Bernhard Lichtenberg ( German: Bernhard Lichtenberg ; December 3, 1875 - November 5, 1943 ) is a Catholic priest who openly opposed the Nazis during the National Socialist dictatorship in Germany . He is assigned to the " righteous nations of the world " in Yad Vashem . In 1996 he was beatified .
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Biography
Bernhard Lichtenberg was born on December 3, 1875 in the Silesian city of Olau (now the city of Olawa in Poland ). In the family of the merchant August Lichtenberg, he was the fourth son. From 1895 to 1899 he studied Catholic theology in Innsbruck and then in Breslavl , where he was ordained priest in 1899. Since 1900, Lichtenberg has been working in Berlin as a chaplain , vicar and, finally, rector.
From 1913 to 1930, he served in the Heart of Jesus community in the Berlin-Charlottenburg area. During World War I, Lichtenberg was a military priest at the Third Guards Grenadier Regiment in Berlin-Charlottenburg. For merits he receives the Red Cross medal. Around the same time, he enters the Charlottenburg city parliament from the center party. Since 1931, it belongs to the Berlin Cathedral Chapter .
Very soon Lichtenberg comes into the view of the Nazis. Joseph Goebbels , who later became Minister of the Reichs Propaganda, began a campaign in 1931 with the aim of poisoning Pastor Lichtenberg, who called on him to attend the anti-war film “On the Western Front without Change” based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque . Soon after the Nazis seized power in 1933, Lichtenberg’s apartment was searched by the Gestapo . This search will not be the last.
In 1935, Lichtenberg found out about the reigning order in the concentration camp of Esterwegen , against which he protests in a complaint addressed to Hermann Goering .
In 1938, Lichtenberg was appointed senior pastor of the Berlin Cathedral of St. Jadwig . After Kristallnacht, Lichtenberg performs public prayers for persecuted Jews . In 1941, in a letter addressed to the Reich Minister of Health Leonardo Conti, Lichtenberg protests against the killing of mentally ill and disabled people as part of the euthanasia program .
October 23, 1941 Lichtenberg arrests the SS . On May 22, 1942, he was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of abuse of the pulpit ( Kanzelmissbrauch ) and a crime against the law on treacherous attacks on the state apparatus ( Heimtückegesetz ). He is serving a prison term first in the Tegel penitentiary, and then in the Berlin-Wulheide passage camp. In 1943, Lichtenberg was deported to the Dachau concentration camp . On the way there, a priest who suffered from serious diseases of the heart and kidneys dies on November 5 under unclear circumstances. His funeral is held in the then-still-bombing church of St. Sebastian in Berlin with the massive participation of the population. In 1965, his remains were transferred to the crypt of the Berlin Cathedral of St. Jadwiga.
Recent Events
In 1990, the Berlin diocese founded the Bernhard Lichtenberg Foundation, whose mission is to help migrants in distress.
On June 23, 1996 in Berlin, during his trip to Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified probst Bernhard Lichtenberg.
Representatives of the Israeli Yad Vashem Memorial honored Lichtenberg for posthumously conferring on him the title of “ Righteous Among the Nations .” On May 18, 2005, at the Cathedral of St. Jadwiga, the Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Shimon Stein, presented the corresponding certificate and medal to Cardinal of Berlin Georg Sternitsky.
Memory of Lichtenberg
In the Karlshorst district of Berlin, on 36 Gundelfinger Strasse 36, at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary, there is a pastoral house built by Bernhard Lichtenberg.
On the wall of this house you can see a plaque in his honor containing the following text:
| In memory of Bernhard Lichtenberg 12/3/1875 - 11/05/1943
Peacecaller • Priest for the people • Human rights activist and churches • Martyr Proclamation of the blessed on 6/16/1996 Berlin In 1909 [year] Lichtenberg builds this pastoral house with the first Catholic church in Karlshorst |
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 11857261X // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
Literature
- Albrecht Hartmann. Bernhard Lichtenberg. Ein christlicher Widerstandskämpfer aus Charlottenburg. - Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1984.
- Otto Ogiermann SJ. Bis zum letzten Atemzug. Das Leben und Aufbegehren des Priesters Bernhard Lichtenberg. - Leipzig, 1985.
- Barbara Stühlmeyer, Ludger Stühlmeyer, Bernhard Lichtenberg. Ich werde meinem Gewissen folgen . Verlag ToposPlus Kevelaer 2013, ISBN 978-3-836708-35-7 .
- Ludger Stühlmeyer: Bernhard Lichtenberg - mit Verstand und Rosenkranz , Glaubens-Kompass, Kirche in Not, weltweites Hilfswerk päpstlichen Rechts, München 2015.
- Ludger Stühlmeyer: Gerechter unter den Völkern. Vesper zu Ehren des seligen Bernhard Lichtenberg. Mit einer Biografie und Zitaten. Geleitwort von Nuntius Eterovic . Verlag Sankt Michaelsbund, München 2017, ISBN 978-3-943135-90-9 . [one]
- ↑ Website Stadtkirche Hof (unavailable link) . Date of treatment March 21, 2017. Archived March 21, 2017.