Joseph Müller (19 August 1894 – 11 September 1944) was a German

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest and critic of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime. He was tried by the People's Court and executed at

Brandenburg-Görden Prison Brandenburg-Görden Prison is located on Anton-Saefkow-Allee in the Görden quarter of Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. Erected between 1927 and 1935, it was built to be the most secure and modern prison in Europe. Both criminal and political pr ...

Life

Müller was born in Salmünster,

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, the youngest of seven children of the local

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and teacher Damien Müller and his wife Augusta. After obtaining his ''

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

'' degree, he served as a volunteer in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, interrupted by a serious injury. After the war he resolved to become a preacher; two of his brothers also were ordained Catholic priests. He went on to study theology at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

and proceeded with his brother Oskar to the

Diocese of Hildesheim The Diocese of Hildesheim () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rheims, Ebbo, as bishop. ...

. Both attended the Hildesheim

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

from 1921 and received the

holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

from Bishop Joseph Ernst in the following year. Joseph Müller began his ecclesiastical career as a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Duderstadt Duderstadt () is a city in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Göttingen. It is the centre and the capital of the northern part of the Eichsfeld ("Untereichsfeld"). It was once the private wealth of the Roman Catholic ar ...

. In 1924 he joined the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

convent at

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, but later continued to work as chaplain in

Gehrden Gehrden () is a town in the Hanover (district), district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately southwest of Hanover and next to the recreation area Deister. Notable people * Werner von Siemens (1816–1892), inve ...

, Hannoversch Münden,

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

, and

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

. In 1931 he was installed as a priest in

Bad Lauterberg Bad Lauterberg is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km southwest of Braunlage, and 20 km southeast of Osterode am Harz. Bad Lauterberg is known ''inter alia ...

. From 1934 he served as a priest in

Süpplingen Süpplingen is a municipality in the district of Helmstedt, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The village is located on the Schunter in Helmstedt district, Lower Saxony, about 6 km to the west of Helmstedt, by the Bundesstraße 1. It is one of the muni ...

, from October 1937 in

Heiningen Heiningen () is a municipality in the Göppingen district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany at the base of the Swabian Alps. History The town first emerges in an archive of the Abbey of St. Gall on parchment dated 29 March 1228, in whi ...

. Due to his deteriorated health, he served in the small Catholic parish of

Groß Düngen Groß Düngen is a village in the town of Bad Salzdetfurth, in the north German state of Lower Saxony. It lies in the Innerste valley southeast of the county town of Hildesheim on the B 243 federal highway. History The first recorded mention o ...

from 1 August 1943 onwards. Though of frail physical condition, Müller was known as an inspiring orator, speaking frankly to his congregation. He was devoted to spiritual guidance, especially of young workers according to the teachings of

Adolph Kolping Adolph Kolping (8 December 1813 — 4 December 1865) was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Kolping Association. He led the movement for providing and promoting social support for workers in industrialized cities while also working t ...

. After the

Nazi seizure of power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

in 1933, his youth work had to cope with increasing repressions by the government authorities and his activities were monitored by the ''

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...

''. According to the 2007 documentary ''Laughing with Hitler'', Müller was arrested after repeating a political joke about a wounded soldier on his deathbed, who asked to see the people for whom he was laying down his life. The nurse laid a portrait of

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

on his one side, and a portrait of Göring on the other. Then, he gasped: "Now I can die like Jesus Christ." Müller was interrogated and temporarily taken into custody on 6 September 1943 under charges of comparing Hitler and Göring with the two criminals crucified alongside Jesus Christ. Although Müller was temporarily released, local Nazi officials re-arrested him on 15 May 1944 and he was deported to the

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

remand prison in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Though he was interrogated by any methods at disposal, he did not reveal who told him the joke. He was brought to the People's Court and sentenced to death for ''

Wehrkraftzersetzung ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' ( German for "corroding of defensive strength") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945. ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 b ...

'' by judge

Roland Freisler Karl Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945) was a German jurist, judge and politician who served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1935 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 194 ...

in a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...

on 28 July 1944. Joseph Müller was executed by

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

in Brandenburg-Görden Prison on September 11. After his death, Freisler would send Müller's family a bill for his execution.

Legacy

Since the end of World War II, each year on the anniversary of Müller's death, a bell is tolled at his former parish church in the village of Groß Düngen. His ashes were transferred to the local cemetery in November 1945. In May 2016, the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim The Diocese of Hildesheim () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rheims, Ebbo, as bishop. ...

opened his cause of

martyrdom A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' 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 external party. In colloqui ...

, earning him the title

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Joseph 1894 births 1944 deaths German Servants of God 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests Executed members of the 20 July plot Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany People from Main-Kinzig-Kreis Roman Catholic priests executed by Nazi Germany People executed by Nazi Germany by guillotine