber music and eight student concertos for the viol ...
became the first clerical inmate – he was mocked on arrival and told that the Pope would be imprisoned at Dachau at war's end.
In a book about his time at Dachau,
Father Jean Bernard
Jean Bernard (13 August 1907 – 1 September 1994) was a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942 in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. He was released for nine days in February 1942 and allowed to retur ...
of Luxembourg wrote that although forbidden to celebrate Mass, priests were brought great comfort through conducting secret Masses, using scraps of bread as communion.
Statistics
Of a total of 2,720 clergy recorded as imprisoned at Dachau, the overwhelming majority, some 2,579 (or 94.88%) were Catholic. Among the other denominations, there were 109 Lutherans (known in German as Evangelicals), 22 Orthodox, 8 Old Catholics and Mariavites and 2 Muslims. In his ''Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945'', Paul Berben noted that R. Schnabel's 1966 investigation, ''Die Frommen in der Holle'' found an alternative total of 2,771 and included the fate all the clergy listed, with 692 noted as deceased and 336 sent out on "invalid trainloads" and therefore presumed dead.
Kershaw noted that some 400 German priests were sent to Dachau. Total numbers are difficult to assert, for some clergy were not recognised as such by the camp authorities, and some – particularly Poles – did not wish to be identified as such, fearing they would be mistreated.
Members of the Catholic
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
(Jesuits) were the largest group among the incarcerated clergy at Dachau.
High profile prisoners
A small number of clergymen at Dachau were held in private cells in the bunker. These included high profile inmates Dr. Johannes Neuhäusler, a Catholic auxiliary Bishop from Munich and the Protestant pastor Reverend
Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...
. In 1940, "the German bishops and the Pope had persuaded Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
to concentrate all the priests imprisoned in the various concentration camps into one camp, and to house them all together in separate blocks with a chapel where they could celebrate Mass. In early December 1940, the priests already in Dachau were put into Barracks Block 26 near the end of the camp street. Within two weeks, they were joined by around 800 to 900 priests from
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
,
Mauthausen
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern German ...
,
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
,
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
and other camps, who were put into Blocks 28 and 30. Block 30 was later converted into an infirmary barrack".
Commemoration
Catholic
The Mortal Agony of Christ Chapel was constructed at Dachau in 1960, as the first religious monument at the site, at the instigation of former prisoners, including
Johannes Neuhäusler (later auxiliary bishop of Munich). A plaque at the back of the chapel recalls the suffering of Polish prisoners of Dachau and was erected by Polish priest survivors. Austrian survivors donated the memorial bell, inscribed: "In faithful memory of our dead comrades of all nations, dedicated by Dachau priests and laymen from Austria."
![Wzwz dah memorial 04 c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Wzwz_dah_memorial_04_c.jpg)
A Discalced Carmelite Convent is situated by the North Guard Tower at Dachau, the Carmel of the Precious Blood, where the nuns offer prayers for atonement. The convent houses the "Madonna of Dachau", a statue of Mary from the Priests' Barracks. Former prisoners are also buried at the convent.
The monastery also houses relics the priest-martyrs, such as handmade vessels from sheet the priests used for secretly celebrated Masses.
Saints of Dachau
Among the priest-martyrs who died at Dachau were many of the
108 Polish Martyrs of World War II. Blessed
Gerhard Hirschfelder died of hunger and illness in 1942. Blessed
Titus Brandsma
Titus Brandsma, OCarm (born ''Anno Sjoerd Brandsma''; 23 February 1881 – 26 July 1942) was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many t ...
, a Dutch Carmelite, died of a lethal injection in 1942. Blessed
Alojs Andritzki
Alojs Andritzki (2 July 1914 - 3 February 1943) was a German Roman Catholic priest who suffered martyrdom in the Dachau Concentration Camp in 1943. He was ordained as a priest just prior to the beginning of World War II in which he became a voca ...
, a German priest, was given a lethal injection in 1943.
Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Engelmar Unzeitig, a Czech priest died of typhoid in 1945.
Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Giuseppe Girotti
Giuseppe Girotti (19 July 1905 – 1 April 1945) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Preachers. He served as a biblical scholar on both the Book of Wisdom and the Book of Isaiah and served as a profess ...
died at the camp in April 1945.
Amid the Nazi persecution of the Tirolian Catholics, Blessed
Otto Neururer, a parish priest was sent to Dachau for "slander to the detriment of German marriage", after he advised a girl against marrying the friend of a senior Nazi. He was cruelly executed at Buchenwald in 1940 for conducting a baptism there. He was the first priest killed in the concentration camps.
The Blessed
Bernhard Lichtenberg
Bernhard Lichtenberg (; 3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest who became known for repeatedly speaking out, after the rise of Adolf Hitler and during the Holocaust, against the persecution and deportation of the Jews ...
died en route to Dachau in 1943. In December 1944, Blessed
Karl Leisner
Karl Leisner (28 February 1915 in Rees – 12 August 1945 in Planegg, Germany) was a Roman Catholic priest interned in the Dachau concentration camp. He died of tuberculosis shortly after being liberated by the Allied forces. He has been ...
, a deacon from Munster who was dying of tuberculosis received his ordination at Dachau. His fellow prisoner
Gabriel Piguet
Gabriel Piguet (born 24 Feb 1887 at Mâcon, died 3 July 1952 at Clermont-Ferrand) was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand, France. Involved in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he was imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentra ...
, the
Bishop of Clermont-Ferrand
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Clermont (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Claromontana''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Clermont'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Puy-d ...
presided at the secret ceremony. Leisner died soon after the liberation of the camp.
Protestant
The Protestant Church of Reconciliation opened in 1967. The distinctive architecture was designed by Helmut Strifler. A steel gate within the chapel by Fritz Kuhn is inscribed with words from the 17th psalm: "Hide me under the shadow of thy wings".
Russian Orthodox
![KZ Dachau Russisch-Orthodoxe Kapelle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/KZ_Dachau_Russisch-Orthodoxe_Kapelle.jpg)
The Russian-Orthodox Resurrection of our Lord Chapel opened in 1995 and was built by a group of the Russian armed forces. Icons depict the resurrected Christ leading camp prisoners out of their barracks through a gate held open by angels; Jesus’ final prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane; and Pilate presenting Christ to the people with the words "Ecce homo."
Film
*
The Ninth Day
''The Ninth Day'' is a 2004 German historical drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff and starring Ulrich Matthes and August Diehl. It was released by Kino International.
The film is about a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who is imprisoned ...
; Germany 2004 by
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff (; born 31 March 1939 Friday) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s, ...
.
Notable clergy held at Dachau
*
Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Engelmar Unzeitig (1911–1945) He was a professed member of the
Mariannhill Missionaries. 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 ...
arrested Unzeitig on 21 April 1941 for defending Jews in his sermons
Fischel, Jack / Ortmann, Susan M. (2004): The Holocaust and Its Religious Impact: A Critical Assessment and Annotated Bibliography, p. 101
/ref> and sent him to the Dachau concentration camp
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
without a trial on 8 June 1941. In the autumn of 1944 he volunteered to help in catering to victims of typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
but he soon contracted the disease himself. Unzeitig died of the disease on 2 March 1945 and was cremated. He became known as the "Angel of Dachau".
* Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V
Gavrilo Dožić ( sr-cyr, Гаврило Дожић; 17 May 1881 – 7 May 1950), also known as Gavrilo V, was the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral (1920–1938) and the 41st Serbian Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, from 1 ...
of the Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
, imprisoned in Dachau from September to December 1944
* a number of the Polish 108 Martyrs of World War II
The 108 Martyrs of World War II, known also as the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs ( pl, 108 błogosławionych męczenników), were Roman Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by Nazi Germany.
Their liturgical feast day is 12 June. The 108 ...
:
* Father Jean Bernard
Jean Bernard (13 August 1907 – 1 September 1994) was a Catholic priest from Luxembourg who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942 in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau. He was released for nine days in February 1942 and allowed to retur ...
(1907–1994), Roman Catholic priest from Luxembourg who was imprisoned from May 1941 to August 1942. He wrote the book ''Pfarrerblock 25487'' about his experiences in Dachau
* Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Titus Brandsma
Titus Brandsma, OCarm (born ''Anno Sjoerd Brandsma''; 23 February 1881 – 26 July 1942) was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many t ...
, Dutch Carmelite
, image =
, caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites
, abbreviation = OCarm
, formation = Late 12th century
, founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel
, founding_location = Mount Car ...
priest and professor of philosophy, died 26 July 1942
* Norbert Čapek (1870–1942) founder of the Unitarian Church in the Czech Republic
* Josef Beran
Josef Beran (29 December 1888 – 17 May 1969) was a Czech Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Prague from 1946 until his death and was elevated into the cardinalate in 1965.
Adam Beran was imprisoned in the Dachau concentr ...
(1888–1969) after the Second World War a Cardinal and the Prague archbishop, house arrested by the Communist regime and forcibly expelled from the country.
* Štěpán Trochta (1905–1974) after the war a Czech bishop imprisoned for many years by the Communist regime and a Cardinal ''in pectore''.
* Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, Polish Roman Catholic priest, died 23 February 1945
* August Froehlich
August Froehlich (26 January 1891 – 22 June 1942) was an Upper Silesian Roman Catholic priest. In his pastoral activity he opposed National Socialism. He campaigned in the name of German Catholics and of Polish forced labourers. He died in Dach ...
, German Roman Catholic priest, he protected the rights of the German Catholics and the maltreatment of Polish forced labourers
* Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Hilary Paweł Januszewski, Polish Carmelite friar of the Ancient Observance and Roman Catholic priest
* Ignacy Jeż
Ignacy Ludwik Jeż (31 July 1914, Radomyśl Wielki – 16 October 2007) was the Latin Rite Catholic Bishop Emeritus of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg, located in Poland.
Jeż was born in the Polish town of Radomyśl Wielki on 31 July 1914. He was ...
, Polish Roman Catholic Bishop
* Joseph Kentenich
Peter Joseph Kentenich, SAC (16 November 1885 – 15 September 1968) was a Pallottine priest and founder of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement. He is also remembered as a theologian, educator, and pioneer of a Catholic response to an array of ...
, founder of the Schoenstatt Movement
The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt (german: Schönstatt-Bewegung) is a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Fr Joseph Kentenich, who saw the movement as a means of spiritual renewal for the Catholic Church.
The movement i ...
, spent three and a half years in Dachau
* Bishop Jan Maria Michał Kowalski
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Numb ...
, the first '' Minister Generalis'' (Minister General) of the order of the Mariavites. He perished on 18 May 1942, in a gas chamber in Schloss Hartheim
Schloss Hartheim, also known as Hartheim Castle, is a castle at Alkoven in Upper Austria, some from Linz, Austria. It was built by Jakob von Aspen in 1600, and it is a prominent Renaissance castle in the country. The building became notorious as o ...
.
* Adam Kozłowiecki
Cardinal Adam Kozłowiecki, S.J., (; 1 April 1911 – 28 September 2007) was Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka in Zambia.
Biography
Born in Huta Komorowska, Austria-Hungary (now part of Poland) into a noble family of Ostoja coat of arm ...
, Polish Roman Catholic Jesuit Cardinal, missionary in Africa
* Max Lackmann, Lutheran pastor and founder of League for Evangelical-Catholic Reunion
* Blessed
Blessed may refer to:
* The state of having received a blessing
* Blessed, a title assigned by the Roman Catholic Church to someone who has been beatified
Film and television
* ''Blessed'' (2004 film), a 2004 motion picture about a supernatural ...
Karl Leisner
Karl Leisner (28 February 1915 in Rees – 12 August 1945 in Planegg, Germany) was a Roman Catholic priest interned in the Dachau concentration camp. He died of tuberculosis shortly after being liberated by the Allied forces. He has been ...
, in Dachau since 14 December 1941, freed 4 May 1945, but died on 12 August from tuberculosis contracted in the camp
* Josef Lenzel, German Roman Catholic priest, he helped of the Polish forced labourers
* Bernhard Lichtenberg
Bernhard Lichtenberg (; 3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest who became known for repeatedly speaking out, after the rise of Adolf Hitler and during the Holocaust, against the persecution and deportation of the Jews ...
– German Roman Catholic priest, was sent to Dachau but died on his way there in 1943
* Henryk Malak
Henryk Maria Malak (1912–1987) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest who was incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
Biography
Malak was born November 1, 1912, in the village of Sadki, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, ...
, Polish Roman Catholic priest in Dachau from 14 December 1941 until liberation in April 1945. He wrote the book Shavelings in Death Camps, published after his death, about his six years of imprisonment in the camps of Stutthof, Grenzdorf, Sachsenhausen and Dachau.
* Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (; 14 January 18926 March 1984) was a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known for his opposition to the Nazi regime during the late 1930s and for his widely quoted 1946 poem " First they ca ...
, imprisoned in 1941, freed 4 May 1945
* Nikolai Velimirović, bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches.
The majori ...
and an influential theological writer, venerated as saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
.
* Lawrence Wnuk Lawrence (Wawrzyniec) Anthony Wnuk, (August 6, 1908 in Witrogoszcz, German Empire (now Poland) – August 6, 2006 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and Protonotary Apostolic.
He grew up in a Catholic and patriotic ...
, Polish Roman Catholic priest
* Nanne Zwiep
The Reverend Nanne Zwiep (3 August 1894 in Beemster, North Holland – 24 November 1942 in Dachau concentration camp, Dachau) was a pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in the town of Enschede. He was arrested by the Nazis during the Germany, ...
, Pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Enschede, spoke out from the pulpit against Nazis and their treatment of Dutch Citizens and anti-Semitism, arrested 20 April 1942, died in Dachau of exhaustion and malnutrition 24 November 1942
* Augustin Schubert, Czech Roman Catholic priest, Augustinian monk, and leader in the Orel movement.
See also
* International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (often abbreviated as IDOP) is an observance within the Christian calendar in which congregations pray for Christians who are persecuted for their faith. It falls on the first Sunday of Nov ...
* Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland
During the German Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), the Nazis brutally suppressed the Catholic Church in Poland, most severely in German-occupied areas of Poland. Thousands of churches and monasteries were systematically closed, seized or dest ...
* Catholic Church and Nazi Germany
Popes Pius XI (1922–1939) and Pius XII (1939–1958) led the Catholic Church during the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. Around a third of Germans were Catholic in the 1930s, most of them lived in Southern Germany; Protestants dominated the no ...
* Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany
Jehovah's Witnesses suffered religious persecution in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945 after refusing to perform military service, join Nazi organizations, or give allegiance to the Hitler regime. An estimated 10,000 Witnesses—half of the num ...
* German Resistance to Nazism
Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...
* Rescue of Jews by Catholics during the Holocaust During the Holocaust, the Catholic Church played a role in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Jews from being murdered by the Nazis. Members of the Church, through lobbying of Axis officials, provision of false documents, and the hiding of peop ...
* Jesuits and Nazism
At the outbreak of World War II, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) had some 1700 members in Nazi Germany, divided into three provinces: Eastern, Lower and Upper Germany. Nazi leaders had some admiration for the discipline of the Jesuit order, but op ...
References
External links
''Pacha (Easter) in Dachau''
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{refend
Roman Catholics in the German Resistance
Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church
fr:Camp de concentration de Dachau#Prisonniers chrétiens