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Home , Adolf Bertram, Alfred Bengsch, Archbishop of Cologne, Berlin Cathedral, Bernhard Lichtenberg, Blood and Honor (novel)

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SELIGER BERNHARD : STEADFAST IN SPIRIT,

HE DIRECTED HIS OWN COURSE

By

Brenda Gaydosh

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This dissertation is dedicated to the many Christian of the Nazi era. SELIGER : STEADFAST IN SPIRIT,

HE DIRECTED HIS OWN COURSE

BY

Brenda Gaydosh

ABSTRACT

In , June 23, 1996, the Roman beatified German

Bernhard Lichtenberg, a of the Nazi era. Born at the height of Bismarck's

Kulturkampf, Lichtenberg grew up amidst the German Church/State struggle, and he

died because of his opposition to Nazi . From fall 1938 until fall 1941,

Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg offered daily prayers for the "non-Aryan

Christians and persecuted ." In 1941, two young women reported

Lichtenberg's "indiscretion." To keep Lichtenberg from using his dais as a "bully

pulpit," the Nazis arrested him under the long considered dead Pulpit Paragraph and

the 1933 Malice Law. After two years in Berlin prisons, a frail Lichtenberg died en

route to the concentration camp Dachau. Lichtenberg' s conscience guided his

actions as he sacrificed his life for what he considered imperative Christian

principles.

This dissertation seeks to answer the question, "Why did Bernhard

Lichtenberg take a path through the Nazi regime that differed from the majority of his fellow clergymen? Lichtenberg suffered from ill health and was already in his

11 sixties, yet he did not back down in opposing the Nazis through his Christian actions. This work presents a broad biographic overview of Bernhard Lichtenberg' s life. It discusses the areas of his life that had the greatest impact on how he dealt with daily situations. It employs many underutilized primary sources such as

Lichtenberg' s prison diaries and letters, minutes from city council meetings, and statements from those who knew him. This dissertation maintains that particular life experiences and situations combined to give Bernhard Lichtenberg the courage, the words, the strength, and the opportunity to resist the Nazi regime and to die a martyr because of his resistance.

111 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... ii

LIST OF TABLES ...... v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ...... vi

Chapter

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

1. THE DIARIES ...... 24

2. FROM CHILDHOOD TO PRIESTHOOD (1875-1899) ...... 35

3. EXPANDING THE CATHOLIC PRESENCE IN BERLIN (1900-1918) ... .78

4. THE YEARS (1919-1933) ...... 118

5. CATHOLIC ACCOMODATION AND RESISTANCE (1933-1936) ...... 169

6. A TURNING POINT FOR THE CHURCH (1937-1939) ...... 244

7. THE NAZI REGIME RASIES THE STAKES (1939-1941) ...... 275

8. FROM ARREST TO DEATH - PRISON (1941-1943) ...... 297

9. MEMORY AND ...... 339

CONCLUSION ...... 359

APPENDICES ...... 367

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 389

lV LIST OF TABLES

Table

1 - Percentages ...... 102

\

v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure

1 - Map of Districts of Berlin--...... 368

vi INTRODUCTION

In Berlin, June 23, 1996, the Roman Catholic Church beatified Bernhard

Lichtenberg, a martyr of the Nazi era. Almost 100 years earlier, a family friend preaching at Lichtenberg' s first Mass described the path Lichtenberg would take:

"Though would he be bound in chains and irons, a priest remains a priest."1

Born at the height of Bismarck's , Lichtenberg grew up amidst the

German Church/State struggle, and he died because of his opposition to Nazi

Germany. From fall 1938 until fall 1941, Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg offered daily prayers for the "non-Aryan Christians and persecuted Jews."2 In

1941, two young women reported Lichtenberg's "indiscretion." To keep him from using his dais as a "bully pulpit," the Nazis arrested him under the long considered dead Pulpit Paragraph3 and the 1933 Malice Law.4 After two years in

1 "Ein Priester bleibt Priester, und ware er in Ketten und Banden." Alfons Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, Dompropst van St. Hedwig zu Berlin (Berlin: Moros Verlag, 1968), 22. Kaplan Eymmer was arrested at the altar during the Kulturkampf and, in his homily for Lichtenberg' s Primiz, passed on his perspective of the priesthood in a Church/State struggle.

2 Bernhard Lichtenberg had many titles during his priesthood, from Kaplan to Pfarrer to Dompropst ( to to Dean). "Dompropst" Lichtenberg was second only to the in this senior position of the diocese. For a description of clerical positions in Germany, see Kevin P. Spicer, Hitler's : Catholic Clergi; and National Socialism, (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2008), Appendix 1, 235-237.

3 In December 1871, as part of Chancellor 's Kulturkampf, the Federal Council of the German instituted a law that prohibited "abuse of the pulpit," speaking against state laws in the churches - Kanzelparagraph or "Pulpit Paragraph." The Pulpit Paragraph 1 2

Berlin Prisons, a frail Lichtenberg died enroute to the concentration camp

Dachau. Lichtenberg' s conscience guided his actions as he sacrificed his life for what he considered imperative Christian principles.

Born in 1875, Bernhard Lichtenberg lived through three very different eras of

Church/State relations and interacted with three different forms of Catholic leadership: the Center Party, the German , and the Vatican. This work will examine his career and actions in these ever-changing contexts.

During the early years of the Second Empire, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, with enthusiastic Protestant support, worked to suppress Catholic influence in

Germany. The Kulturkampf continued until Bismarck realized that, in his struggle against the liberal wing in the , he needed Catholic political support from the Center Party. In 1882, political relations resumed between the

German government and the Vatican when Bismarck became convinced that he could work with Leo XIII in a way that never would have been possible with

Leo's predecessor, Pius IX. Bismarck initiated a direct diplomatic approach to

remained on the books until 1953. For more information regarding the Pulpit Paragraph, see Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) and Ellen Lovell Evans, The German Center Party, 1870-1933: A Study in Political Catholicism, (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981). Laws predicated during the Kulturkampf included the Breadbasket Law (suspending income of state resources for the Catholic dioceses and ), imprisonment, and exile of clergy, confiscation of resources, state occupation of churches, and the Pulpit Paragraph.

4 See Appendix A for the complete text of the "Heimtiickegesetz," the law against malicious gossip. 3

the papacy, thus undercutting the position of the Center Party.s This tactic emasculated the Centrists, led by Ludwig Windthorst and conflict ensued between Windthorst and the Vatican. Cardinal Georg Kopp, who ordained

Lichtenberg as a priest in 1899, was instrumental in ending the Kulturkampf.

Kopp' s negotiation skills trumped Windthorst' s politics, and Vatican leaders lauded Kopp' s expertise. At the end of the nineteenth century, the German bishops' conference, the Center Party, and the Vatican worked in tandem, each from its own expertise, to advance Catholicism in the Empire. Throughout

World War I, many of the German Catholic clergy maintained patriotic support for the war, a consequence of the Kulturkampf. From the periphery,

Benedict XV worked for a compromise peace.

After Germany's loss of the war and the collapse of the Second Reich,

Catholicism had an opportunity to strengthen its political presence in Germany.

Lichtenberg participated in this process becoming a member of the

Charlottenburg Assembly as well as the metropolitan Berlin City Council. Much of the focus of Lichtenberg and Church leaders was to bolster state support for

Catholic education in Germany. The Center Party and the bishops worked together for broad common goals. Lichtenberg showed his devotion to

Christianity by speaking out in word and letter against immorality he saw

5 In the Reichstag chamber, there could be bitter clashes, but negotiations with the Pope lay at a higher level. Bismarck once said that Windthorst left him feeling "as though he had been fighting with roughnecks in a dirty tavern. I find it hard to do my professional duty by getting into such scraps." Otto Pflanze, The Period of Fortification, 1880-1898, Vol. 3 of Bismarck and the Development of Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), 209. 4

around him. Eugenio Pacelli, papal in Germany in the 1920s and future Pope Pius XII, fortified the position of Catholicism in Germany by negotiating regional in and . Later, his work on the regional concordats proved successful in developing the Reich with the Nazi regime.

The gradual growth (1919to1930) of the Nationalist Socialist party did not gain the attention of the German Catholic bishops or the Vatican for some time.

Catholic leaders set their gaze east toward the threat of communism from the

Soviet Union. In 1930, when the Nazi Party reached over one hundred seats in the Reichstag and Nazis attended Mass in swastika-clad , the Church began to take serious notice.6 Before 1933, many priests forbade congregants' membership in the Nazi Party. The greatest challenge for the Vatican and the

German Church leadership occurred with Hitler's efforts to establish a dictatorship.

How could the Church maintain a Catholic presence in ?

Many leaders of the Church thought the best avenue to take was the Reich

Concordat in 1933.7 They were willing to sacrifice a (political) voice in order to

6 " to the early 1930s, the National Socialist Party had not garnered enough support to worry the Church .... The Church's rejection of National Socialism was a gradual one. It began publicly in the fall of 1930, when the pastor of the parish in Kirchhausen bei Heppenheim declared in a that no Roman Catholic could be a member of the Nazi party." Kevin P. Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich: The Catholic Clergy in Hitler's Berlin, (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2004), 15. 5

hold onto Catholic life in Germany. The Center Party dissolved, its needs outweighed by the "Catholic" Church, as Nazi Germany was willing to deal with the Church but not a Catholic party (or any other parties). As Adolf

Hitler's power permeated , the Vatican and the majority of the German

bishops believed that the institution and autonomy of the Church were more important than any individual or group.s Ernst Helmreich points out, "Catholic laity rallied to support their Church and their clergy," but Catholic churches in

Germany never asked the laity to make "an absolute choice between church and

state."9 The Church also did not ask the laity to make Nazi treatment of Jews a matter of concern.10 As a spiritual body, the Church attempted to protect a

7 The Bishops' Conference met in Fulda, May 30-June 1, 1933, to discuss the . The bishops issued a joint pastoral letter informing their flocks that the Church (now) allowed membership in the Nazi Party. See , The Catholic Church and Nazi Gennany (New York: Da Capo Press, 2000), chap. 4.

s Bishop Konrad von Preysing, Lichtenberg' s bishop in Berlin (from 1935), stood out among the bishops as an opponent of the Nazi regime. Another bishop may have attempted to "reign in" or even reassign the outspoken Lichtenberg. The fact that these two remained in the central location of Berlin suggests that even the Vatican supported their resistance efforts.

9 Ernst Christian Helmreich, The Gennan Churches under Hitler: Background, Struggle, and Epilogue, (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1979), 294.

10 "Writing to Bishop Preysing, [Pope Pius XII] expressed in April of 1943 that he was heartened to hear that Berlin Catholics were showing empathy for the city's Jews. To fend off Preysing, who pressured him more than any other Catholic bishop to speak out about , Pius adroitly put the blame on the United States. Pius's assumptions and priorities are clearly set forth in his letters to Bishop Preysing in 1943 and 1944. He wanted his German friend from Weimar years to know that he cared about the Jews, but that his first concern was for the Catholic Church, its universality and unity." Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000), 51, 65. See chapter entitled "The Holocaust and the Priorities of Pope Pius XII." 6

religious institution. She did not call on her priests to march as a religious army against the immorality of the Nazi regime.

Father Lichtenberg, however, asked the members of his congregation to choose humanity over self-preservation, suggesting that they pray for non-Aryan

Christians and for the Jews. Lichtenberg acted according to his personal religious beliefs. He was an independent-minded priest who remained steadfast in spirit on issues that affected his view of Catholic . He directed his own course. When the Church chose the path of least resistance regarding the

Nazi regime, Lichtenberg took the road least traveled-speaking out against and to the Nazis when he believed they threatened the teachings of Christianity.

Lichtenberg acted altruistically in praying for the Jews, a manner he developed during a life of discovery.n

Bernhard Lichtenberg' s "steadfast spirit" emerged throughout his life.12 His persistent fortitude in gathering funds for Catholic expansion in Berlin helped in the building of new Catholic churches and schools. With tenacious determination, Lichtenberg used the forum of local councils to bolster support for Catholic education in the city. His dedicated character in letters of protest in

11 Lichtenberg had the characteristics of an altruistic personality - "Predispositions with regard to such matters as values, occupational interests, psychological well-being, neuroticism, extroversion, and openness to experiences." Samuel P. Oliner and Pearl M. Oliner, The Altruistic Personality, Rescuers o!Jews in Nazi Europe, (New York: The Free Press, 1988,), 11.

12 In a practice homily that Lichtenberg gave as he neared ordination, he used the term "standhaft" (steadfast) or "Standhaftigkeit'' (steadfastness) more than a dozen times, exhorting his brothers to be steadfast in their goals, in their courage and in their faith. 7

the 1920s and 1930s showed that he had grown from his political experience. He committed his strength of mind to a peaceful Germany by becoming an active member of Peace Union in Berlin, an act seen as traitorous by many German nationalists. All of these experiences gave Lichtenberg a resolute courage in praying for the Jews. Although one could see that he acted in his own realm, Lichtenberg never really left the side of the Church. He simply acted on his own conscience, a practice promoted by the Church.

As second only to the bishop in Berlin's Catholic leadership (as of 1938),

Dompropst Lichtenberg understood his duties and acted with conviction for the

Church and for Christianity. The Church that gave him his beliefs remained patient and relatively passive while, at the same time, giving Lichtenberg the strength to speak out against immorality, injustice, and un-Christian acts.

Lichtenberg took a different approach than did the Church leaders, but he did it without guile, without a criticizing finger. As the Catholic Church hierarchy tried to negotiate and retain a relationship with the German state at the higher level through the Reich Concordat, Bernhard Lichtenberg worked and spoke on behalf of those persecuted by the Nazis. He did not separate himself from the

Church, and Church leaders did not oppose his choices - each was acting according to conscience and values. 8

Since 1946, there have been ten German publications focused on the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg.13 The intent of German Catholic authors was to study the virtuous life of Lichtenberg. Four of these are pamphlets of sixty pages or less. One can view only three (perhaps four)14 of the publications as true monographs, the most recent published in 1996, the year of Lichtenberg' s beatification.

13 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, Dompropst von St. Hedwig zu Berlin (1968). This was the first book published about Lichtenberg (first printing in 1946). Diocesan chief archivist in Berlin, Gotthard Klein, said letters between Bernhard Lichtenberg and his mother, used by Erb, have been lost. Most American scholars quote from Erb' s book. Nevertheless, sources available today are much broader than those available at the time Erb was writing. Other German biographies include: Kurtmartin Magiera, Bernhard Lichtenberg: Der Gefangene im Herrn, (Berlin: Moms-Verlag GmbH., 1963). Otto Ogiermann, S.J., Bis zum letzten Atemzug: Der Prozess gegen Bernhard Lichtenberg, Dompropst an St. Hedwig in Berlin, (: St. Benno-Verlag GMBH, 1968). This is perhaps the most widely read book on Lichtenberg and includes many documents. Hans-Georg Mann, Prozess Bernhard Lichtenberg, Ein Leben in Dokumenten (1977). Karl Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg (Berlin: Union Verlag, 1989). Dieter Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg: Priester - Bekenner - Martyrer, "ein Priester ohne Furcht und Tadel" (Berlin: Morus Verlag, 1994). Hans-George Mann, Bernhard Lichtenberg oder Die Taten eines Menschen sind die Konsequenzen seiner Grundsiitze: Dialog fiir drei Stimmen und dokumentarischer Anhang (Berlin: Druckerei Well, 1996). Christian Feldmann, Wer glaubt, muss widerstehen: Bernhard Lichtenberg - (: Verlag Herder, 1996). Erich Kock, Er widerstand, Bernhard Lichtenberg Dompropst bei St. Hedwig, Berlin (1996): This is the most recent and one of the better-documented books on Bernhard Lichtenberg. It totals over 200 pages and includes photographs, a chronology, and a bibliography. Erich Kock adds to the scholarship with a documentary film, Er Widerstand: Bernhard Lichtenberg. Gotthard Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, (: Verlag Schnell & Steiner GmbH, 1997). See American historian Kevin P. Spicer's, Resisting the Third Reich: The Catholic ClergtJ in Hitler's Berlin. Spicer devotes one chapter to Bernhard Lichtenberg. See also Spicer's "The Propst from St. Hedwig: Bernhard Lichtenberg as a Paradigm for Resistance," in The Burdens of History: Post Holocaust Generations in Dialogue, (Merion Station, PA: Merion Westfield Press International, 2000) and Karl Fischer, "Kiimpfer des guten Kampfes Bernhard Lichtenberg." In Christlicher Widerstand gegen den Faschismus, (Berlin: Union Verlag, 1955). See Gotthard Klein, "Bernhard Lichtenberg (1875-1943)," in Zeugen einer besseren Welt: Christlicher Miirtyrer des 20.Jahrhunderts, (Leipzig: Butzon & Bercker, 2000). In addition to Erich Kock's film, there exist three other documentary films made in the 1960s, along with a television documentary, and the miniseries Holocaust, all regarding Bernhard Lichtenberg.

14 Erb, Ogiermann, Kock, and perhaps Feldmann. 9

Alfons Erb was the first to release a work (1947) focused specifically on Bernhard Lichtenberg. Subsequent authors have depended on Erb, whose goal was to give the German people and the Catholic Church a man in whom they could take pride, given the horrors of the Nazi . As the beatification process took on momentum in the late 1960s, Father Otto

Ogiermann offered his biography of Lichtenberg with the support of many documents.

Christian Feldmann and Erich Kock wrote their biographies to coincide with

Lichtenberg's beatification in 1996. Since Pope John Paul II beatified both

Bernhard Lichtenberg and Karl Leisner15 on the same day, Feldman wrote about both in his work, Wer glaubt, muss widerstehen. In the forward to Erich Kock' s book, Cardinal Sterzinsky poses the question, "Why another book about

Lichtenberg?" The cardinal notes Kock' s contribution: "He tries to demonstrate from which sources the Berlin Provost drew strength for his life's witness."

Sterzinsky points out that the Berolinen16 includes many documents, as well as testimonies of those who knew Lichtenberg.17

15 Karl Leisner was a seminarian when first arrested in 1939. Dachau was the site of his ordination and first Mass in December 1944. His first Mass was also his last Mass. Following months of illness, Leisner, weakened from the strains of a death march, died in the summer of 1945.

16 The "Positio" is the collection of material published for Lichtenberg' s beatification. In this dissertation, I will use the published author and work: Gotthard Klein, Bearb., Berolinen. Canonizationis Seroi Dei Bernardi Lichtenberg [Berolinen super martyrio]. Hrsg.: Congregatio de causis sanctorum, Prat. N. 1202, Bd. 1: Informatio, Bd. 2: Summarium - Documenta, Bd. 3: Summarium - DesBerolinennes testium, Rom: Congregatio de causis Sanctorum 1992. The Berolinen contains all of the documents collected for Lichtenberg's beatification. There are three sections: 1) "Information" 10

In his book, Resisting the Third Reich: The Catholic Clergy in Hitler's

Berlin, the American historian Kevin Spicer reserved the last chapter for

Lichtenberg, asserting, "In his willingness to challenge the policies of the Nazi state in a profound and consistent manner, Bernhard Lichtenberg far outstripped the rest of the clergy in his diocese."18 Spicer is the only English- writing scholar to ask hard questions about Lichtenberg. Spicer offers a historiographical discussion of the term "resistance" and focuses on the motivation for resistance by the Berlin clergy. He considers individual priests and their actions against-and in some cases for-the Nazi regime. Spicer also offers an in-depth study of the theological debate inherent in the correspondences between Lichtenberg and Professor of , .

Ultimately, Spicer singles out Lichtenberg as an "isolated prophet," who had the

"courage to risk [his] life in [a] heroic manner."19

To date there have been no comparable comprehensive works on

Lichtenberg- Kevin Spicer considered only the high points of Lichtenberg's life that includes a chronology of Lichtenberg' s life, a biography of Lichtenberg, testimonies, a history of the Third Reich, and other religious documents; 2) "Summary" includes 304 documents significantto the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg; and 3) "Testimonies" taken (1967-1972) from those who knew Bernhard Lichtenberg. Hanky and Kock had benefit of the Berolinen in their works; Feldmann did not.

17 Kock, Er Widerstand, 9.

18 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 160. Spicer continues, "Not only did he [Lichtenberg] embody the backbone of Resistenz by charting in his homilies a way for others to defend the Church against encroachment by the state, he also publicly protested these intrusions at the expense of his health and safety."

19 Ibid., 11. 11

and, for the most part, the German biographers did not do in-depth historical research. This dissertation considers the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg in a broader setting, placing him in historical context. It approaches the life of

Lichtenberg, from not only historical, social, and political roots and premises, but also acknowledges explicitly the Kulturkampf, examines the daily routine of the

Catholic minority in , and considers the "" in

Berlin. It is also the first work on Lichtenberg to consider the post-1945 period and how not only scholars and writers have perceived and used him, but considers the reaction of current day Catholics in Berlin and other cities in

Germany regarding Lichtenberg' s memory. Some consider Lichtenberg one of few political of the twentieth century. Berlin Diocesan Archive director,

Gotthard Klein, has helped in the correction of a few incorrect points made by

Lichtenberg biographers. It has also been important to put the entire story of

Bernhard Lichtenberg into English.

The German biographers and Kevin Spicer's work on the Berlin clergy have influenced my research on Bernhard Lichtenberg. I, however, have taken the general story of Lichtenberg into greater depth. A more focused research has led me to offer a view of the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg broader than the German biographers and to come to conclusions that differ from Kevin Spicer. In this work, Bernhard Lichtenberg emerges not as a German nationalist (in the sense of 12

the of the period) as Spicer notes, but as a cosmopolitan

Christian.20 There is no evidence that Lichtenberg felt "pride" in serving

Germany during . On the contrary, those who knew him at the time suggest that he did not want to talk about the war. Spicer maintains,

"[Lichtenberg's] early career as a priest-politician reveals that he was truly a child of his age, resorting to cultural and religious prejudices implicit in his remarks concerning Protestants, birth control, and Jews."21 With deeper research into Lichtenberg' s diaries, council minutes, and interviews of those who knew him, this work contends that Lichtenberg, though an ardent conservative

Catholic, went beyond simple tolerance for other faiths and cultures. Naturally, as a Catholic, he held certain moral values, and his "prejudice" focused on those values, not on the people.

English-language historiography regarding Lichtenberg is limited to the chapter in Spicer' s book, a short chapter in Annedore Leber' s Conscience in Revolt, and detailed references in dozens of books and articles.22 Some authors describe

20 Spicer notes, "Lichtenberg's openness did not mean that he was free of nationalism. During the Great War, he proudly served his country; however, he did so as a Catholic priest who was called to serve all Catholics." Resisting the Third Reich, 163.

21 Ibid., 182.

22 Robert Ericksen and Susannah Heschel, eds., Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), see chapter by Guenter Lewy; Carol Rittner, Stephen D. Smith, and Irena Steinfeldt, eds., The Holocaust and the Christian World: Reflections on the Past, Challenges for the Future (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2000), see chapter by Victoria Barnett; Margherita Marchione, Pope Pius XII, Architect for Peace, (New York: Paulist Press, 2000); Beth A Griech-Polelle, Bishop van Galen: German Catholicism and National Socialism, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002); Anton Gill, An Honorable Defeat: A HistonJ of 13

Father Lichtenberg as "heroic" or "remarkable." Lichtenberg is cited

often as the "exception to the rule," standing out among the Roman Catholic

clergy in Germany. At the other end of the spectrum, intent

on proving the inadequacies of the Catholic Church during this time, attempts to show that Lichtenberg was anti-Semitic before he began praying for the Jews.23

The main source for his claim is a letter that Lichtenberg wrote to in

Germany Resistance to Hitler, 1933-1945, (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994); Carol Rittner and John K. Roth, eds., Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, (New York: Leicester University Press, 2002); Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002); Henry Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1995); Saul Friedlander, Pius XII and the Third Reich, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966); Annedore Leber, Conscience in Revolt: Sixty-four Stories of Resistance in Germany 1933-45, (: Vallentine, Mitchell and Company, LTD, 1957); Victoria J. Barnett, Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust, (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1999); James Carroll, Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001); Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler; Lewy, Catholic Church and Nazi Germany; , Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, (New York: Viking Penguin, 1999); Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich: The Catholic Clergy in Hitler's Berlin, (2004); Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust; Phayer, Protestant and Catholic Women in Nazi Germany, (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990); Ronald Rychlak, Hitler, the War, and the Pope, (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2000).

23 In A Moral Reckoning, Goldhagen states, "Before he was shocked by to stand up for the Jews, Father Lichtenberg, just like other German bishops and priests, vocalized anti­ Semitism against Otto von Corvin, the Protestant author of an anticlerical book, whom the Catholic establishment was alleging to be half Jewish. In a 1935 letter he claimed that Corvin 'according to the latest research, was not of Aryan descent.' Father Lichtenberg appears to have believed that just being a Jew, or even a half-Jew by 'race' [sic], was sufficient to render someone suspect, unwholesome, indeed, prima fade guilty of some substantial transgression. It was to Hitler that Father Lichtenberg addressed this anti-Semitic appeal." Lewy published his first edition in 1964. He wrote, "Even Provost Lichtenberg, a man who later paid with his life for trying to help the Jews, found it necessary in 1935 to address a personal letter to Hitler in which he protested the use of the book and pointed out that Corvin, 'according to the latest research, was not of Aryan descent."' Lewy pointed out, "When convenient and useful, the Church used the concept 'Jew' after the manner of the Nazis, that is, as a term of racial [sic, ethnic] classification." In Resisting the Third Reich, Spicer maintains, "In his public career, Lichtenberg would again make a statement that today appears controversial. On December 10, 1935, in a letter to Hitler, Lichtenberg made a questionable statement protesting a new edition of a nineteenth-century anti-Catholic tract, Der Pfaffenspiegel," 165. 14

1935 regarding the anti-clerical writing of Otto von Corvin. In this letter,

Lichtenberg pointed out to Hitler that Corvin "was not of Aryan descent."24 The

correspondence in question is a two-page letter, and Goldhagen and others quote

only one sentence in their presentations. Only one Lichtenberg biographer chose

to discuss this document in the text of his work.25 Others may have seen this as a

black mark against Lichtenberg. I will discuss this letter in chapter 5. In this

work, I will offer examples of Lichtenberg' s relationship to and view of both

Jews and Muslims, considering Lichtenberg's beliefs and actions in the context of

the Catholic Church's and the Nazi regime's view of "race."

Works by Ernst Christian Helmreich,26 Heinz Hiirten,27 Klaus Scholder,2s

Konrad Repgen,29 and Thomas Brechenmacher,30 among many others, offer a

24 "Der Verfasser ist nach neuesten Forschungen nichtarischer Herkunft." ("From the most current information, the author is of non-Aryan origins.") Letter from Bernhard Lichtenberg to Adolf Hitler, 10. December 1935, Klein, Berolinen, 100-101. In his two-page letter, Lichtenberg does not mention Corvin by name, only as the author of "Der Pfaffenspiegel." Lichtenberg notes his concern of the dissemination of over 1 % million copies of this work, which "destroyed the reverence for the Church and clergy."

25 "Lichtenberg, with his practical, political experience from the city councils, always behaved cleverly and sensibly. In his protest letter to Hitler against the promotion of anti.­ Christian trash literature, he discreetly noted that the author of the notorious 'Pfaffenspiegel,' the Protestant Otto von Corvin, was'given the latest information, of non-Aryan origin."' Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 99. Dieter Hanky and Erich Kock note the letter in bullet point chronologies they offer at the back of their books, but do not comment on the event in their text.

26 The first six chapters of Helmreich' s German Churches under Hitler concern the Second Reich and Weimar period.

27 Heinz Hiirten, Deutsche Katholiken, 1918-1945 (: F. Schoningh, 1992); "Die katholische Kirche im Ertsen Weltkrieg," in Der Erste Weltkrieg: Wirkung, Wahrnehmung, Analyse (Weyarn: Seehamer Verlag, 1997); Die Katholische Kirche zwischen Nationalsozialismus und Widerstand (Berlin: Felgentreff & Goebel, 1989); Die Kirchen in der Novemberrevolution: Eine Untersuchungzur Geschichte der Deutschen Revolution 1918/1919 (Regensburg: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 1984). Heinz Hiirten is the acknowledged leader among German Catholic historians. 15

broad view of the Catholic Church in Germany. Helmreich seeks to answer the questions, "What went on in German churches during the

KircJrenkampf of those years [era of Hitler], what actions were taken, for what reasons, and with what effect on the churches themselves?"31 In certain ways, the Church herself promoted the independence of her priests and bishops.

Helmreich points out that, during a visit by Hermann Goring to , Vatican officials told him that German bishops "had to follow their consciences and their religious convictions."32

In Deutschen Katholiken, Heinz Hiirten considers the continuity in the German

State/Church relationship as well as the German Catholics/Rome relationship from the Weimar era through the Third Reich. The Reich Concordat of 1933 was a new manner of relationship, but it had come out of the work of Nuncio

Eugenio Pacelli in the 1920s. Cardinals Michael Faulhaber and led the German Catholic Clergy for decades, from Republic to Reich. Vatican

28 Klaus Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich: Preliminary History and the Time of Illusions, 1918-1934, trans. John Bowden, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988).

29 Klaus Gotto and Komad Repgen, eds., Die Katholiken und das Dritte Reich, (Mainz: Matthias--Verlag, 1990). Komad Repgen, "Das Wesen des christlichen Widerstandes," In Christliches Exil und christlicher Widerstand, (Regensburg: Pustet, 1987).

30 Thomas Brechenmacher, ed., Das Reichskonkordat 1933, Forschungsstand, Kontroversen, Dokumente, (Paderbom: Ferdinand Schoningh, 2007) and Der Vatikan und die /uden, Geschichte einer unheilgen Beziehung, (Miinchen: Verlag C.H. Beck, 2005).

31 Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler, 12.

32 Ibid., 117. "Goring had made a visit to Rome [in 1931] to solicit curial support in dampening the anti-Nazi activity of the German bishops, but he was given the cold shoulder." 16

leaders and German church leaders worked to maintain Catholic life in

Germany through both epochs. Hiirten maintains that to understand German

Catholicism in the Third Reich, one must consider its history in the Weimar era.

Klaus Scholder and Konrad Repgen have been the focus of a debate over the issue of the 1933 Reich Concordat and its ties to the Enabling Act. Scholder argues that there was no effective coordination among the three Catholic leaderships (Vatican, Center Party, and German bishops) as the Nazis came to power.33 He also focuses on the close relationship between the 1933 Reich

Concordat negotiations and the downfall of the Center Party following the passing of the Enabling Act. Konrad Repgen counters Scholder on the issue of ties between the Enabling Act (March 1933) and the Concordat. Repgen and

German historians Ludwig Volk and Dieter Albrecht maintain that the German government first made the proposal of a Reich Concordat in early April and that the Vatican was "receptive, but cautious."34

Thomas Brechenmacher edited a volume concerning the Reich Concordat.

The first two chapters of the book deal with the Scholder/ Repgen debate. This work also includes important documentation to support the positions of the contributors. Brechenmacher has also utilized the opened Vatican archives to

33 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:237. The Reich Concordat of 1933 dissolved the Center Party, a quid pro quo by the Vatican to secure independence for the Roman Catholic Church in the new National Socialist State.

34 Joseph A. Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933: The Church Struggle Against Nazi Germany." In Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with , Mussolini, and Hitler, (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1999), 130. 17

write about the long history of the relationship between the Vatican and the Jews. This helps to put in perspective that relationship in the twentieth century and during the Third Reich.

Antonia Leugers has directed her efforts toward research in a specific area of

Church leadership. Leugers' opus, Gegen eine Mauer bisch6flichen Schweigens: Der

Ausschufl far Ordensangelegenheiten und seine Widerstandskonzeption 1941bis1945, focuses on the German bishops and their lack of consensus in opposing National

Socialism. 35 The formation of "The Committee for Matters Concerning Clerical

Orders" in 1940 showed the great divide between German bishops, particularly

Cardinal Adolf Bertram ("senior member of the German Church hierarchy") and

Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing, Lichtenberg' s bishop in Berlin. Not only were the bishops divided in their opinions, but also actions divided the bishops and

Vatican leadership. 36 Leugers explores the personalities of German bishops, their relationship to the Vatican, and the course these Catholic Church leaders wanted to steer through the Nazi tide.

35 Antonia Leugers, Gegen eine Mauer bischoflichen Schweigens: Der Ausschufl fiir Ordensangelegenheiten und seine Widerstandskonzeption 1941bis1945, (: Verlag Josef Knecht, 1996).

36 Phayer points out, "The fact that the German bishops did not make a unified statement on the murder of the Jews did not bar them from speaking out individually. It did, however, inhibit them in terms of how boldly they might express themselves. It was understood that individual bishops would not depart very far from the commonly agreed-upon course." Phayer, The Catholic Church, 77. 18

Peter Godman notes, "The bishops were rarely capable of facing the

Nazi dilemma with unity or decisiveness."37 In Hitler and the Vatican: Inside the

Secret Archives that Reveal the New Story of the Nazis and the Church, Godman took advantage of the newly opened Vatican archives in 2003, examining "the thoughts and motives of the men who formulated policy at the head of the

Church."38 He considers the many discussions held in the Vatican and notes that actions not taken by Church leaders were as significant and important as those measures they adopted.

In Resisting the Third Reich, Kevin Spicer presents a historiographical discussion of Catholic resistance.39 He notes that several historians have argued,

"Catholic resistance was a form of 'institutional protectionism.' In their view, anything could be and was done, including signing a concordat with the Nazi

37 Peter Godman, Hitler and the Vatican: Inside the Secret Archives that Reveal the New Story of the Nazis and the Church (New York: Free Press, 2004), 9. "Divided among themselves about resistance or compromise, they were perplexed by Hitler's 'revolution achieved by legal means."' Godman is a professor at the University of Rome.

38 Ibid., xv.

39 Spicer' s introductory chapter shows us just how ambiguous the term resistance was during the Nazi period. It was a matter of perception. The National Socialist regime had a view of resistance that differed from that of the Church or individual Christians. The term still is elastic as scholars have adopted different positions. "Georg Denzler, Guenter Lewy, John S. Conway, and Klaus Scholder have argued that Catholic resistance was a form of 'institutional protectionism.' In their view, anything could be and was done, including signing a concordat with the Nazi state, to protect the institution of the Church." Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 7. In making his arguments, Spicer notes, "Broszat's concept has enabled me to categorize those individuals whose deeds did not fall directly into a more black-and-white category of resistance but whose actions nevertheless represented some mode of restraint or disobedience, thus falling somewhere between accommodation/ adaptation and outright resistance" Spicer, Resisting, 5. 19

state, to protect the institution of the Church."40 Other scholars maintain that the Reich Concordat was in no manner a form of resistance by the Catholic

Church. It was a path for maintaining Catholic life in the Nazi regime by cooperating, not resisting. The Nazi regime and the Catholic Church could use the Concordat as a living document. The Nazis obviously manipulated its meaning in order to control the Church.

Konrad Repgen and Donald Dietrich offer broader views of "resistance."

Repgen writes, "The use of the term 'resistance' for a definite behavior provides implicitly two fundamental conditions, which probably are not always known, which they use: a) Conceptually, every resistance is a reaction, response, reply, but not action, provocation, or attack; b) Resistance as reaction is not adequate to grasp without a preceding realization of the action."41 Donald Dietrich supports this view by maintaining, "Resistance was not a continuing permanent state, but a daily changing and probably fragile behavior pattern that again and again moved back to conformity as many of our actors tried to negotiate their paths through this complex era."42 Lichtenberg resisted the Nazi regime, but he also acted to protect the Catholic Church and Christianity. We need to consider carefully how he reconciled these objectives. I will describe and analyze

40 Ibid., 7.

41 Repgen, "Das Wesen des christlichen Widerstandes," 14.

42 Donald J. Dietrich, ed., Christian Responses to the Holocaust, Moral and Ethical Issues (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003), xvii. 20

instances in which he was protecting the institution of the Church, protesting acts of the Nazi regime, or preserving Christian practice.43

Beyond the secondary sources, primary sources abound. The

Diozesanarchiv in the archdiocese of Berlin holds the lion's share of information regarding Bernhard Lichtenberg. In 1965, Alfred Bengsch of Berlin began the beatification process of Bernhard Lichtenberg. This process included questioning individuals who knew Bernhard Lichtenberg personally. At the end of the 1960s, thirty-one individuals had related their memories of Lichtenberg in personal interviews.44 Gathering of pertinent documents continued over the following decades, and in 1992, archive director Gotthard Klein published the materials for the Vatican. There are 304 transcribed documents contained in

Klein's Berolinen.45 Most of the materials from the Diozesanarchiv focus on the

43 Lichtenberg passively resisted the Nazis by refusing to use the greeting "Heil Hitler." Instead, he greeted Catholics with "Gelobt sei Christus" (Praised be Jesus Christ) and everyone else with "Grws Gott" (a common religious greeting). Lichtenberg attempted to protect the Church when he wrote to Hitler regarding an anti-clerical publication. Lichtenberg's protest to Frick regarding the broadcasting of a divisive song was an attempt to safeguard Christianity.

44 Obviously, these oral testimonies were not available to early scholars, but those scholars had access to other discourses. I realize that these men and women gave their testimonies with some "beatification bias" and that their testimonies perhaps fail to meet the historians' tests for reliable evidence. Other "more reliable" sources will in many cases support the testimonies. In addition, one must always be cautious when working with oral history. Some questions taxed the individuals' fifty-year memory. Nevertheless, this is a good, underused source, some of which will find support from other sources.

4s Normally, information regarding the beatification and process is not available to the public for a number of decades. However, the information is available at the Diozesanarchiv in Berlin. As noted before, Hanky and Kock had access to this information when writing their books. The 304 documents included in Klein's publication come from many sources that would have been available to all of the German scholars. Nevertheless, they appear 21

personal Lichtenberg-his prison diaries,46 letters, and spiritual writings, interviews, and the Chronicle of St. Hedwig's. The use of a number of these sources, in particular the parish Chronicle maintained by Lichtenberg, is new to current scholarship. Documents from Berlin's Bundesarchiv and Landesarchiv include communiques between upper-level Nazi officials and German bishops, pastoral letters of German bishops, Nazi commentaries on the Church, reports (including the interrogation and imprisonment of Lichtenberg), and difficult-to-find pertinent newspaper articles. The Charlottenburg Rathaus and the Center for Berlin Studies offer transcribed council meeting reports from

Lichtenberg's time as a member. Edited volumes of documents (State and

Church), letters, reports, and statistics fill the gaps of archival sources. Beyond primary source material, I used many secondary sources, including German biographical works on Lichtenberg and books and articles regarding the Catholic

Church and Nazi Germany. Finally, current day questionnaires and observation aid in the issue of memory.

I have arranged this biographical dissertation in a chronological to include natural chapter breaks at changing events in Lichtenberg' s life and in

German history. A brief chapter one is devoted to Lichtenberg's prison diaries. transcribed and organized in chronological order. Klein also has noted on each document its use in literature concerning Lichtenberg. Berolinen includes the 1935 letter to Hitler, where Lichtenberg uses the word "nichtarischer."

46 Throughout the dissertation, I will allow Bernhard Lichtenberg to speak in his own voice through his diaries. His experiences and perceptions from the diaries provide an insight into the man that one can find nowhere else. 22

These writings introduce the to the spirit of Bernhard Lichtenberg.

The second chapter explores Lichtenberg' s life from childhood through ordination (1875-1899) and evaluates how growing up a German Catholic in

Silesia (a region with Polish-speaking Catholics and German Protestants) influenced Lichtenberg's views and character. Chapter three (1900-1918) describes Lichtenberg' s efforts in building churches and Catholic communities as well as his relationship to his congregations. The provides the background for chapter four (1919-1933). The change in political structure offered the Catholic Church the opportunity for a greater voice in Germany.

Bernhard Lichtenberg decided to try to advance Catholicism in Germany by becoming a member of both the Charlottenburg Assembly and the Berlin City

Council. When Adolf Hitler became in 1933, the Catholic

Church began a twelve-year episode of, on the one hand, compliance with, and on the other hand, resistance to the Nazi regime. I have divided this period into four chapters: Chapter five (1933-1936) deals with the changing spirit of the 1933

Reich Concordat, as the Nazi regime used its own interpretation of the agreement. Chapter six proposes that in the period 1937-1939 Bernhard

Lichtenberg began a more focused resistance toward the State. World War II begins the seventh chapter, which covers the continued persecution of the

Catholic Church leading to the high point of arrests and imprisonment of

German Catholic clergy in 1941. Chapter eight (1941-1943) begins with 23

Lichtenberg's arrest for "violating the Pulpit Paragraph and the Malice

Law" and ends with his death enroute to Dachau in a hospital in Hof, Germany.

I end the dissertation with a chapter regarding memory-memory that ties

Lichtenberg to the Catholic Church and the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Lichtenberg's beatification in 1996 and 's naming him "Righteous

Among the Gentiles" in 2004 show that memory of Lichtenberg has not faltered.

The witness of Bernhard Lichtenberg has become a significant memory of the history of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. Each time they attend the celebration of the Mass, many from the community visit his grave in the "Unterkirche."47

They have witnessed his beatification and now they pray for his canonization.

Given the courage in defending the victims of National Socialist actions that ultimately cost him his life and the impact the memory of his bravery has had upon posterity, it is fitting that the life and ministry of Dompropst Bernhard

Lichtenberg be made available to a wider readership.

47 Lichtenberg' s body currently lies in the lower church of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. CHAPTER ONE

THE DIARIES

If any man wish to write in a clear , let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 -1832)

On October 23, 1941, the Gestapo ordered Lichtenberg to police headquarters. It was not the first time Lichtenberg had experienced this ordeal.

Subsequently, police officials searched his room and found notes for the following Sunday's homily regarding an anti-Jewish flyer and Lichtenberg' s

(margin-noted) copy of Mein Kampf With these confiscated, the Gestapo took

Lichtenberg into custody. He was not allowed to have any clerical apart from a simple . He called home and informed Sister Stephana, "I have been arrested!" Following a number of interrogations and several months in

Berlin's Alt- Prison, Lichtenberg went to trial. The prosecution charged him with "Misuse of the Pulpit" and defying the "Malice Law." Lichtenberg received a sentence of two years in prison. He wrote to Dr. Margarete Sommer that he wanted to use his time in prison industriously, because "in my entire life,

I could never work so undisturbed."1

1 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 101. 24 25

Bernhard Lichtenberg looked at his surroundings-a cell in Berlin's Alt

Moabit Prison. It was very different from his pastoral work at St. Hedwig's

Cathedral. Several months earlier, the sixty-six-year-old cleric had started a diary. His captors allowed him to have writing materials, his , and a few other personal items, but Lichtenberg knew that the guards would be monitoring him. Lichtenberg was able to write and receive some letters and to receive a few visitors, but writing could occupy a greater amount of time and make its passing more bearable. Lichtenberg kept himself busy while awaiting his trial. By May, he had finished 147 hymn translations, 153 homily outlines, and was well into penning his chronological collection of memories. 2

It is May [1942]. Because he was accused of violating the Pulpit Paragraph and the Malice Law, Fridolin has now been in investigative custody for 7 months.3

Lichtenberg wrote his diaries in third person, using the pseudonym

"Fridolin." German biographers have speculated about the cleric's reason for his selection.4 He may have seen himself as a wanderer (he uses the term in his diaries), and he thought of Fridolin, "the wanderer." A tenth-century

2 Klein, Berolinen, 2:231. The prison strongly regulated the number of letters and visitors Lichtenberg received.

3 Diocesan Archive Berlin (hereafter DAB) V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 12. Books IX and X constitute Lichtenberg' s prison diaries.

4 In his 1947 biography of Bernhard Lichtenberg, Erb maintains that Lichtenberg chose his moniker from the "good servant" in Friedrich Schiller's poem, Gang zum Eisenhammer ("Ein frommer Knecht war Fridolin ... "). Biographer Erich Kock claims that "Fridolin" came from the writings of Joseph von Eichendorff, a German (Silesian) poet and novelist. 26

German wrote the legendary story of St. Fridolin' s life and founded a in Bad Sackingen in southern Germany. St. Fridolin' s Cathedral lies there today. Lichtenberg may also have considered the etymology of the

German name "Fridolin" - "peace." Although physically imprisoned, he was spiritually free. But, why use a pseudonym? Perhaps he did it as a precaution.

If the guards saw his diaries, they would think he was writing a fictional story about someone else.

In any case, the diaries and the pen name provided a means of escape.

Though Lichtenberg, the man, sat confined in an uncomfortable, Spartan cell,

Fridolin, the boy, could ride horses and run through fields in the fresh air. In writing his diaries, the prisoner Lichtenberg escaped in his imagination and relived a spiritual journey through Fridolin.

Although a simple account, Lichtenberg' s diaries reveal the depth of his character. We can perceive his strength, how he remained resolute in his writing even after suffering physical and verbal abuse from the guards. One can detect what moved Lichtenberg to act and what he thought his duties were as a follower of Christ. Lichtenberg believed that God called all people to Himself and that all men were neighbors He was more a cosmopolitan Christian than he was a German nationalist. Lichtenberg respected hierarchical systems and tradition, and his faith was the most important dimension in his personality. In 27

his diaries, Lichtenberg also appears to show the reader defining moments of his life - simple experiences that left a mark on him.

Lichtenberg began his diaries with a brief exegesis of the psalm that guided his life: "Deus, deus meus, ad Te de luce vigilo" -"O God, my God, to thee do I at break of day."5 Lichtenberg used this verse as ejaculatory prayer, as a way to get him through difficult times, and as a rubric for his life. It helped him to channel his thoughts. He invoked this verse often throughout his diaries and explained why it was so important to him:

They awaken each morning, because their heart is created for thee, oh God, and because it remains restless until it finds rest in you.6

The last paragraph of Lichtenberg' s diaries notes the first three bishops of Berlin between 1933-1935. Lichtenberg did not refer to the Third Reich in his diaries.

From Eucharistic Congresses to many travels abroad, Lichtenberg wanted to experience the greater Christian world. Almost half of his diaries reflect his travels outside of Germany. Perhaps this was a way to escape the Third Reich, but he also appeared to point out moments that made a clear impression on him:

When Fridolin conducted his first service on Sunday, he was surprised at the number and composure of the faithful; it corresponded exactly to what a

s Psalm 62:2 from the Douay text translation of the Vulgata, 1609 OT, revised 1749-1752, official Roman Catholic version. This is a psalm of David while he was in the desert of Edom, "a psalm of trust ... which contains some of the most powerful language of trust in God in the Psalter." (The New Jerome Biblical Commentary) Lichtenberg tells the story of hearing this psalm intoned in the Breslau Cathedral when he was a student.

6 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX., 3. 28

young man told him by way of conversation on the street: Everyone in our family attends Holy Mass on Sunday.7

After the short crossing, as Fridolin boarded the train in Calais, he saw an old woman in a compartment of the neighboring train in fervent prayer. Her book said as much, in which she was immersed: Never stop praying! That is the will of God for our salvation.a

As Fridolin descended in the afternoon to the Church of the Cock's Crow ... he saw a scene which impressed itself indelibly on his memory: in a nook of the street knelt an old Muslim deep in prayer, undisturbed by any passerby: 'The Father needs such worshippers,' and the Father finds them everywhere.9

In his diaries, he recalled moments of faith. These specific incidents made an impression on him and never left his psyche - prayer and worship, prayer and worship. Similar to his cyclic prayers, the repetition of writing about faithful moments (Mass, prayer, worshippers) probably gave him courage.

Lichtenberg's longest trips abroad were to America in 1926 and to the Holy

Land in 1936. He wrote in detail about these trips. His entries show that he was a man of reflection and observation, as with this passage from his American travels:

Jammed into small rooms, they spend their free time in narrow courtyards, encircled by high walls, because ... the high walls are a characteristic of New York .... On the return trip across the Hudson on the ferry, Fridolin was surprised by the tranquility of many young men, who - it was Sunday evening-were returning from a day trip, and he did not notice anyone who was noisy or drunk. Fridolin had made the same observation one evening in Belfast Buffalo. He went past many establishments where no alcohol was

7 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX., 47.

s DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 1.

9 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 30. 29

served, but billiards was played. Six or more billiard tables were in a long room, and many young people, mostly blacks, were quietly playing. To be sure, one also hears other opinions about the effect of forced abstinence: - instead of one official brewery or distillery-hundreds of unofficial ones, to which women and girls fall victim ....10

Lichtenberg apparently was aware that Americans were living under

Prohibition. Nevertheless, he was surprised by what he saw regarding the social life of those he encountered. He was used to greater bravado on the streets of

Berlin. Lichtenberg questioned the effects of forced abstinence under America's constitutional amendment. In a similar manner, Lichtenberg would not have agreed with forced conversions to Catholicism. Abstinence or religious conversion could only be genuine if one chose it freely. The effect of forced conversions would be great numbers of feeble Catholics.

What affected Lichtenberg the most on his travels in Palestine was the religious fervor of the people. He noted how well attended the mosques were and how the men "took off their before they entered the house of God."11

Fridolin walked the path to Mary's well, which the mother of the divine child had done so often, drank from the well located behind the church, then he made a deal with a Nazarene for the car, which was to bring him up [Mt.] Tabor, to Cana, and back to Nazareth, and while getting into the car, and during the trip, he involuntarily remembered the laboring apostles from Galilee, because the same blood still flowed in these living human beings. 12

10 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 7.

11 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 30. Lichtenberg saw the "full mosques" in Cairo on his way home from Palestine.

12 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 23. This is reminiscent of what Martin Luther said regarding the Jews: "When we are inclined to boast of our position we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws; they are blood 30

He commented on his own thoughts, reflected on the significance of what he saw. The inhabitants of Palestine-Jews, Muslims, Christians-still carried the blood connection of Christ's apostles.

Bernhard Lichtenberg traveled farther in the world than most European priests of his era, but he remained traditional and conservative. He respected hierarchical systems-both religious and secular. In 1926, Lichtenberg attended the International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago.

Cardinal Bertram had entrusted two books to Fridolin, one he was to present to the great benefactor of German children in New York, Mr. Henry Heide, the other to the archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Mundelein. When Fridolin, acting in the service of his bishop, presented the cardinal of Chicago the third volume of the history of the bishopric of , [Fridolin] remarked, perhaps he might be able to greet his Eminence at the Eucharistic Congress in Berlin, to which the cardinal remarked, "Then I'll take this opportunity to make my return visit."13

The tone of his diaries is one of honor and deference regarding the Catholic leadership. Lichtenberg illustrates reverence for the higher clergy in noting,

"Fridolin was allowed" to assist the Cardinal of when the Cardinal celebrated Mass in Chicago. Bertram Cardinal had not simply asked Lichtenberg to present the books to these men in America, but he "entrusted" Lichtenberg with the books. Lichtenberg respected the Catholic hierarchy. In addition,

relatives, cousins, and brothers of our Lord. Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood, the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are." (Luther's Works: The Christian in Society II, 201).

13 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 3. 31

Lichtenberg experienced the Church hierarchy abroad. He witnessed the

"universal" Church.

Lichtenberg' s outward conservative typified his strict adherence to

Church teaching. He wore a cassock, surplice14, and throughout his priesthood while some priests adjusted their attire with changes of modern times.15 In his comments regarding the 1909 Congress, we see evidence of Lichtenberg' s conservative views:

Of these Congressional speeches, Fridolin has up to this day a lasting memory that Cardinal Archbishop Antonius Fischer forcefully warned of introducing a new terminology. In certain circles, people had begun to talk about a Catholic "world view" rather than a Catholic faith. That was dangerous. The Credo is objective, the "view" subjective. This simple remark stuck in Fridolin' s head and heart, he agreed with it in his thought and in his heart and he has been convinced since then, that new terminologies, at least in theology, bring turmoil, if they have not been defined ex cathedra.16

14 A surplice is a white (white indicating purity) that covers the cassock like a breastplate. Priests generally wear them when distributing Holy Communion and since Lichtenberg would distribute the Eucharist in people's homes, he would wear a surplice as he walked through the streets of Berlin. In doing this, he drew attention to himself. For practical reasons and perhaps due to social stigma, some priests avoided the negative attention by dressing in modern outerwear.

1s "SOME priests - SOME, not all-began wearing secular attire, in an attempt to nestle in bourgeoisie society. As the clergy 'professionalized,' some wanted to be recognized publicly as 'geehrter' and gebildet,' and this meant aping bourgeoisie styles. I have even seen sartorial directions for how a priest ought to appear in secular clothing. I also believe that priests in mixed confessional areas (such as the right bank of the Rhine) were far more likely to have adopted such clothing." E-mail from Jeff Zalar to Mark to author, September 22, 2009.

16 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 2. Ex Cathedra means literally 'from the chair,' or a judgment given by the Pope. 32

Lichtenberg respected the authority of the Pope and understood the papacy's importance in the history and practices of the Church. Lichtenberg' s choice of memories in his diaries indicate a strong devotion to the traditional Church

Lichtenberg appeared to set high standards for himself. A moment of guilt appeared in his diaries. He remembered a time when he thought he had not met his own expectations. Lichtenberg may have used the diaries as a manner of confession. He also felt he had to make up for what he was unable to do as pastor now that he was in prison.

Chicago lies approximately on the same latitude as Naples! In the park, there is a large lake, on which fast boats shot back and forth. Fridolin was tired from the heat and all the running around, he lay down on a meadow, fell asleep, and was only awakened by the singing of the procession passing by. Ashamed, he got up and joined them.17

Since 1906, [Fridolin] had given a short May sermon every year on every evening in May. This year for the first time, he has to relinquish it. Therefore, he would like to compensate for it with "Deus meus, deus meus ad Te de luce vigilo" and ask the Mother of God to accept it kindly as a substitute.

One sees from both remembrances the energy that Lichtenberg had most of his life. He rarely relaxed, but rather seemed almost compelled to labor for the people or Church in some manner at every opportunity.

Lichtenberg also wrote a great deal about his early family life, schooling, and the parishes where he served. In all of these, his tone was always positive and spiritual. The only episode filled with tension regarded an incident while

17 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 5. 33

Lichtenberg served on political councils in the early 1920s. It was the only incident from his time on council that he chose to record, and that was perhaps because it regarded a man's lack of faith.

The Berlin City Council wanted to name a public school teacher as the Head Supervisor of Schools in Berlin and it appeared to Lichtenberg that most members wanted simply to accept the man without ever speaking to him.

The atheist bias from Socialists that could permeate the school system concerned

Lichtenberg. He traveled to Hamburg, met the /1 candidate," and questioned him regarding his belief in God. When the man declared that he did not believe in a

11 personal God," Lichtenberg went back to Berlin with the mindset that he would do whatever he could to stop this man from becoming supervisor. Lichtenberg believed that only a man with personal faith should lead the schools of Berlin.

He was, however, unsuccessful in stopping the confirmation of the Hamburg teacher.

The most important part of Lichtenberg' s life was his faith. He looked for it in others and in himself. On the second page of his diaries, Lichtenberg wrote,

Before my death, I would like to write a book, only one, and its title shall be Deus, deus meus, ad Te de luce vigilo (0 God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day), And whoever might read it, should forever have his joy in being allowed to waken daily to dear God.18

The diaries compose this "one" book, in which Lichtenberg wrote:

1s DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX., 2. 34

I am now engaged to the church as my bride and she shall never have cause to complain about a lack of faithfulness in her bridegroom .... Lord, now when I am writing this as an old priest, my lip trembles and my eyes fill with tears of joy, for I can now absolve and consecrate .... And then the priest, who prepared him for his first holy communion will lead him to the altar, and a priest friend of his parents will give the sermon for the newly ordained priest at the same pulpit, from which he [Chaplain Eymmer] spoke during the Kulturkampf: "Though would he be bound in chains and irons, a priest remains a priest."19

19 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX., 39-40. CHAPTER TWO

FROM CHILDHOOD TO PRIESTHOOD (1875-1900)

Grandpa went out to the field with his small grandson, "to the tree." It was a beautiful summer morning; the friendly sun laughed in the blue sky. A wispy smoke arose from the chimney of the ranger's house at the edge of the woods. A lark hovered above and sang constantly, Deus meus, deus meus ad Te de luce vigilo. The old man and the young child fell into a solemn mood, they thought about their wonderful God, and they loved him.1

Why do some individuals speak out against illegitimate or immoral acts, regardless of possible repercussions? Why did Bernhard Lichtenberg defy the

Nazi government while other priests remained silent? Was it that Lichtenberg's parents (and extended family) planted the seeds of a strong Christian faith in the young Bernhard and nurtured them during his early, formative years?

Born at home, December 3, 1875, in Ohlau, ("grandson") Bernhard Richard

Leopold2 Lichtenberg went to Mass almost every day with his mother. Even as a child, Lichtenberg found joy in God and was a "pious sort." He later said, "I want to step up to the altar of the Lord, to God, Who brought me joy in my youth."3 Emilie Lichtenberg wanted Bernhard to become a priest, and the young

1 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX, 2. (Lichtenberg's prison diaries)

2 Klein, Berolinen, 2:2. Lichtenberg' s did not take place for three and one half weeks indicating he was probably a healthy birth.

35 36

Lichtenberg never considered another vocation.4 His father, August, and Emilie led the family with a firm piety, centering their lives on the Church and religious celebrations throughout the year. In his diaries, Lichtenberg recalled his grandfather leading an extended family in prayer at home during Lent, in singing carols around the Christmas tree, and in walking to morning Mass, the sound of crunching snow beneath their footfalls.

Bernhard was the second son, with two younger brothers, an older , and an older sister, Gertrude Maria Eva, who died ten days after birth.s

Although all four boys studied at the gymnasium, there is little or no mention of

Lichtenberg' s brothers in letters, conversations, or diaries. Once when

Lichtenberg and his brother became noisy while discussing a school lesson, the former showed his true fraternal relationship with his brother by taking the

3 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14-15.

4 Klein, Berolinen, 3:9. Herr Alois Stellmacher, born June 1, 1884, served Pastor Bernhard Lichtenberg as a sexton in Herz-Jesu parish from 1921-1931 and then as an administrator at St. Hedwig's. Stellmacher recalled, "I heard his [Lichtenberg' s] mother say that already in his youth, he had clearly sensed the priesthood as his vocation." Lichtenberg's grandfather, as well as his great uncle (a priest), may also have played a role in his decision to become a priest.

5 Getrud[e] Maria Eva Lichtenberg (*Ohlau 7. September 1872, + Ohlau 17. September 1872), Alfred August(* Ohlau 31. August 1873, +Frankfurt am Main 10. March 1940), Bernhard Richard Leopold(* Ohlau 3. December 1875, +Hof 5. November 1943), Johannes Wenzeslaus (* Ohlau 25. March 1879, +Berlin 14. June 1951), and Franz August Walther (* Ohlau 6. September 1883, + Borken/Westf. 1. July 1959). Klein, Positio, 1:19. When the Nazis interrogated Lichtenberg in 1941, he testified in writing, "I was born the son of a grocer, August Lichtenberg and went to school in the same town. My three brothers attended the same school. Today, one of them is a lawyer and notary and another is a retired teacher. My third brother is dead." Landesarchiv Berlin (hereafter LAB), A-Rep. 355 Folder 19106, 13. 37

blame. Lichtenberg appealed that he had become a bit too excited as his brother helped him with the work.6

Throughout his entire life, Lichtenberg had an especially close relationship with his parents. 7 Lichtenberg told a fellow priest, "One cannot thank God enough for good, pious, healthy parents."8 Lichtenberg had a photo of his parents under which he noted, "Thank God for our precious parents."9 As best we can determine, Lichtenberg did not defy his parents and apparently received no corporal punishment from his father. Perhaps because Lichtenberg was such a joyful, pious boy, attending Mass with his mother, his father never had cause to punish him. Dieter Hanky suggests that two things molded the young

Lichtenberg-the deep piety of his parents and the "Diaspora situation" in the predominantly Protestant lower .10

6 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14.

7 When he gave a practice homily in Breslau as an ordination candidate, Lichtenberg noted the importance of parents: "When we were first instructed in the exalted teachings of the Catholic Church as young children by our parents or teachers, we believed everything that was told to us, because they were our parents or teachers and a mistruth spoken by them was not considered possible. As we grew up and with additional years inhaled the tepid spirit of the world, our belief was still so childlike, we still believed so firmly for example in the presence of the Lord in the Holy Sacrament, that we did not shy away from giving expression to our conviction at all times and everywhere!" DAB V /26. Proc. Doc. Varia H 1, 1.

s Klein, Berolinen, 3:50. Pastor Franz Reiseck, born August 15, 1902, served as a priest in the diocese of Berlin. Between 1934 and 1938, he held the position of "Kaplan" under Bernhard Lichtenberg in St. Hedwig's Cathedral.

9 DAB BN 1076, 02.

10 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 7. 38

Married in 1871, at the dawn of the second , August and

Emilie Lichtenberg raised their children with a love for Silesia. Father August had grown up in the lower Silesian town of Bernstadt on the Weide River between Oels and Namslau and operated a grocery store to support his family.

Lichtenberg' smother, Emilie Hubrich, came from Rossdorf bei in

Silesia and was eight years her husband's junior. They had settled in the medieval town of Ohlau (today, 's Olawa), approximately thirty miles southeast of Breslau (today, Poland's Wroclaw). Ohlau lay in Lower Silesia, in the middle of a densely wooded plateau, between the two rivers, Oder and

Ohle.11 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this was a region of economic growth, with Ohlau as a tobacco-growing center. In 1842, the first rail line opened between Ohlau and Breslau.12

Lichtenberg' s native environment offered mountains, lakes, and parks, and provided forest trees, wild berries, and forest mushrooms-a childhood paradise. As Grobbel puts it, Lichtenberg was not a "Stubenhocker," a couch potato.13 The young Bernhard wandered through fields and forests singing all the way. Music brought him great joy throughout his life. Lichtenberg loved to hike, ride, and sing in the fresh air of the countryside. On school vacations, he

11 For a map of Silesia (1882), see http:/ /www.feefhs.org/maplibrary/ german/ ge-siles.html.

i2 http://www.nationmaster.com/ encyclopedia/ Ohlau

n Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 3. 39

went to the farm of his uncle where he had the opportunity to ride horses.

Lichtenberg maintained a special tie to his native soil.14

There were twice as many Protestants as Catholics in Lichtenberg' s home of

Ohlau.15 During the period of the Kulturkampf, the Prince Bishop of Breslau,

Heinrich Forster, traveled to Ohlau, and when he came within sight of the town, he sighed, "Ohlau, o wie lau!" (Ohlau, 0 how lukewarm [you are]).16 Either the bishop wanted the community to avoid provocation, or he truly did not understand the local community. The Catholic faith was perhaps strongest in the small towns and villages, with or without leadership from Breslau or the Vatican.

When officials removed a cross from the school, a church committee wrote a

14 "Sein treues Herz fiir die schlesische Heimat geschlagen, solang er lebt." (His heart beat for his Silesian homeland as long as he lived.) Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 12. Writing the preface for the January 1927 Ohlau Catholic Community Paper, Lichtenberg referred to his "loving Catholic Ohlau countrymen." He established the annual pilgrimage for Charlottenburg Catholics to the Silesian Marian pilgrimage to Wartha (Bardo Slaskie). Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 6. Lichtenberg went on four collection missions to Silesia: 1916, 1917, 1918, and 1928. (e-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, 11. September 2009)

1s Erich Kock gives the following population statistics of the town in 1887: 10,391 Protestants, 4,913 Catholics, 123 Jews, 340 old Lutherans, and 20 others. Kock, Er Widerstand, 32. Gotthard Klein notes that the official schematism lists slightly different figures. (e-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, 11. September 2009).

16 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 12. This story has passed through each of the Lichtenberg biographies beginning with Erb. The authors note, as a contrast, that a favorite son (Lichtenberg) of the little town was far from being "halfhearted" in anything he attempted. Two decades before the Kulturkampf began, Catholic missionaries avoided provocation with Protestants. An incident in 1855 tells of a young Jesuit priest who drew the wrath of Protestants when he spoke about damnation in mixed . A local pastor supported the Jesuit from his own pulpit, creating a stir. Bishop Forster of Breslau "reprimanded the priest for having thrown oil on fire and instructed him to reestablish confessional harmony in his community." Michael B. Gross, War Against Catholicism, Liberalism and the anti-Catholic Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Germany, (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2005), 81. Gross's footnote should read "Neusalz," not "Neufalz." (E-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, 11. September 2009) 40

letter of protest to Kaiser Wilhelm I.17 Once an Ohlau police officer ordered the opening of the tabernacle of the Catholic Church and officials removed the

Blessed Sacrament to examine the hosts at the police precinct. This act would have caused increased resentment toward local authorities by the Catholic congregants.18 Ohlau' s Catholics discussed the politics of the day, and they protested acts of the state against their church. They dealt with the Kulturkampf on a local level-held to their daily Catholic practices with the help of or despite their parish priest.19 Lichtenberg's father was active in the Center Party and organized his local election committee. Lichtenberg' s maternal uncle, Alfred

Hubrich (1852-1928), served as an Assembly member for the Center Party in the

Reichstag for twenty-five years and sat temporarily in the Prussian Assembly.

Were Lichtenberg's Catholic compatriots indifferent to political issues? It seems

11 .Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 4.

18 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 17. Catholics believe that the Blessed Sacrament, "Holy Communion," in the form of "hosts," is the true body of Jesus Christ (according to the doctrine of , promulgated in 1215).

19 When this "Battle for German Culture" began, not every Catholic accepted the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility. An "Old Catholic" movement developed by those who thought the of 1871, promulgating papal infallibility, was not in harmony with the traditions of the Church. The movement was strong in Silesia, but opposed by Bishop Forster. The state took many actions against him in the early Kulturkampf years, including fines, loss of financial subsidies and personal possessions, and the closing of a boarding school in his diocese. The diocese of Breslau lost one in every five priests between the years 1873 and 1881. The average mother was not afraid to stand up to the Old Catholics, when priests tried to "convert" children in school. Lech Trzeciakowski, The Kulturkampf in Prussian Poland, trans. Katarzyna Kretkowska (New York: Press, 1990), 83. In Lichtenberg's adult life, we see a respect for the Pope and papacy. This suggests that his family supported Pope Pius IX and the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility. Moreover, preference for the Center Party indicates distance from the Old Catholic Movement. 41

more likely that Ohlau received little attention from Catholic institutions in greater Prussia due to her location and the fact that Polish support of the German

Center Party was, at times, an embarrassment.

The German Center Party and the Kulturkampf

In the late 1850s, Hermann von Mallinckrodt and the brothers, August and

Peter, Reichensperger formed the Catholic faction in the newly created Prussian

House of Deputies. They wanted to form a Catholic political party "between or above the existing parties."20 In 1866 following the seven-week war, however, their faction disappeared when Prussia expelled (Catholic) from the old

German Confederation and prepared to create the North

(1867). John Zeender maintains, "It was only when Catholics began to fear for the security of the Church in 1869 and 1870 that they became receptive to proposals for [the Catholic Party's] restoration."21 In December 1870, as

Germany was on the verge of becoming a unified nation, Peter Reichensperger,

Karl Friedrich von Savigny, head of the Catholic Prussian faction, and others met at the home of Savigny. There was a call in the parliament to expel religious orders from Prussia. Thus, it seemed more urgent formally to organize a

Catholic party. Discussion took place in the following days regarding the name

20 John Zeender, The German Center Party, 1890-1906, (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1976), 5.

21 Ibid., 8. 42

of the party, and the faction members decided on the name "Zentrum" or Center

Party. The "Centrists" formally introduced the Zentrum in 1871.

Through the diplomatic skill of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Germany realized unification in January 1871. To take Germany in the direction that he wanted, Bismarck had to form coalitions in the Reichstag-to play the parties against each other in order to pursue his policies successfully.22 Chancellor

Bismarck, however, was suspicious about the loyalty of German Catholics, with their religious ties beyond Germany (ultra montes). The Center Party was not hostile to the new empire, but its attempts to protect Catholic interests at times put it at odds with the Parliament and the Chancellor.

A clash had begun in 1871 when the First Vatican Council under Pope Pius

IX set forth the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility (Petri Privilegium, "Privilege of

Peter"):

Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, to the glory of God our savior, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and for the salvation of the Christian people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman Pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning

22 The Center Party (or Zentrum) sat figuratively and literally in the center of the German Parliament. 43

faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable.23

To many German Catholics, Ignaz Dollinger24 and his circa 52,000 followers, for example, as well as the liberal political parliamentarians with whom Bismarck, at this point, was in alliance, the dogma made the Church appear irrational and backward, and it suggested that German Catholics owed primary obedience to the Pope. How could Germany move forward if an anti-modernist Church controlled many of her citizens?

From Bismarck's point of view, the Center Party was an alien influence in the new Germany. He claimed that the Center Party worked for policies that benefited Catholics, not necessarily the national interest. Anderson suggests, moreover, that Bismarck suspected that the Center promoted a connection between the Polish nobility and the Polish masses that kept Polish nationalism strong. This suspicion in itself was a reason to strike at the Catholic Church.

Liberal parties in Germany were "belligerently anticlerical," and supported

Bismarck in his cause against the Church. Evans maintains, nevertheless,

"[Bismarck] had no sympathy with the secularist ideals of the liberals but was more concerned with using the anticlerical campaign as a means of combating

23 The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) offers library sources for Catholic Church documents. http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/Vl.HTM#6. See also www.newadvent.org/ library.

24 Ignaz Dollinger was a German theologian and leader of the German Catholics who refused to accept the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. This group founded the Old Catholic sect. 44

the nationalist strivings of the Poles."25 How could German Catholics be loyal

Germans when their Church had ties to all European Catholics? Did Catholicism countermand nationalism? Feuchtwanger claims, "The Center party only became a large oppositional force because of the chancellor's offensive. A number of explanations are possible, in addition to the fact that Bismarck always believed in confrontation as a political method."26

One of Bismarck's first steps against the Catholic Church was the enactment of the Pulpit Paragraph. In December 1871, the Federal Council of the German

Reich instituted a law that prohibited "abuse of the pulpit," that is, criticizing state laws from the pulpit. This legislation controlled the power of the Church by limiting her voice. Two years later followed the May Laws,27 a broad attempt to dominate clerical affairs. Yet, Volker Berghahn points out, "The Kulturkampf was more than a political conflict. It represented a clash with the forces of

25 Evans, The German Center Party, 55, 57. Around the time the Kulturkampf was ending, Bismarck and the liberal parties began to diverge in their interests.

26 E. J. Feuchtwanger, From Weimar to Hitler: Germany, 1918-1933, (New York: St. martin's Press, 1995), 64.

27 "The four May Laws, or Falk Laws, of 1873 concerned, 1) 'the training and employment of the clergy,' 2) 'clerical disciplinary power and the establishment of a royal court for clerical matters,' 3) legal limits to the use of clerical punishment and corrective measures,' and 4) easy withdrawal from church membership. These were all passed in four days, May 4 through May 11." Evans, The German Center Party, 63. Institution of the Falk Laws was not the first Kulturkampf attack on Catholicism in Germany. In July 1872, the Reichstag passed a law disbanding the order of Jesuits () and expelling its members from Germany. See more discussion on the Kulturkampf in Evans, The German Center Party, . 3-5. 45

modernization which labored for the 'demystification of the world' and whose spearhead were the Liberals."28

Both the Center Party and Rome fought Bismarck as the enemy, and neither saw the need to placate him. Center Party leader Ludwig Windthorst and the

Centrists used the forum of local and national legislatures to make their voices heard in battling the anti-Catholic "May Laws." Both the and the

Center Party realized the dangers of the May Laws - "giving the state increased control over education and , muzzling the Catholic press, confiscating

Church property, and persecuting recalcitrant priests." Roman representatives and the Center Party followed a common interpretation of the duties and rights of the clergy.29 Where the Center Party used the Reichstag to battle the anti-

Catholic laws, Pope Pius IX used his pen. As the Kulturkampf began to crest in

1875, Pius IX called resistance by German Catholics a religious obligation and issued the papal encyclical Quod Numquam (On the Church in Prussia), which declared the Kulturkampf legislation "null and void."

28 Volker Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871-1914: Economy, Society, Culture, and Politics, (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1994), 99.

29 Louis L. Snyder, ed., Documents of German History, (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1958), 231. Centrist leader, Peter Reichensperger, proclaimed the duties of the clergy: "It is the duty and the right for the clergy and philosophers of the Catholic Church to preach and preserve, and to administer grace. It is secondly the duty and the right for priests and sextons, who support them in their apostolic positions, to instruct, educate, and communicate church duties. Thirdly, it is the duty and right of the clergy to admonish and urge performance of the Christian duty. When one refuses obstinately the teaching of church belief and laws, he should be expelled from the church community, and in the case of clergy, that he be forbidden all priestly tasks. These three duties are indissolubly bound, so that one cannot exist without the other." Peter Franz Reichensperger, Kulturkampf, (Berlin: J. Springer, 1876), 50. 46

Throughout the early Kulturkampf, the Centrists and papacy appeared to work as a team, with the Centrists acting as the Catholic political front line in the

Reichstag. The Center understood the role of the Pope, and he seemed to understand its role as political advocate for German Catholics. As representative of his German constituents, Centrist leader Ludwig Windthorst did not want to take direction from the Vatican. Nevertheless, he did defend the rights of the

Pope as supreme leader of the Catholic Church.

Discussion regarding the attacks against the Catholic Church took place not only within the Center Party or in Rome, but also in the corner of August

Lichtenberg' s shop in Ohlau, a grocery/ delicatessen combined with a wine bar. 30

In the wine bar was a "black corner," a table where Catholics sat and discussed, among other things, the politics of the day. Gotthard Klein observes, "Without regard for his business interests, Lichtenberg' s father advocated for the Church during the Kulturkampf as temporary chairman of his parish council."31

Christian Feldmann wonders, "Had not there been a small grocery/ delicatessen and the wine bar in Silesian, Ohlau, who knows whether Bernhard Lichtenberg would ever have rebelled and would have become a shining bearer of hope."

Had Lichtenberg ever eavesdropped on debates in the "black corner"?32 Had he

30 There is still a shop today on the comer of the marketplace where the Lichtenberg had his shop. One can buy fruit drinks, wine, and "cat's tongues" made from Polish milk chocolate. Kock, Er Widerstand, 33.

31 Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 4. 47

formed political opinions at a young age? What did he understand about the

Kulturkampf? Given that the family store was central to the Lichtenberg' s income, young Lichtenberg probably had a sense of how solvent his father's business was. He saw the effect the Kulturkampf had on his family's store. The boy Lichtenberg would have observed the customers and the business, or lack of both.

Town council officials forbade the people of Ohlau to buy groceries from

August's shop, but the rural population came in hordes, and so he was able to continue to run his store. Farmers came from the country twice each week to bring their harvest to market.33 Young Bernhard Lichtenberg acquired important early life experiences growing up among Polish Catholics and German

Protestants. Father Ogiermann and others imagine that Lichtenberg's experience as a member of a minority in Ohlau gave him the understanding and empathy for those without an advocate. Dieter Hanky maintains that Lichtenberg' s early life lessons included "the significance of mutual help the Catholic minority offered to one another, the value of firm principles in the face of the cost of personal sacrifice, and the experience of resistance against civic injustice."34

32 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 15.

33 Kock, Er Widerstand, 36. Kock points out that Ohlau was similar to many small Silesian towns in its layout with a large market place. The Lichtenberg business lay on one of the comers of the Market place.

34 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 7. 48

When Leo XIII succeeded Pius IX in February 1878, the Center Party found that the new Pope wanted to play a greater political role in Germany. Scholars agree that the Center Party relationship with the Holy See changed.35 In 1878,

Pope Leo XIII wanted to negotiate a diplomatic end to the battle. Given that the

Kulturkampf had not accomplished the goals that he had hoped to achieve, and, in light of his new policy of introductory tariffs to protect German industry and agriculture, a policy that alienated the liberals, Chancellor Bismarck realized that he needed the support of the Center Party. He was prepared to end the "culture struggle." Bismarck reasoned, "If the Kulturkampf is the impetus for Center

Party power, then let's end the struggle." Under Pius IX, the Center Party had held the political monopoly on Catholic politics in Germany. Conversely, Leo

XIII had his own political views for Germany as he attempted to end the

Kulturkampf.

Pope Leo XIII wasted no time in making overtures to Germany, sending a friendly message to Kaiser Wilhelm I. Reports indicated that the conclave had chosen Leo "as much for his political as for his spiritual merits."36 Anderson points out, "The new pontiff's cordial greeting to Wilhelm I encouraged rumours

35 For a detailed discussion, see Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Windthorst: A Political Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981); Anderson, Practicing Democracy; Evans, The German Center Party; Zeender, The German Center Party, 1890-1906.

36 Anderson, Windthorst, 206. 49

of a conciliatory foreign policy-and ended the Zentrum's convenient monopoly on German political Catholicism at a stroke."37

The Center Party leader, Ludwig Windthorst, decided that new tactics were in order. If the Pope were going to appear friendly to the German government, the Center Party also would appear friendly. Windthorst believed that he had to match the new pontiff's gestures if the Center were to remain a viable political force in Germany. Although the final goal might have been the same for the

Center and Pontiff-ending the Kulturkampf-Windthorst did not want the

Center Party to lose political momentum and power in the Reichstag.

Negotiations began in the summer of 1878 between Bismarck and the papal nuncio of , Gaetano Aloisi-Masella. Windthorst and the Centrist leader,

Moritz von Franckenstein, tried to educate the Vatican on the situation in

Germany. Evans suggests that Aloisi-Masella and the Vatican secretaries paid little attention to the instruction. It was frustrating for the Center Party leaders to have led the charge against Bismarck's Kulturkampf for seven years and then to have the papacy sideline them. Windthorst approached the papal nuncio in

Vienna, Ludovico Jacobini, to discover the Vatican's priorities so that the Center could draft legislation that would adjust to the Vatican course. Jacobini told him simply to fight for full repeal of the Kulturkampf laws and to "refrain from parliamentary maneuvers." Windthorst wanted to know the thinking in the

37 Ibid. 50

Vatican so that the Center could represent the Catholic Church. At the same time, he fought for control within his own party. Fellow Centrist leaders supported Leo XIII in his attempts to gain power for the Roman Catholic Church.

John Zeender points out: "[The new Pope, Leo XIII] was desperate to win the support of the leading statesman in Europe for the Vatican's efforts to regain the papal temporal power in ."38

In 1882, diplomatic relations resumed between the German government and the Vatican. Bismarck took a diplomatic approach with the papacy, eroding the position of the Center Party. In addition, the Pope deferred to Bismarck's insistence that Bishop Georg Kopp, in whom the chancellor had confidence, instead of Windthorst, should negotiate the peace settlement between the

Prussian Catholic Church and the Prussian state.39 By using Kopp, called a

"court-Catholic" and "state-Catholic" by many Centrists, Bismarck could bypass

Windthorst and the Center Party. Evans notes, "Kopp' s outlook was far more accommodating than Windthorst' s, and he set to work determined that concessions be made on both sides."40 John Zeender furnishes an image of the

38 Zeender, The German Center Party, 11.

39 Ibid. Future Kaiser Wilhelm II also had great respect for Cardinal Kopp: "He always served me loyally, so that my relationship to him was most trusting. Of much value to me was his mediation in dealings with the Vatican, where he stood in high honor, although he championed absolutely the German point of view." Wilhelm TI, The Kaiser's Memoirs, Translated by Thomas R. Ybarra, (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1922), 209.

40 We do not know if Kopp in any way made an impression on the young Lichtenberg. (Cardinal Kopp had ordained Lichtenberg.) However, Evans and Anderson offer some insight into the man's views. "In the last elections before the war, Polish candidates actively opposed 51

"diplomat": "Of humble birth and small size, Kopp possessed an impressive personality, strong will, and diplomatic talent."41 As chief mediator between the

German government and the , Kopp was willing to discuss concessions. Writing about the Berlin/Vatican compromise, Lech Trzeciakowski notes, "The old Roman principle of'do, ut des' - 'I give to you, so that you will give to me' - was to triumph." 42

The Pope's willingness to compromise with Bismarck brought about the first peace law in May 1886, passing by a vote of 280 to 180. Rome made it clear that

Windthorst 'must write to the Holy Father thanking him in his own name and in the name of the Zentrum for the settlement ... and at the same time expressing his confidence in the wisdom and the firmness of the Holy See.' Windthorst did

Center candidates in Silesia and won seats from the party. To some extent this was fue consequence of the hostile policies of Cardinal Kopp, who sought to eliminate Poles from membership in the Silesian Center." Evans, The Gennan Center Party, 109. "It is hard not to see in the Empire's second generation of leaders a growing awareness of anti-Semitism as a positive evil. Thus, while the most respected figure in the Catholic episcopate of the seventies, Bishop Emmanuel von Ketteler, shared with many of his estate negative stereotypes about Jews, and the revered Bishop Komad Martin, imprisoned during the Kulturkampf, subscribed to the most bloodthirsty medieval legends, the most powerful of the eighties and nineties, Cologne's Cardinal Philipp Krementz and Breslau' s Cardinal Georg Kopp - men on opposite ends of the Catholic political spectrum - were both hostile to anti-Semitism." Anderson, Practicing Democracy, 431. Bernhard Lichtenberg experienced a strong Catholic upbringing from his parents. However, had Lichtenberg gone to seminary in a region where the bishop had strong anti-Jewish sentiments and was open about them, Lichtenberg may have entered the priesthood with a different view regarding Jews. Kertzer notes, "In the 1890s, Church leaders had become sensitive about being accused of anti-Semitism. After all, the message of the Church was love and charity." David I. Kertzer, The Against the Jews: The Vatican's Role in the Rise of Modern Anti­ semitism, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001), 145. For Jewish/Gentile relations in Germany during the Second Reich, see Uriel Tal, Christians and Jews in Gennany: Religion, Politics, and Ideology in the Second Reich 1870-1914, trans. Noah Jonathan Jacobs, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975).

41 Zeender, The Gennan Center Party, 20.

42 Trzeciakowski, The Kulturkampf, 100. 52

nothing, and Peter Reichensperger took it upon himself to write to the Pope expressing joy over the achievement-in the name of the Center Party.43 The efforts of the papacy encouraged disunity within Center Party ranks.

Reichensperger and others stepped up to support the Pope's efforts in ending the

Kulturkampf. These "ultramontanists" led a Catholic conservative Party during these episodes, in opposition to many of Windthorst' s views.

Once Bismarck had involved Leo XIII in German Catholic diplomacy, the

Pope tried to direct the Center Party to do the Pope's bidding. The Septennat44 bill came up for vote a year early in 1886. The desire for Center Party support on this bill gave the Centrists an opportunity to ask for further revisions of the May

Laws, or so they thought. The Pope did not see this as an opportunity for advantage, but for continued diplomacy. Leo XIII had his nuncio in Germany try to influence the Center Party to support the Septennat. The Vatican had assured

Bismarck that it would support the passing of the bill. Bismarck planned to see the passage of the bill with or without the Center's help. The Center received a note from the Vatican in January 1887 asking the Party to support the bill.

Franckenstein, as the official head of the Center, responded to the Vatican with reasons why the Party opposed the bill. He went on to write that if the Vatican believed that the Center Party was no longer necessary~ he and his colleagues

43 Anderson, Windthorst, 333-334.

44 The Septennat was a seven-year compromise budget, adopted first in 1874, then in 1880, and was to be renewed again in 1887. 53

would resign. If the Center Party was to remain a political Party, it needed the freedom to act as it saw fit.45 The Septennat issue created "open conflict between pontiff and party" and caused "enormous scandal."46

It seemed that the Center Party's relationship with Rome was rupturing beyond repair. Windthorst felt anger and frustration at the gall of the Vatican.

In the streets, newsboys bellowed the headlines of the day, "Pope against

Windthorst! Pope against the Zentrum! Pope for the Septennat!"47 Only two years earlier, Bismarck had promised greater concessions to the Catholic Church if Leo could get Windthorst to resign.48 In a speech given in Cologne,

Windthorst pointed out that the Center was closer to the issues in Germany and would exercise its independence.49 The tension eased somewhat with a second papal note in which the Pope acknowledged the political independence of the

Center Party and offered words of praise and appreciation for all of its efforts.

Windthorst had been on his way to Cologne in February to speak at the congress of the Rhenish Center Party, where he made what Evans declares was the greatest speech of his career. On , 1887, Windthorst stated that the

Pope recognized that the Center Party had "earned the right to defend the

45 Anderson, Windthorst, 342.

46 Ibid.

47 Ibid., 346.

48 Ibid., 328.

49 Evans, The German Center Party, 90-91. 54

Church" and "must continue" to do so. Windthorst maintained that the Center

Fraction was "free in expressing its conviction and voice," and that the Pope should avoid engaging in worldly affairs. It was this principle, insisted

Windthorst, which was the basis for the Center's political existence.so

The Centrists debated then whether or not they should support the

Septennat. Ultimately, the bill passed with the Center Party abstaining in the

Reichstag vote, with Peter Reichensperger and seven other Centrists "actually voting for it."51 The Center Party did not have the support it thought it had in opposing the bill, but it did do well in the 1887 elections. The Septennat had raised such public attention that voters helped the Center Party to maintain its strength with 98 seats.s2

Pope Leo XIII had imposed his papal power on the political affairs of

Germany. Although Bismarck had said, "We shall not go to Canossa," he invited

Leo XIII to have a political hand in Germany - a Bismarck-guided diplomatic hand. Diplomacy allowed Leo to declare an end to the Kulturkampf in 1887.

At age twelve in 1887, Lichtenberg may have had an experiential understanding of the Kulturkampf, but not an intellectual perception of it.

5o Ludwig Windthorst, Ausgewiihlte Reden des Staatsministers a.D. und Parlamentariers Dr. Ludwig Windthorst, gehalten in der Zeit van 1851 bis 1891, (Osnabriick: Druck und Verlag von Bernhard Wehberg, 1901), 300-301.

51 Evans, The German Center Party, 91-92.

52 Pflanze, Period of Fortification, 234. 55

Throughout his secondary education and time in the seminary, he would have come to realize the significance of this battle for both the Church and the state.

He perhaps learned as well that tensions could exist between Rome and members of the Center Party, but then he was studying to become a priest, not a politician. One may posit that the impact of the Kulturkampf on German

Catholics and the Prussian-dominated discrimination, which Catholic states continued to suffer for decades after the Kulturkampf had ended, was bound to influence the young Lichtenberg.

Lichtenberg' s Education

Since Lichtenberg's mother had planned his path to priesthood when he was a young boy, his choice for schooling needed little thought. We do not know the annual income of Lichtenberg' s father or if it was a financial burden for the family, but we do know that all four Lichtenberg sons attended the gymnasium, a German secondary school. The elementary schools of Germany were practically free to all and attendance was compulsory between the ages of six and fourteen. If a pupil chose to continue his education, there was a cost, anywhere from $20 to $30 annually.53

53 James E. Russell, Gennan Higher Schools: The History, Organization and Methods of Secondary Education in Gennany, (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899), 151-152. Gymnasia, Realgymnasia, and Oberrealschulen were 120 marks ($30) annually; Progymnasia and Realprogymnasia were 100 marks ($25) annually; Realschulen were 80 marks ($20) annually. Fritz Ringer notes, "The cost of a complete higher education ... was between 4000 and 8000 marks." This included "rough but conservative estimates of living expenses while at the 56

The aim of the Prussian /1 gymnasium" was /1 to prepare its students through a broad humanistic training for the independent study of the arts and sciences."

The Church had originally founded the gymnasium as a professional school for the training of the clergy.54 The gymnasium had nine classes, with the highest being oberprima. For admittance to the gymnasium, a pupil had to be at least nine years old and have a three years' preparatory course in reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion.ss Generally, the difference between the classic gymnasia and other schools serving the same pupil age group was the curriculum. The

Progymnasia lacked some of the higher classes and in the Realschulen, classical languages were not taught.S6 The policies of the Prussian Ministry of Culture in the 1880s were designed especially to reduce secondary school attendance by children from lower and middle-class families.s7 The goal was both to protect the upper classes from the aspirations of the lower classes and to satisfy society's need for a variety of occupations through specific school paths. Throughout the nineteenth century, the majority of German children went to school for only university." Fritz K. Ringer, "Higher Education in Germany in the Nineteenth Century," Journal of Contemporary History 2, no. 3, (1967): 132-133.

54 Russell, German Higher Schools, 138.

55 Ibid., 122.

56 Ibid., 121-128. In Prussia in the late nineteenth century, there were 277 Gymnasia, 85 Realgymnasia, 67 Realprogymnasia, 60 Realschulen, 53 Progymnasia, and 26 Oberrealschulen.

57 Detlef K. Muller, "The Process of Systematization: The Case of German Secondary Education," in The Rise of the Modern Educational System, ed. Detlef K. Muller, Fritz Ringer, and Brian Simon (Cambridge: University Press, 1987), 38. See this work of Muller and the work of Fritz Ringer for an in-depth discussion of higher education in Germany in the nineteenth century. 57

eight years-primary schools or Volksschulen. The majority of Gymnasia students came from private preparatory schools, but some also from the

Volksschulen. In 1885, when the population of Germany stood near 47 million and around 7.5 million children were attending the Volksschulen, the total enrollment for all types of German secondary schools was only 238,000.58 Some of these children would continue their education in a vocational school. If one wanted to enter the priesthood, however, one had to take a more rigorous route.

Following several years in the Volksschule, the pupil would enter the German secondary school, the Gymnasium. In addition, students received their confessional education through their individual churches. Between 1886 and

1906, approximately 90 per cent of all Catholic school pupils received instruction in a school of their own religious faith.59

After his obligatory time in the Volksschule, Lichtenberg began attending a humanist gymnasium in Ohlau in 1885. Records indicate that Lichtenberg spent ten years at the gymnasium with two years in unterprima and a year in the highest level (oberprima). Hanky points out that Lichtenberg's "respectable character" won him the attention of his teachers. Erb notes that Lichtenberg was an "honest, respectable character, industrious, with a stormy temperament."60

58 Ringer, "Higher Education in Germany," 128, 132.

s9 Christa Berg, ed., Handbuch der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte, Band IV 1870-1918, Von der Reichsgriindung bis zum Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs, (Miinchen: Verlag C.H. Beck, 1991), 185. 58

There is nothing in the gymnasium documentation to indicate that

Lichtenberg had a /1 stormy temperament." Grobbel takes from Erb' s work and adds to it by writing that his abitur certificate noted that Lichtenberg should learn to "look before he leaps" because they were familiar with his hot temperament.61 The document actually reads that Lichtenberg "learned" to look before he leaps. If Lichtenberg did have a /1 stormy temperament," it may have been a perception of his independent spirit.

Regarding academics, Jesuit biographer Otto Ogiermann refers to

Lichtenberg's abitur as "undistinguished." Lichtenberg received grades of

11 Good" (Religious Instruction, German, French, English, Mathematics, Physics,

Gymnastics, Singing) and "Satisfactory" (, Greek, History and Geography, and Drawing). However, many of his teachers commented on Lichtenberg' s

11 /1 diligence" and praiseworthy industry" in his final grades. 62 They described his efforts as successful, devoted himself eagerly, tenacious participation, honest industry, exemplary, and hard work. Lichtenberg passed his abitur, good or satisfactory, in the spring of 1895. By that time, Germany had very different leadership.

60 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 15.

61 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 4. The "abitur" is the final comprehensive examination in grammar school needed for entry to higher education.

62 Klein, Berolinen 2: 4-6. 59

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Following his ill father's short reign, Wilhelm II became Kaiser in 1888, and

Germany was imbued with a stronger nationalistic spirit. 63 The new Kaiser developed a good relationship with Catholics. In Catholicism, with its rights and hierarchy, he could appreciate the monarchical system of rule. He also recognized the common belief of Catholics and Protestants regarding the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and Christian moral imperatives.64 Wilhelm II had seen the "harmful influence of the Kulturkampf" on the nation and attempted to have a friendly relationship with Catholics of all levels in Germany.65 Wilhelm II even developed a genuine friendship with Pope Leo XIII, a man who made a deep impression on the Kaiser. The two met in conversation three times. From his own memoirs, Wilhelm noted, "I was greatly pleased that the Pope spoke appreciatively and gratefully of the position occupied in Germany by the

Catholic religion and its adherents, adding the assurance that he, for his part,

63 German emperor Wilhelm I died in 1888 and was succeeded by his son Friedrich III. Already diagnosed with cancer, Friedrich died three months later and was succeeded by 29-year­ old son Wilhelm II. Not only did the Center Party have to deal with a new emperor, but also a change in chancellors. Otto von Bismarck left the office of Chancellor in the spring 1890. Kaiser Wilhelm II appointed two chancellors in the 1890s, chancellors that would do his will -Count followed Bismarck and at mid-decade, Wilhelm made a change to Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfiirst. The Center had a working relationship with Caprivi and when Wilhelm dismissed him, the Center had to "start over." The Chancellor was a conduit to the Kaiser, and if the Party could ingratiate itself to Hohenlohe by helping him look good for the Kaiser, it might have the Chancellor's ear.

64 Stefan Samerski, ed., Wilhelm II. und die Religion, Facetten einer Personlichkeit und ihres Umfelds, (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2001), 172-177. See Chapter by Jurgen Strotz, "Wilhelm II. und der Katholizismus."

65 Wilhelm II, The Kaiser's Memoirs, 208. 60

would contribute toward having the German Catholics yield to no other

Germans in love for their fatherland and in loyalty."66 Wilhelm II seemed most appreciative of his contact with the Pope and with Cardinal Kopp, but he and his chancellors still had to deal directly with everyday politics, which involved the

Center Party.

When the Center Party hesitated to support the proposed Army Bills and

Navy Bills, opponents suggested that Catholics were not patriotic Germans.

When the Pope supported (a predominantly Catholic country) in her national efforts, the German Center Party had to fight more vehemently the view that German Catholics were not true Germans. The Center Party struggled to earn the position of a patriotic political party and not merely a Catholic confessional party. For its support of the government's goals, the Center expected concessions from the parliament-a school-bill that would allow confessional education in various forms and return of the Jesuits and other orders still exiled from Germany. The Center Party and the Vatican supported these common goals. Perhaps the greatest desire of Rome was the return of the

Jesuits to Germany.67 Monastic orders, as well as the missionary-oriented congregations like the Jesuits, were the backbone of Catholic education. Which

66 Ibid., 210. At a later meeting, Leo XII told the Kaiser "Germany must become the sword of the Catholic Church." The Pope "stuck to his words" even after the Kaiser pointed out that the old of the German nation no longer existed, 211.

07 For a discussion regarding the attitude toward Jesuits in Germany, see R6isin Healy's chapter 7, "Anti-Jesuitism in Imperial Germany" in Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Gennany, 1800-1914, ed. Helmut Walser Smith (Oxford: Berg, 2001). 61

would come first: Center support or concessions from parliament? Often the

Vatican pressured the Centrists to support the Kaiser in order to gain concessions. However, the Center could show itself a powerful entity by requiring concessions for its legislative support. Anderson points out the power of the Center Party. "In the Reichstag, except for the three-year rule of the

'Kartell' between February 1887 and March 1890, it was the largest party from

1881 until 1912, often exceeding other delegations by margins of forty seats or more. After 1898, it lay in the Centrum's hands to 'make' either a Left or a Right majority."68

Georg Kopp, prince-bishop of Breslau, was a significant figure in the relationship between the Center Party and Rome.69 At times, he seemed a self- appointed go-between for these two forms of Catholic leadership, as well as a mediator between Church and state. Kopp had been a thorn in the side of Center

Party leader Windthorst and then Windthorst's successor, Dr. Ernst Maria

Lieber. Kopp was more flexible than Party leaders, and he was willing to negotiate with the German state. In 1893, the Army Bill was up for a vote, and

68 Anderson, Practicing Democracy, 144. The "Kartell Reichstag" included National Liberals and Conservatives.

09 Bishop Forster of Breslau died in 1881, and both state and church officials scrambled to consider candidates. Naturally, Bismarck had wanted to see a German, not a Pole, in the position, and he received his wish in Robert Herzog. Lech Trzeciakowski points out that six years later, "In 1887, the deceased bishop of [Breslau], Robert Herzog, who had not fulfilled the hopes the state had placed in him, and had not engaged himself in a battle with Polishness, was succeeded by one of the most dangerous enemies of the Poles - Georg Kopp" (Trzeciakowski, The Kulturkampf, 112). 62

Center Party leaders appeared disinclined to champion it. Kopp supported it and persuaded Pope Leo XIII to encourage the party to support it. The Pope was fervent in his desire to have the Jesuits and other banned religious orders returned to Germany. He thought that the Center Party should be more accommodating to the Kaiser over some issues. Kopp asked Lieber to take a long-range view of the interests of the Catholic community and not to act because of contemporary circumstances. Kopp warned him that Catholics would suffer from a conflict with the monarchy over the army measure and a lost war.70

Throughout the 1890s, Cardinal Kopp and Pope Leo XIII actively participated in

German politics and although they had a congenial relationship with the Kaiser, the work of the Center Party created tension between State and Church. Because

Wilhelm II resented the Center Party for its lack of support for the Army Bill,

Kopp suggested to the Pope that the Pontiff not engage the Kaiser on the subject of the Jesuits.

The relationship between Kopp and Lieber was strained. Lieber wanted to make the Center Party a legitimate political Party in the eyes of the Kaiser and all of Germany. At the same time, Lieber wanted concessions for Center support.

On the back burner was always the Jesuit issue. Lieber felt pressured by Kopp, believing that someday Kopp might force him out of power and bring in an aristocratic conservative to lead the Party. In September 1897, Kopp accused

70 Zeender, The Gennan Center ParhJ, 33. Lieber appeared to have ignored Kopp. 63

Lieber of being apathetic when it came to the Jesuits. Zeender maintains, "Lieber became increasingly concerned between 1895 and 1898 over his need to produce results for his church and the Catholic minority and over the strained relations between the Center and the monarch. He was obsessed by the conviction that

Cardinal Kopp was seeking to undermine whatever confidence the Vatican had in his leadership of the Center by saying that he was too close to the liberal

Hohenlohe government and had produced nothing substantial for the Church.

Lieber was sensitive about his inability to secure even a partial modification of the anti-Jesuit law."71

Despite the "internal strife" in Catholic politics, the Center Party moved forward in other respects. It developed programs designed to expand the

Catholic presence in education and in the upper levels of government. Catholic periodicals and newspapers noted the uninspiring academic achievement of

Catholics and their poor relationship to official German culture. In August 1896, the German bishops addressed the under-representation of Catholics studying in universities, a problem severe enough to shock Rome's leaders.72 German

Catholic citizens became involved in politics through their associations. Every

September, meetings of the Congress of Catholic Associations (Katholikentag)

71 Ibid., 66.

72 Smith, Protestants, Catholics and Jews in Germany, 128. 64

held their "fall maneuvers," as Catholic voters becoming an army.73 Lichtenberg attended the "Katholikentag" at every opportunity, from university and seminary years through his time as a pastor.

University Life

Just as a new generation of Centrist leaders stepped forward to guide

Catholic interests in the Reichstag, Lichtenberg began his university studies in

1895 in (summer session) at the Theologische Fakultat der Leopold-

Franzens-Universitat. We do not know why Lichtenberg chose to study in

Innsbruck for only one summer, but his decision was probably not a political one, but a practical one.74 Studying under the Jesuits for the summer would have been a special opportunity for an aspiring German cleric. Lichtenberg' s decision to attend the university at Breslau may have been based on easier admission, financial necessity, or location. The University of Breslau had a Catholic theological faculty, and it was close to Ohlau.

By the time he was ready for the seminary, Lichtenberg already would have known of Innsbruck University's excellent reputation. At the request of the Holy

73 Anderson, Practicing Democracy, 117.

74 Beth Griech-Polelle writes that Clemens von Galen transferred to Innsbruck when, after a three-month visit in Rome with his brothers, he decided to become a priest. He had attended the Catholic for one semester before the momentous decision. Von Galen had contemplated becoming a Jesuit, but after 5 to 6 years at Innsbruck, he entered the seminary in Miinster and was ordained in 1904. Each young man had different motives for his life's decisions. Griech-Polelle, Bishop von Galen, 13-15. 65

Roman Emperor in 1562, Innsbruck University75 had opened under the direction of the newly founded Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Introduced several decades later, the theological faculty experienced difficult times under the repressive authority of various emperors. Nevertheless, by the mid-nineteenth century, "the most illustrious teachers of the university (were] mainly in the theological faculty." 76

Ludwig Pastor, one of these professors, was well known for his work "History of the Popes." Because of its great reputation, history, and faculty, Innsbruck was a logical choice. Additionally, since German universities were under a strong

Prussian surveillance, study at a Catholic university in a Catholic state probably was more appealing. Of 1,355 men appointed to German faculties of theology, law, and medicine between 1817 and 1900, no fewer than 322 were placed against or without the faculties' recommendations. The organs of academic self- government were weak, especially in the executive department, and this tended to perpetuate the states' de facto control over higher learning and its disciples.

Gotthard Klein explains, "During the Kulturkampf, the Prussian Minister of

Culture prohibited (in 1874) Prussian theological students from visiting the

75 The university "originated in the college ... as a gymnasium with four classes, in which elements, grammar, and syntax were taught ... in 1606, a new building for the gymnasium was completed, whereupon courses in philosophy and theology were begun." Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Innsbruck University," http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ 08024b.htm (accessed 5/25/2008).

76 "It is almost exclusively through the theological faculty and the 'Nikolaihaus' that Innsbruck is known outside of Austria , especially among Catholics ... .Students from nearly every civilized country have frequented the lectures in theology." Ibid. 66

Innsbruck faculty. This decree was rather counterproductive and the appeal for studying in an 'ultramontane' institution seemed to grow."77

Lichtenberg was so devoted to his parents that his departure for Austria was quite emotional and it remained in his mind for a lifetime. He recalled it in his prison diaries:

Two young journeymen butchers ... silently and sympathetically regarded the young student, who was waving goodbye to his mother from the train window; however, when the train pulled away, he yielded to the pain of separation and like a real little mama's boy wept his heart out from Breslau to Milnsterberg. However, he slowly got hold of himself and finally was in good spirits as he wandered over the treeless sand hills to GrofS Nossen. 7s

A visit with his great uncle (a priest) in GrofS Nossen helped to lift Lichtenberg's spirits. With money in his pocket (provided by his uncle), Lichtenberg continued to Prague. On the journey, a toothache got the better of him, and he turned to a bottle of wine his father had packed for him. By the time he reached Prague, both the contents of the jug and his pain were gone, and he continued on to

Innsbruck.79

During his four months in the Theologische Fakultat der Leopold-Franzens-

Universitat, Lichtenberg could not live in the Jesuit Monastery as he would have preferred but instead resided in a private dwelling. He longed to be among the

77 Hugo von Kremer-Auenrode, Actenstiicke zur Geschichte der Verhandlungen von Staat und Kirche im XIX. Jahrhundert, Bd. IV, (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1880), 102. Reprinted Hildeheim: Olms, 1976.

78 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX., 16-17.

79 DAB V/26 Scripta S. D. IX., 17. 67

theology students and Jesuit novices as they discussed the topics of their classes.

He saw in them the same reflective spirit he felt within himself. The university stressed support and understanding of different nations and various cultures.

The rule of the university commanded community life, understanding, and tolerance. All levels of society were present at the school, from conservative aristocrats to middle- and lower-level scholarship students. Students were told that they would and must learn from one another because that was the only way to understand current social problems.so

As a young man, he must have added to his limited perspective of the

Kulturkampf from his studies and conversations with schoolmates and professors. In his study of the University of Breslau, Erich Kleineidam wrote,

"The new generation [of Catholic university students] - born in the 50s - had grown up amidst the Kulturkampf; the men of this generation had suffered with it and had quarreled for their church and they had shared together the catastrophe of so many professors whose path had led, in the arrogance of complete superciliousness of the German scientific theology, not simply out of the church but rather into battle against the existing church which was in most desperate straits. Unconditional loyalty to the church and to the pope will turn

so Griech-Polelle, Bishop von Galen, 14. 68

into casualness for the new generation purely moderated by life."81 Having been born in 1875, Lichtenberg was too young to have experienced the Kulturkampf during his university years, an impressionable time for any young man.

Experiencing the Kulturkampf first-hand and learning about it were not the same. Consequently, Lichtenberg's "unconditional loyalty" to a conservative

Church remained intact.

It was difficult for the young Lichtenberg to be away from his parents, and he wrote home almost everyday from the university. Although a few family letters have since been lost, author Erb had access to them when he was writing his biography in 1945-1946. Erb notes that, as a student in Innsbruck in 1895, the lonely Lichtenberg "whined a bit in his letters as a bird thrown from a nest."82

Lichtenberg informed his parents about all the issues he faced at school-how much things cost, where he lived, having to stay out of drafts. However, we do not know if he ever reported that he escaped serious injury when a horse kicked him in the chest. Lichtenberg credited his guardian angle with encouraging him to hold out his walking stick in front of his chest just before the kick.

Apparently, he related to his parents his daily schedule because his mother once warned him in a letter, "Do not work half way through the night again." This

81 Erich Kleineidam, Die Katholisch-Theologische Fakultiit der Universitiit Breslau 1811-1945, (Cologne: Wienand-Verlag, 1961), 82.

82 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 15-16. Erb wrote the first biography of Bernhard Lichtenberg only years after Lichtenberg' s death, and he had access to these family letters. The letters have since been, according to Berlin diocesan archivist Gotthard Klein, "lost." 69

admonishment indicates his strong work ethic that remained with him his entire life. Then again, his mother worried when once she did not receive a letter from him for three days. In his first letter home, Lichtenberg wrote, "You will write often and much to your poor lost son, won't you little mother!"83 Lichtenberg was very careful how he spent his money and always asked his parents' opinion regarding costs. His frugality became a lifelong discipline, as one of his St.

Hedwig's attested, "In clothing, holidays, and vacation, he was modest."84

During a break from his summer studies, Lichtenberg took the opportunity to travel. During the Pentecost vacation, he journeyed to Trieste in northern

Italy. Lichtenberg's religious beliefs and interest in church history played a part in every trip he ever made. It was 400 years earlier in Trieste that the Conciliar

Fathers had formulated the phrase "ingens solatium" (great comfort) of the holy sacrament of atonement. The sacrament of reconciliation (confession) was dear to Lichtenberg both as a confessor and as a penitent. Lichtenberg and his two companions walked the Square of St. Mark's in Venice before boarding the

(midnight) ship that took them across the Adriatic to Trieste. They took a refreshing dip in the sea and stayed the night with a kind pastor. They boarded

83 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 16.

84 Klein, Berolinen, 3:226. Pastor Heribert Podolski, born April 28, 1906 in Kattowitz, served as a priest in the diocese of Berlin. He was a "Pfarrkind" (child or young person in the parish) of Lichtenberg (Herz-Jesu, 1925-1931), and when ordained a Priest in 1931, Podolski went to St. Hedwig's to act as Lichtenberg' s "Personalkaplan." 70

a train and before he knew it, Lichtenberg was listening to Ludwig Pastor's history lecture back in Innsbruck.

Seminary Years

After his summer semester in Innsbruck, Lichtenberg prepared to return home. His parents traveled to to meet him. Demonstrating how much he had missed them, Lichtenberg "galloped like a hunting dog" toward his parents when he saw them on the opposite side of the train station. The trio traveled by way of Linz and Vienna back to their Silesian homeland. Their trip together along the Danube was full of joy, especially the view of Maria Taferl, the

Benedictine Melk, Kremsmiinster, and numerous castles, villages, and cities reflected in the blue water.85 After a brief visit with family and friends,

Lichtenberg entered the university in Breslau.86

After three years of study, Lichtenberg passed his theological exam in 1898, and his parents rewarded him with a trip. A seminarian friend from his

Innsbruck summer joined Lichtenberg, and the two began their travels in

Eichenzell (near Fulda) to visit an old priest. The "venerable" father had met the young Lichtenberg during the Innsbruck summer and had taken him "under his wing." Lichtenberg had accompanied the priest in 1895 to the 42nd general

85 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. IX., 28.

86 Biographer Karl Grobbel sums up Lichtenberg' s university life: "At the University of Breslau, Lichtenberg laid the further fundamentals to his philosophical foundation and theological education, which gave him the requisite know-how for the vocation as spiritual caregiver, homilist, Catechist, and confessor." Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 4. 71

convocation of German Catholics in Munich and made the pilgrimage with him to the Katholikentag in Altotting. Lichtenberg and the elder priest became reacquainted, shared memories, and discussed new thoughts and experiences.

The two seminarians visited the Franciscan monastery near Fulda and took a train to Hamburg. From there, they boarded a ship to the tiny island of

Helgoland. The pair did not allow the beauty of nature to make them forget their training. Back in their room, the elder of the two presided in their practice of 11 celebrating" Holy Mass, as priest candidates do as a means for ordination preparation. Several days later, they attended the Katholikentag in Krefeld. From there, they 11 enjoyed God's splendid nature," traveling down the Rhine river from Cologne to . Finally, they took a train home to Breslau via

Dresden.

In 1898, "full of anticipation," Lichtenberg entered the newly constructed

Prince Bishop Boarding School for his year in the seminary. The scene remained in his mind: "The of the founder, Cardinal Kopp, was the knightly

St. George, who is on a white horse that rears up over the greenish dragon, which in a rage defies the sharp lance. This figure greeted more than 300 students, who met for the first time at 6:00 p.m. in the long dining room."87

Although Kopp was instrumental (accommodating) in ending the Kulturkampf, he administered a tight ship in the seminary. Christian Feldmann explains

s7 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. IX., 28-29. 72

Kopp's leadership: "Cardinal Kopp was so autocratic that Silesian clerics whispered without respect: 'I am the man, your Kopp, you shall have no other

Kopps before me.' Despite this he was loved."88

The seminarians followed a strict schedule but also had time for fraternal friendship. On their first day, the director of the theological school read out the names and announced the day's schedule. Following the mid-day meal prayer, the young men were allowed to talk with one another as they snatched their bowls of soup from transport carts that ran along the long tables on rails. When the meal ended, they heard a bell, another prayer was recited, and then the head master marched them silently to the chapel on the fourth floor for a short worship service. From there they headed out for a recreation period in the garden. On the next morning, Lichtenberg and his fellow seminarians began a schedule they would follow for the next year: morning prayer; remarks by the director; Holy Mass; breakfast; a walk to the university; 1:20 lunch; recreation and study.89 Other than this basic seminary schedule, we know little about

Lichtenberg's experiences in the seminary. We do know, however, that he kept a small book in which he recorded his spiritual exercises, his struggles for purification and holiness in his personal life. He maintained this book into his

88 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 21. Kock notes that Cardinal Kopp "wanted no strong Silesians (keine Verschlesierung) on the faculty. (Kock, Er Widerstand, 45.) Silesians were known to have a stubborn streak. This phrase is a play on the First Commandment, "I am the Lord your God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me."

89 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. IX., 27-29. 73

years as a priest. It was in the seminary that Lichtenberg began his lifelong love of praying the breviary. Years later in Berlin, one could see him often, book in hand, praying as he walked along .

Ordination was nearing, and the candidates for priesthood prepared for their life vocation. In his diaries, Lichtenberg explained, "A life vocation has to be a genuine closing, after which comes the new building. The soul must be calm."90 Not only do the young men change in appearance with their and clerical garb, but they also transform internally. They find time and space to be alone. Throughout Lichtenberg' s years as a pastor, he always kept a room for himself: "Never am I less alone than when I am alone; for when I am not alone, I am with people, and when I am alone, I am with God."91

Ordination

On December 17, 1898, Lichtenberg received his and the lower orders.92 The next day, he was ordained a subdeacon, and a week later he

90 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. IX., 35.

91 Nie bin ich weniger allein, als wenn ich allein bin. Denn wenn ich nicht allein bin, bin ich bei den Menschen, und wenn ich allein bin, bin ich bei Gott. This is a saying of Bernhard Lichtenberg.

92 "Historically, the tonsure was not in use in the primitive Church during the age of persecution. Even later, St. Jerome disapproved of clerics shaving their heads. Indeed, among the Greeks and Romans such a custom was a badge of slavery. On this very account, the shaving of the head was adopted by the . Towards the end of the fifth, or beginning of the sixth, century, the custom passed over to the secular clergy." Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "Tonsure," http:/ /www.newadvent.org/ cathen/14779a.htm (accessed 5/25/2008). The lower orders (or minor orders) include exorcist, lector, cantor, and acolyte. 74

received the order of . As Lichtenberg prepared for ordination, he gave a practice homily before his brothers.93 The theme of this sermon was

"steadfastness and unfeigned piety."94 Young Lichtenberg's simple words revealed the central theme of his faith: "It is our very first task to treat our neighbors always with kindness."95 His words were also prophetic:

Woe unto the reed that is blown back and forth in the wind. Of such people, the Savior speaks as follows: Who is not with me is against me! There can be no vacillating here: either you follow the enticement of the evil enemy and suffer the eternal punishment for it, or you will throw yourself into the arms of the Divine Savior and will partake of the crown of steadfastness.96

Here Lichtenberg is a young man of twenty-four, speaking about how to treat one's neighbor with kindness. That "theme" was apparently not simply practice for the priesthood, as Lichtenberg continued to declare, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Lichtenberg followed a resolute path, never wavering, never failing to speak out against evil. He adhered to a simple rule, as he perceived it: choose the good.

Georg Kopp, elevated to Cardinal in 1893, ordained Lichtenberg a priest

(along with more than 80 other men) in Breslau in June 1899. More than forty years later, Lichtenberg summoned up the memory:

93 Erb noted that Lichtenberg collected quotes to use in , that one can barely find an original thought in the sermons. However, Erb gives Lichtenberg the credit of delivering sermons "with eloquence."

94 Kock, Er Widerstand, 49.

95 DAB V /26. Proc. Doc. Varia Hl, 2.

96 DAB V /26. Proc. Doc. Varia Hl, 3. 75

Tomorrow, my Lord, tomorrow I am to become a priest!-My pulse wants to stop. Today I am still a deacon. Tomorrow at 6 o'clock I will go across to the cathedral with 89 brothers .... And I will go to my paternal city and father and mother will embrace their priestly son and he will kneel before them, clad in holy garments, and ask for their blessing.... And on the next Saturday a peasant's wagon will stop in front of his father's house and bring him to Thomaskirch, there for the first time he will absolve his first penitent in the confessional and proclaim the word of God to the village community and sing the high office and again a week later, he will represent the spiritual godfather in his parish: Deus, deus meus, ad Te de luce vigilo.97

Silesian Rome

A month after his ordination, Cardinal Kopp assigned the newly ordained

Lichtenberg to be the third chaplain to Saint Jacob's in Neisse, a town in current- day southwestern Poland.98 Neisse, with her four churches, golden fountain, and

Angelus bell,99 was one of the oldest towns in Silesia.10° The nine-story high roof of Saint Jacob's had been the symbol of the medieval (second) residence of

Breslau' s bishops for half a millennium. The parish priests received the young

Lichtenberg in warm manner, and he felt at home. The former "citizens" of

97 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX, 39-41.

9s "Nysa [Neisse] is one of the oldest towns in Silesia. It probably was founded in the 10th century and afterwards became the capital of the principality of its name, which around 1200 became part of the bishopric of Wroclaw. Nysa retained its mostly Catholic character within the predominantly Protestant province of in the ." Wikipedia, s.v." Nysa, Poland," http:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nysa%2C_Poland (accessed 5/25/2008). Lichtenberg noted in his prison diaries: "Here was the site of a Roman double camp from the period of expeditions of conquest of Tiberius and Drusus 15 B.C." Lichtenberg had replaced Pastor Kramer (Lichtenberg's Godfather) in Schonwalde for one month Gune-July) before his permanent assignment. Klein, Berolinen, 1:2. (Chronology)

99 The Angelis is a devotional prayer in memory of the Annunciation, in which a bell tolls in the morning, noon, and evening to indicate the time when one is to recite the prayer.

100 Magiera, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 10. 76

Neisse-Polish princes, Frankish tradesmen and farmers, Saxons, and

Dutchmen-were "proud" of their city, and civic participation was a significant part of their lives. It was a conservative region where Catholics had friendly contact now and then with the Protestant minority.101 Because of its many churches and religious buildings, people referred to the town as "Silesian Rome."

Neisse was a city of old buildings, but there was also a new area with gardens, and some described it primarily as a "city of the youth." At the end of

August 1899, the 46th Katholikentag took place in Neisse.102 Perhaps Catholic leaders chose Neisse because of the youth, the future of the Church.

Lichtenberg, along with ten thousand Catholics, participated.

For the first time in his short life, [Fridolin saw] an entire city in military pageantry in attendance of the Eucharistic God, just as it happened in the Silesian Rome where Fridolin as an assistant priest.... Deus meus, deus meus: vigilo ad Te, ad Te de luce vigilo. But things were to get better.103

On August 13, 1900, the bishop named Lichtenberg chaplain at St. Mauritius in Friedrichsberg-Lichtenberg; Friedrichsberg was only a post office.

Lichtenberg, the village, lay outside of Berlin with its forty thousand inhabitants.

It grew to eighty thousand and became part of Berlin. It remained in the Breslau

101 Kock, Er Widerstand, 51. In 1933, the majority of it Reichstag members were still in the Catholic Center party.

102 Ibid., 51, 52.

103 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX, 9-11. 77

diocese because Berlin was still part of that diocese.104 The fact that the priest

Bernhard Lichtenberg was appointed to minister in the precinct of Lichtenberg prompted Father Lichtenberg to sign his correspondence: Lichtenberg from

Lichtenberg. As Lichtenberg noted in his diaries, "The bishop called [him] ...

from the Silesian Rome to the I markischen Sand,"'105 from the tradition-bound

Catholic past into the rootless present, from the city to the village.

The bishop was calling many young priests to Berlin, a region in need of

Catholic development. Many people were migrating to the cities and they needed pastoral care. Berlin was a growing city. It was the capital city and yet, in 1900, did not have a bishopric.106 To secure this leadership in the future, the bishop of Breslau had to increase the numbers of clergymen and churches. In his early years, Father Bernhard Lichtenberg' s hundreds of parishioners grew to thousands, and Catholic churches sprouted up in the region. It was the beginning of setting Berlin on a course to be a focal point for German

Catholicism.

104 It is a bit confusing and ironic that Bernhard Lichtenberg the man served as chaplain in the region of "Lichtenberg bei Berlin." A "Lichtenberg in Lichtenberg" was not a new occurrence. His great uncle, Franz Lichtenberg, served as a pastor in Lichtenberg bei Grottkau in Silesia.

10s Miirkisch refers to the Prussian state Brandenburg, known historically as "die Mark Brandenburg." Mark meant originally "border state" as between Germans and Slavs. Brandenburg then became the province of Prussia. Sand refers to the sandy soil.

106 After two years in Munster, the young priest Clemens August Graf von Galen was assigned to Berlin in 1906 and remained there until 1929. Griech-Polelle, 16. For statistics regarding the Catholic Church at this time, see Helmreich, The Gennan Churches Under Hitler, 59. CHAPTER THREE

EXPANDING THE CATHOLIC PRESENCE IN BERLIN

(1900-1918)

Whom God wants to show real favor, him he sends out into the wide world1

Dieter Hanky refers to fin-de-siecle Berlin as "the greatest metropolis of the continent."2 Hugh McLeod reports, "In 1881, a speaker at the city synod noted that Berlin was regarded by foreigners as 'the most irreligious city in the world."'3 Christian Feldmann imparts the opinion of a journalist: "This city stands like a last distant beacon over laborious, groaning, starving land."4 Erich

Kock adds to the observations, advising that cynics called Berlin "the greatest arc lamp, to which moths flock." Many burned in its light.5 Could Catholicism develop in such a setting? McLeod maintains that the turning point for

Catholicism in the city of Berlin came with the appointment of Joseph Jahnel as

i "Wern Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen, den schickt er in die weite Welt." This is a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff, which later became a folk song.

2 Berlin had grown from 800,000 inhabitants in 1871 to over 2,000,000 by the turn of the century.

3 Hugh McLeod, Piety and : Working-Class Religion in Berlin, London and New York, 1870-1914, (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1996), 6.

4 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 22.

s Kock, Er Widerstand, 59. 78 79

Provost of St. Hedwig's in 1888. The energetic Jahnel raised money from

Catholics in southern and western Germany "to aid the mostly poor Catholic minority in the nation's capital."6 In the decades between the Kulturkampf and the beginning of World War I, Berlin grew to become not only the largest

"diaspora city" in Germany, but also the largest in all of Europe.7 Though mainly used to refer to the dispersion of Jews in the ancient period, Church historians use the term diaspora to refer to the Catholics dispersed throughout parts of Germany during the fin-de-siecle. Germany was predominantly a

Protestant nation. Only 10 per cent of the population of Berlin in 1900 was

Catholic and a quarter of those were Polish immigrants. Some Protestants viewed Catholics as backward and superstjtious. In public bureaucracies, the officer corps, the professions, and in higher education, Catholics faced discrimination. s Although occupational, educational, and confessional identity may have kept many Protestants and Catholics apart, a significant number of

Catholics in Berlin were marrying Protestants, and children born of these unions,

6 McLeod, Piety and Paverty, 23. "In 1871 [Protestants] comprised 89 per cent of the population, as against 6 per cent Catholics and 4 per cent Jewish. By 1905, the proportion of Protestants was down to 83 per cent, with 11 per cent Catholic and 5 per cent Jewish." Ibid., 8. McLeod's numbers tie closely to those of Stephan Goetz: 1871, 51,729 Catholics (6.2 % of the population; 1890, 135,407 (8.6% ); 1900, 188,844 (10% ); 1910, 242,518 (11.7% ). Stephan Goetz, Kirchen far Berlin, Der Wilhelminische Bauboom, (Berlin: Verlagshaus Braun, 2008), 36.

7 Goetz, 62. Berlin's population doubled (from 2 million to 4 million) in the decade before World War I, and a small portion of that growth came from the Catholic population (as seen in the previous note).

s Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914-1918, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 6. 80

in the majority of the cases, were reared in the Protestant tradition.9 Ministry in

the Catholic churches of Berlin was weak, and the city depended on Catholic

regions of Germany to bolster the paucity.

Cardinal Kopp reassigned the enthusiastic young Lichtenberg to this city

filled with predominantly working people. Berlin was not yet an Episcopal See,

but belonged to the Diocese of Breslau, the second largest western diocese next to

Paris.10 Lichtenberg was happy, excited, and nervous about his 'new assignment. Having been in Munich before his ordination, Lichtenberg had

written, "I will probably not feel entirely at in a large city," but he ultimately found Berlin to his liking. In the beginning, however, the metropolitan environment presented a great change and challenge for the young man-from the 500-year-old parish church, St. Jacob's in Neille, to the first provisional

diaspora church, St. Mauritius, in the expanding Lichtenberg district.11 The unified municipality of Berlin was divided into boroughs (Bezirke), each with its own council. Lichtenberg was one of the boroughs. Bernhard Lichtenberg's

9 McLeod, Piety and Paverty, 24. "In the years 1901-5, 60 per cent of Catholics marrying in Berlin were choosing a Protestant partner, and the majority of the resulting children were being brought up as Protestants." Levels of Catholic practice "were low by comparison" with other parts of Germany

10 With the founding of the diocese of Berlin in 1930, Breslau was raised to the status of an archdiocese.

11 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 24. See Appendix B for a map of the districts of Berlin. http:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wild/File:Berlin_Bezirke_2001.png 81

great uncle Franz had served as pastor in Lichtenberg bei Grottkau in Silesia, and

now Bernhard served as chaplain in Lichtenberg bei Berlin.

Lichtenberg arrived at the "Catholic"12 train station in Berlin and was surprised to see much of the area still undeveloped. The pastor from the nearby

St. Pius Church told him that he would have fewer than fifty children in the

Mauritius parish.13 The working community of St. Mauritius, the only Catholic

Church in Lichtenberg (a region on the periphery of Berlin), had 230 members.14

On Sundays, the parishioners congregated in the garden for services. As chaplain in Lichtenberg, Lichtenberg established a Sunday service at the Kaiser pavilion in . Some Catholics made the long way to St. Michael's

Church. Others went to St. Maria Viktoria in the region of the FriedrichstraiSe

Bahnhof.

The population of Berlin was growing so quickly that Lichtenberg was curious. Why were people flocking to Berlin? He asked his congregants, and they gave him a list of reasons. Some wanted to earn more, and others wanted a freer lifestyle. Some were following the example of relatives who raved about Berlin, and others came as students or had to join the military.

Machines had made many farm workers superfluous, and financial need drove

12 Since most of the Catholic immigrants came through this train station, the station took on this moniker. The site now is the Ostbahnhof.

13 Alfons Erb, writing in 1946, noted that "today" the region has eight parishes and two curatages. Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 24.

14 Kock, Er Widerstand 58. 82

these workers to seek employment in the Berlin industries. The constantly growing boroughs required an army of bureaucrats, and the enormously increasing traffic demanded more and more means of locomotion. The newly arising factory cities employed thousands upon thousands of workers.15

Although he was in the "big city," young Lichtenberg retained his "small town" values and practices, surprising some people. An independent

Lichtenberg held to traditions that caused him to call attention to himself. In his first week at the new parish, a woman and her child saw him through the open door to his residence. The woman exclaimed, "Good Lord, what a sight you are!" as she eyed him in his cassock. As Lichtenberg was shutting the door after bidding her goodbye, she added, "Yes, and tidy up your room."16 The old women who had gone to daily Mass in Silesia were accustomed to Lichtenberg' s appearance, but not so in Berlin.

Surprise or shock was one reaction to the young conservative priest; another was hatred. Christian Feldmann relates a story: "A drunk driver was annoyed at the 'Pfaffen,' who trudged through the snow on a frosty winter morning ... on his way to visit the dying. The inebriated man pulled a whip and whacked the priest in the face. Lichtenberg merely regarded the rowdy man."17 Lichtenberg often heard derogatory terms for the clergy hurled at him - Pfaffen ("Priest") or

is DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX, 45-47.

16 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 25.

17 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 29. 83

Schwarzen ("Black"). Protestants felt threatened by the growing Catholic

population and the new Catholic churches being built. More churches, Catholic

immigrants, and Catholics rejecting modern culture - all these created an

atmosphere of hostility toward the Catholic clergy, and Lichtenberg drew

attention to himself in liturgical garb.18

Lichtenberg continued to wear the traditional garb of a priest, despite a

liberalizing trend taking place in some mixed confessional areas. Many priests,

especially in the diaspora or in regions where the numerical balance between

Catholicism and was fairly even, had begun to appear in more

secular attire. By responding to the changing circumstances and attitudes of

their congregations, they would be able to preserve their customary positions at

the head of local associational life.19 Lichtenberg, however, continued to wear

his conservative attire, the time-honored cassock, surplice, and beret,

maintaining the typical symbol of the traditional Catholic Church.

Pastor Nikolaus Kuborn20 introduced Lichtenberg to the needs of the parish.

The Catholic school system was important. After a hard and lengthy negotiation,

1s It was common for priests to wear , but Lichtenberg wore liturgical clothing when he went to distribute communion to the sick, clothing usually worn during the celebration of Mass.

19 Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 101.

20 Lichtenberg' s first assignment in Berlin had naturally been special to him, and he counted his blessings for his first Berlin pastor, both spiritual colleague and confessor. From Pastor Kuborn' s shared expertise regarding pastoral duties developed the strong shepherd's staff of the young Kaplan Lichtenberg. Lichtenberg retained a growing friendship with Pastor Kuborn, visiting him every Tuesday night until Kuborn's death in 1922. The local government named a 84

the communities of Lichtenberg and Boxhagen- provided for private schools in their budgets. Construction began. Lichtenberg wrote in his diaries, "Up to this time, everything had been old, the city was old, the church was old, the parish was old, and the customs were old. Now, everything became new: the half-built church, the parish house, the population. The only thing old was the holy Catholic faith."21 In changing times, the stability of Roman Catholic

Church drew many into her ranks.

Lichtenberg developed a daily rhythm of celebrating Mass, prayer at the canonical hours, contemplation, and congregational evening prayer. Every

Wednesday (for decades), the cleric visited the sick. With a bell in one hand and the Holy Eucharist in the other, Lichtenberg walked the busy streets of Berlin in his and beret. From an old tradition, he rang the bell as a sign that he was passing by. The courageous Catholics kneeled. Others looked at the priest and the people on their knees incredulously. Many laughed.22 None of this deterred Lichtenberg from taking the Holy Eucharist to the sick or shut-ins. His arduous pastoral work took him into cellar apartments and kitchens used as

street Kuborn StraBe near Lichtenberg City Hall. Nikolaus Kuborn had been the first Catholic priest in Lichtenberg since the time of the and had made an impression on the city leaders.

21 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. IX, 45. After German unification in 1871, Berlin grew rapidly from a simple capital city to a metropolis by the turn of the century, thus everything was "new."

22 Ogiermann, Bis zum letzten Atemzug, 35. 85

living rooms. The social poverty of the time shook Lichtenberg deeply and gave him insight into the life and care of workers and their families.23

In Berlin's suburbs, Lichtenberg came across a new type of worker. Since his childhood, Lichtenberg had the idea that a "worker" was a man who stood smoking, idle on the street, hands in his pockets, and ready to help if someone called him. Farm workers were an exception, as Lichtenberg had seen them during harvest time with sweat on their brows and rising for work at 3:00 a.m. in the summertime. Now he saw the streetcars rattling from 4:00 a.m. through the endless streets in summer and winter. Countless streams of hard muscled men in work smocks poured into the sooty factories to win the "daily bread" in a hard day's work.24 The young priest perceived what he believed was the workers' need for spiritual direction.

Lichtenberg viewed Berlin through the eyes of a pastor, with his beliefs and expectations, what he believed the people needed, what may have been lacking in their lives. Peter Fritzsche notes a different view in his book, Reading Berlin

1900. When the factory whistles sounded, women and children were at the gates

2:3 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 5. In 1902, the Center Party negotiated a link between a Tariff Bill and the introduction of a law to provide benefits for widows and orphans. See also Richard J. Evans, ed., The German Working Class, 1888-1933, (London: Croom Helm, 1982). In November 1901, Lichtenberg received an imprimatur for his work, "Religion is a private thing: An error in the Social Democratic Program, corrected by Dr. Eugen Losinsky, Light through Darkness." From October 1901 through July 1902, Lichtenberg audited a class in National Economy at Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin. It is not known whether his superiors directed his efforts in the latter or if it had been his choice.

24 DAB V /26 Scripta S.D. IX, 48-49. 86

ready to walk home with their husbands and fathers. Boys and girls met after work each evening at 8 p.m. beneath the clock on and visited the city restaurants and suburban dancehalls. Saturday afternoons, families shopped together along the crowded stalls of the markets with joy, knowing that

Sunday was day of rest away from work. Despite their economic condition, more and more workers could afford weekend entertainment and metropolitan diversions. 25

Of the almost two million Berliners in 1905, 83 per cent were Protestant, 11 per cent were Catholic, and 5 per cent were Jewish.26 In the cities, religion was not as significant a part of people's daily lives as it was in the smaller communities. It was in the cities that secularization and the Enlightenment had the greatest exposure and acceptance. Attendance at Sunday services by Berlin

Protestants was low, except for festivals. Protestants were the most socially varied, and household incomes were far above the city average in the

Jewish community. While the Jewish community held a disproportionately large number of middle-class members, the Catholic community was strongly working-class and had the lowest average income levels. 27 The Catholic financial struggle helped to create a stronger Catholic identity in the parishes.

25 Peter Fritzsche, Reading Berlin 1900, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996), 64, 66, 118-119. See this work for a detailed discussion about the "city" of Berlin."

26 McLeod, 8. These percentages vary a bit from book to book.

27 McLeod, Piety and Poverty, 8, 25. 87

The growing Catholic population needed churches, and money from existing parishioners made church construction possible. Parishioners felt tied to their church and pastor. The Catholic culture that developed in Berlin alarmed some

Protestant leaders. It was in this environment that Lichtenberg helped to develop a stronger Catholic life for the people.

Work in a Parish

Father Lichtenberg seemed to be a natural preacher, and he used every opportunity to employ this skill. At evening prayer, Lichtenberg often played the organ himself, and his booming voice drowned out the congregation.28 At times, he was such a fiery preacher that it appeared he might spring from the pulpit. Once a young child asked, "Mommy, why does the man scream so?"29

Lichtenberg had also mastered the art of the pause. Following the "break," it was as if Lichtenberg had "hurled a boulder at his congregation; he suddenly broke off and it was as still in the church as if it were empty."30

Although only two of Lichtenberg's homilies still exist, thousands of

Lichtenberg' s homily sketches have survived. 3l Priests often outline their

28 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 32.

29 Jbid., 33. Feldmann maintains, "[Lichtenberg's] voice was like a Shakespeare player; he changed his tone with each 'Hail Mary' of the ."

30 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 63.

31 The homily outlines that survived the war fall into three categories in four books: DAB Scripta V /26 S. D. II. covers the topic" Altarssakrament" (Eucharist or Holy Communion); S. D. III and IV look at "Mutter Gottes" (Mother of God); and S. D. V. considers "Engel und Heilige" 88

Sunday sermons (homilies) as a means for preparing their thoughts.

Lichtenberg' s sermon sketches offer insight into Lichtenberg' s thoughts - what he believed was important to articulate to his congregants. Lichtenberg did not preach directly on current issues but, instead, focused on the center of

Christianity. He dated his homily outlines, used many quotations, and noted emphasis with exclamation points. He often proposed a question (i.e. "Man, is he righteous in comparison to God or purer the man than his Maker?) then he organized a point-by-point answer.32 Sometimes he chose a Bible verse or a thought of one of the saints, and then "ergo," he would make the topic relevant to his congregation (i.e. "Ergo, it is here in the Eucharist, that the words [This is my body] and the Savior literally will be understood.")33 Lichtenberg also arranged brief portions of outlines that included something as simple as

"Greeting, Fear not, Meditation, Your vote is not a hindrance, but rather a prerequisite."34 His homily outlines date as early as 1907 and as late as 1941, and he noted the appropriate Bible verses or saints within each of his themes. This work shows great organization, a strict adherence to the Bible, and an appreciation for the teaching of the saints.

(angels and saints). Lichtenberg would probably have preached on other topics as well. The only complete sermons that still exist are Lichtenberg's "practice" sermon from the seminary and an sermon from 1928.

32 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. V., G_l_2_Bl_l.

33 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. II., O_V1_2_31_2.

34 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. III., H_214a_B1_2. 89

Besides preaching in conjunction with celebrating the Mass, Lichtenberg provided religious instruction for the youth. A former pupil recalled:

He had his own good method of instruction. We had one to two hours of religion a day, several times each week. During this time, Lichtenberg held a lecture that we followed with interest. He discussed the proof of the existence of God, refuted the theories of non-believers with such clarity and keenness of intellect, that we young lads did not challenge him but recorded relative notes in our little books. One can describe the school lectures with one word-" spiritual exercises." Pastor Lichtenberg was able to advise us in his lectures with true enthusiasm. He was moved, enthralled, and he imparted to us his mental impressions. He spoke, for example, about the wonder of creation, the majesty of God, or about the great secret of the Holy Eucharist, and Christ incarnate. Lichtenberg revealed a deep piety, combined with courage of his convictions and intensity. Youngsters the age of 16or17, also because they were highschoolers, were quick with words and opinions. Now and then, there were disparaging remarks about Lichtenberg. Still, Lichtenberg always spoke with great respect. It is probably common, more or less, for schoolteachers to receive fine nicknames. It was that way with us. We called him "the Pope." It was not meant as an insult but in reverence.35

One time, Lichtenberg' s older female students walked out on him in passive resistance because they thought his interpretations of God's commandments were too strict. Lichtenberg also left the room, taking with him his large black hat. In the hours that followed, they had a quiet discussion, and harmony followed. 36

For the next decade, Lichtenberg moved to a new parish in and around

Berlin every few years: After serving as chaplain for two-and-one-half years in

St. Mauritius and one year as the second chaplain in Herz-Jesu (Berlin-

35 Kock, Er Widerstand, 64.

36 Ogiermann, Bis zum letzten Atemzug, 33. 90

Charlottenburg), Lichtenberg was reassigned to St. Michael's as chaplain in

Berlin- 1903-1905,37 curate to St. Marienkirche in Karlshorst-

(periphery of Berlin) 1905-1910, curate in Berlin- 1910-1913, and back to

Herz-Jesu (Heart of Jesus), Charlottenburg as pastor in 1913. The bishop sent his priests to where he needed them most. Lichtenberg remained in Charlottenburg until his move to the Cathedral of St. Hedwig's in 1931.

Throughout his ministry, Lichtenberg helped convert many people to

Catholicism. This ministry apparently was quite significant for him since he recalled a number of these conversions specifically in his prison diaries. One time, the daughter of an aristocrat came to Lichtenberg accompanied by the daughter of a Protestant pastor and requested instruction in being converted.

"Are your parents agreed?" asked Lichtenberg. Her mother was dead, and she did not want her father to know. Since she was already in her thirties,

Lichtenberg did not think he could reject her request. Later her father found out and said, "Don't tell your brothers and sisters until I am dead, I don't want to experience this scandal while I am still alive." She agreed with that and began the Catholic instruction. Her father gradually became interested in the matter, did some reading in the Catholic catechism, and eventually told his family that he too was converting to Catholicism.38

37 Pope Leo XIII died in 1903 at the age of 93 and was succeeded by Pius X.

38 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X, 9. 91

Perhaps the greatest joy for Lichtenberg was the daily ministry to the people of the parish. He offered encouragement through easy-to-remember rhymes like

"Constant in joy, through life proceed. God will assist in every need" and "To

Heaven you may find the way; no devil you may detour or delay."39 Once when

Lichtenberg was not at home, he received a call requesting him to visit someone ill. He found out when he returned home. Though it was late, he chose to go to the home of the sick person. When he arrived, he found the fence door locked, and as he peered through the fence, he could see no way into the home. He climbed over the fence, ripping his clothing. The damage to his clothing he saw as trivial compared to ministering to a congregant.40 In addition to ministering to parishioners, Lichtenberg also attended to inmates in the Rummelsburg prison.41

Pastoral work in a region of budding Catholicism required Lichtenberg to work hard and to be innovative. The population of Karlshorst had grown from its founding in 1895 (214) to over six thousand in 1905 and over 13,000in1915.

There were 794 Catholics in 1909.42 As a curate in Karlshorst, Lichtenberg celebrated Holy Mass in the atrium of the school and later in a large room in the

39 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 31. "lmmer heiter, Gott hilft weiter" and "Kein Teufel kann dich iiberwinden, du muBt den Weg zum Himmel finden."

40 Ibid.

41 Kock, Er Widerstand, 63.

42 Juliane Bittner and others, eds., Festschrift zur 50-/ahr-Feier der St. Marienkirche Berlin­ Karlshorst, (Leipzig: St. Benno-Verlag GmbH, 1986), 9,15. 92

newly built parish house. However, having seen a picture of Martin Luther in a

window near the school, some congregants wondered if they had actually

attended a bona fide Roman Catholic service. The communities had few

resources, but by 1906, Lichtenberg was able to dedicate the church, St.

Marienkirche and three years later, a chapel. Johannes Blilmel, SJ (as a boy) and

his father went to confession at Friedrichsfelde. The Jesuit remembered, "Often,

we met the curate, sweeping and cleaning up the church himself out of

necessity." 43

The building of Catholic communities and schools required continual

financial assistance. For Lichtenberg, "bettelreisen" (begging trips) were a

necessity in order to maintain and expand the Catholic witness in his region.

Lichtenberg traveled throughout Germany for collections, but not every region

tolerated his efforts. Because of his begging mission in Bavaria, Lichtenberg was

penalized several times (a three mark fine or a day in jail) because Bavaria forbade "begging in Bavaria" by a Prussian. It was not an attack on the Church;

the state simply allowed no "not for profit" exemptions.44

Lichtenberg sent letters throughout the country requesting money. In the

manner that today's corporations purchase donor lists, some communities gave

Lichtenberg pay stubs, which gave him a good pool from which to work on his

43 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 27-28. In February 1907, Lichtenberg's parents moved from Ohlau to Friedrichsfelde.

44 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 28. 93

missions for church building funds. Some people gave from the heart, and these charitable expressions touched Lichtenberg deeply. Others gave grudgingly.

Once Lichtenberg received five marks from a man who noted what a hardship it was for him to give this amount. Lichtenberg sent back the money with a note:

"The Lord has love only for joyous givers." Lichtenberg' s apparent intention in this case was to have the man change his view about giving. Lichtenberg's fundraising activity had to compete with the necessities within the worker's budget:45

Rent 6.00M Baked goods 4.20 Lard and butter 2.40 Milk 1.10 Wurst for the man 1.50 Potatoes .50 Vegetables 1.00 Shoes 3.00 Gas 1.20 Insurance 1.80 Streetcar 1.80

Food alone accounted for at least one-half of the typical household budget and studies of workers' budgets at the turn of the century suggest that, on average,

"at least 5 per cent of expenditures went for alcohol."46 Wages varied from 12-15 marks per week at the low end of the scale to 25-35 marks at the high end. As

45 Fritzsche, Reading Berlin, 104.

46 Alfred Kelly, trans., ed., The Gennan Worker: Working-Class Autobiographies from the age of Industrialization, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 27, 33. 94

late as 1912 in Prussia, nearly 40 per cent of the population earned fewer than 900 marks yearly.47

There is no evidence from this time of what Bernhard Lichtenberg thought of the general political situation. His efforts to recruit and minister to Catholics, nonetheless, probably were made easier by an improvement in the situation of the Center Party. The Center Party maintained a good relationship with

Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow, who served in that position from 1900-1909.

Von Bulow did not share an /1 ingrained prejudice against Catholics," and he was willing to work with the Centrists. Center Party leaders had to deal with both political and religious prejudices. However, as Volker Berghahn notes, /1 After the turn of the century, this striving for greater openness was no longer an enterprise without hope, not least because Protestant pressure had been declining. The Center Party's leadership sought cooperation with other political forces in the hope of breaking through the isolation which, it must once more be added, also had been a consequence of its self-retreat."48 The party continued to

47 Ibid., 17.

48 Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 100. Young , born the same year as Lichtenberg, took power of the Center Party in 1906, making a name for himself by publicizing colonial scandals in Africa. Zeender points out, "Erzberger's leadership of the party's left-wing in the attack upon the colonial administration in 1906, which had cost the Center its prized place in the government coalition for two years, only temporarily reduced his influence in the Center." Zeender, "The German Center Party," 446. At the time, Erzberger wanted to form coalitions with liberal parties to achieve constitutional reforms, but very soon allied with the conservatives in the Reichstag. He realized that power lay with the Right. The Center gained seats in the Parliament in 1907, perhaps because of its shifting from left to right in an attempt to garner power. 95

campaign for a return of the Jesuits,49 insisted on the maintenance of denominational schools, and pushed for parity in government and university positions as well as in the army.

In 1910, while Lichtenberg served as curate in Pankow, opponents of the

Catholic Church again questioned the national loyalty of German Catholics. The

Evangelical Association for the Protection of German-Protestant Interests often fought the teaching of dogma, the particular form of piety, and the hierarchical constitution of the Catholic Church and "doubted the civil loyalty of Catholics."50

Much of the cause of this questioning was 's Borromeo Encyclical

(1910). Pius had not intended the encyclical for a German audience, but for an

Italian one. He held up St. Charles Borromeo as "a model of pastoral zeal" and took the opportunity to "denounce modernism" and condemn the Protestant

Reformation.51 concludes, "Pope Pius X was a simple, conservative pastor who could not understand what was happening, and saw only that it was his duty to maintain the apostolic truths. He removed from seminaries well-read professors who accepted the new critical methods in their

49 In 1917, Germany repealed the law that banned Jesuits.

so Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 10.

51 "In his encyclical, Lamentabili sane exitu of July 3, 1907, Pius X listed sixty-five false statements in contradiction to Catholic theology and on September 8, 1907, in his encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis, the Holy Father attacked modernism as the sum of all heresies. And again, on May 26, 1910, on the 300th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Charles Borromeo, a great champion in the Catholic Counter Reformation, the Pope promulgated Editae saepe Dei ore sententiae, an encyclical which castigated the Protestant Reformers as arrogant, rebellious men and enemies of the cross of Christ." Claude R. Foster, Mary's Knight: The Mission and Martyrdom of Saint Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, (West Chester, PA: West Chester University Press, 2002), 69-70. 96

application to the Bible, and replaced them by ignorant professors who did not."52

The encyclical prompted discussion in German regional parliaments, talk of the 'smearing of the German nation by a foreign priest,' protest in pulpits and press articles, and official representations in Rome from the governments of

Prussia and . 53 The Pope tried to defend himself by explaining that he had been misunderstood. He had not intended to insult non-Catholics and their rulers. When his "defense" was not well received, the pope instructed Catholic bishops in Germany and in the Low Countries not to publish the encyclical in those respective states.54

Hanky, in his pamphlet, notes that Lichtenberg became a member of the

German Center Party following the "Encyclical" problems in Pankow in 1910.

Gotthard Klein, however, maintains that the year that Lichtenberg joined the

Center Party is unknown, although from Lichtenberg' s 1941 interrogations, we know that he became a member before World War I.

International Eucharistic Congresses

52 Owen Chadwick, The Oxford History of the Christian Church: A History of the Popes, 1830- 1914, (NYork: Oxford University Press, 1998), 354.

53 Ibid., 542.

54 Foster, Mary's Knight, 70-71. 97

In September 1908,55 Lichtenberg traveled to England for the first time participate in the nineteenth International Eucharistic Congress in London.56

Lichtenberg not only attended the congress (attending four congresses in his lifetime), but took the opportunity to travel. Beyond London, he went to

Scotland and Ireland. The London congress was the first time the attendees were

"to be gathered under the auspices of English-speaking Catholics." The congress also experienced the pressure of a few Protestant groups regarding the processions through the streets. These opponents demanded that the Blessed

Sacrament not be carried through the streets of London. In his diaries,

Lichtenberg recalled that these groups were "unusually active at the time" and that Catholics complied under pressure. It may well be that the Pope's encyclical in the prior year regarding modernism touched off an anti-Catholic mood.57

In 1909, the International Eucharistic Congress convened in Cologne (the only congress held in Germany before 1960), and Lichtenberg did not have far to travel. Dr. , who later became German Chancellor, gave one of the main speeches in the Cathedral. Lichtenberg recalled that Marx asked, "How

55 Lichtenberg's parents moved from Ohlau to Friedrichsfelde in February 1907 and could visit their busy son on a regular basis.

56 A French woman inspired the first congress, held in France in 1881. Great cities throughout the world continued to hold the annual conference. For details on the London congress, see Report of the Nineteenth Eucharistic Congress, held at Westminster from 9t1z to 131h September 1908, (London: Sands, 1909).

s7 Encyclical of Pope Pius X, September 8, 1907, "Pascendi Dominici Gregis, On the Doctrine of the Modernists." 98

does it happen, that I, as layman, am speaking in the presence of a great number of bishops?"

Wilhelm Marx was one of the youngest men to lead the Center Party, serving as party chairman, chairman of the Reichstag fraction, and chancellor of

Germany. Ellen Lovell Evans, points out, "Marx was an expert mediator and compromiser, respected by all, not associated with any faction or political wing, a 'Man of the middle in the party of the middle' as he delighted to call himself."58

His declaration that the Center Party was a constitutional party supporting the constitutional government was known as the "Marx formula."59 When

Lichtenberg fought for Catholic schools in the early Weimar era, Marx held to the constitution, noting that "new schools would have to be community schools and parents would have to petition for separate denominational schools."60 In 1909,

Marx was already a significant Catholic figure, one who could speak to bishops at an international conference. In 1910, he was elected a member of the Reichstag and he slowly became a significant political figure.

The 1912 Catholic congress in Vienna perhaps held special memories for

Lichtenberg. Not only had he studied in Austria as a young man, but also in

Vienna, he witnessed the connection between Pope and Emperor. Lichtenberg

ss Evans, The German Center Party, 244-245.

59 Ibid., 265.

60 Ibid., 324. It may have seemed to some in his party that he had a conflict of interest, as Marx was head of the Catholic School Organization. 99

recalled how the Emperor and Empress participated in the grand procession, with "every carriage drawn by white horses and many thousands of riders in splendid uniforms." The Emperor Franz Joseph delivered a greeting sent from

Pope Pius X as Lichtenberg noted in his diaries:

Pope Pius X. sends his beloved son Franz Joseph greeting and blessing. One has now become Pope and the other emperor. What were both of them 70 years ago? The one was already an emperor and the other a poor village boy, the son of a cobbler, and who ran barefoot daily from Riese to Castelfranco to attend high school and who worked for his lunch by tutoring in a rich factory owner's family. And now he calls the emperor his dear son, and the emperor considers it an honor, to give lodging to the papal legate in the imperial Hofburg. 61

Bernhard Lichtenberg watched as the Habsburg family joined in the celebrations of the congress. He observed the ties between Catholic Austria and the papacy.

Two years later, assassins would murder Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Habsburg Empire, and his wife, the Countess Sophia.

"Pastor" in Charlottenburg

Bernhard Lichtenberg's first opportunity to lead a parish.. came in 1913, when the bishop named him pastor of Herz-Jesu in Berlin-Charlottenburg.62

Lichtenberg had served fourteen years as an assistant pastor (chaplain and curate), learning from his superiors, spiritual brothers, and parishioners how to meet the needs of a parish. Herz-Jesu lay in a large region in the center of Berlin.

61 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X, 2.

62 For a history of the Herz-Jesu Church, see, 125 fahre Herz-fesu-Kirche Charlottenburg, 1877- 2002, (Berlin: Servi Verlag, 2002). 100

When Lichtenberg arrived at the parish, there were 36,000 baptized Catholics and 350,000 others, and the church could accommodate only 467 worshippers.

Charlottenburg was home for Germans from all provinces, Polish immigrants, and seasonal workers. Some Berlin priests were able to preach and hear confessions in Polish, thus adding to the growth of Catholicism in Berlin.63 A good friend wrote to Lichtenberg, "Now, don't work yourself to death. You really need a governor to monitor you, because you know no moderation."64

Lichtenberg wanted to help everyone in need, but he was careful. Georg

Kruser, a teenager when Lichtenberg became his pastor, appreciated

Lichtenberg' s piety and cleverness:

I remember what Mrs. Nowicki told me. Her husband, after a long illness, asked Pastor Lichtenberg for some financial help. Lichtenberg responded by requesting to first see Mrs. Nowicki. Lichtenberg gave her twenty marks. In another case, Lichtenberg gave beggars coupons, which they could redeem for groceries at the market. A beggar on the street received a warm meal and a piece of bread from the . In all of these cases, Lichtenberg did not question the religious confession of the beggar.65

Lichtenberg did not give Mr. Nowicki the money. By talking with Mrs. Nowicki, the caregiver, Lichtenberg found out exactly what the couple needed. Beggars could use money to buy alcohol, but the coupons for food gave them what they

63 The Nazi regime arrested priests who ministered to Poles and sent them to Dachau.

64 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 37. Hubert Stier built the Herz-Jesu Church in Charlottenburg in 1875-1877. Andreas Tacke, "Herz Jesu, Charlottenburg," in Die Bauwerke und Kunstdenkmiiler von Berlin: Kirchen fiir die Diaspora, (Berlin: Gehr. Mann Verlag, 1993), 160.

65 Klein, Berolinen, 3:30. Herr Georg Kruser, born July 12, 1897 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, was Pfarrkind (child in the parish) and Beichtkind (Lichtenberg served as Kruser's confessor) of Pastor Lichtenberg from 1913-1931. Lichtenberg performed Kruser's marriage ceremony. 101

really needed. In addition, Lichtenberg was also unpretentious and chivalrous, always giving up his seat to another person. His close friend and his first chaplain, Johannes Surma, once joked that he would like to awaken in the morning to the sounds of a harp and clarinet. Due to Lichtenberg' s love for music and devotion to his chaplain, Surma's wish came true.66

Berlin's Catholic population seemed to reward Lichtenberg' s efforts at a time that Berlin's Protestant population was declining. Between 1906 and 1914, thousands of Berlin Protestants resigned from their churches, spurred on by prominent Social Democrats. Reasons given for their departure included a lack of interest in the church or religion, churches being "insufficiently Christian," clergy not ministering to the rich and poor with the same consideration, and the modern "zeitgeist" offering a scientific view of the world that excluded God.

However, the reason most commonly given was "inability to pay the ."67 In 1882, a church tax replaced the costs of , weddings, and funerals. Replacing the fees for these "services" ensured the churches a more predictable income.

The Catholic population of Berlin grew despite the church tax. Table #1 illustrates the growth in Catholicism in Charlottenburg, which is representative

66 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 35-36.

07 McLeod, Piety and Poverty, 26. See also Jochen-Christoph Kaiser, Arbeitbewegung und orgnaisierte Religionkritik: Proletarische Freidenkeroerbiinde in Kaiserreich und Weimar Republik, (: Klett-Cotta, 1981). 102

of Berlin in general. As part of Bismarck's Kulturkampf, the state required all churches in Prussia to register births, marriages, and deaths.

Table 1 Percentages Berlin-Charlottenburg Regional Churches Catholic {3}, Protestant {5} ------Catholic/ Protestant------Year Weddings '.'!!! Baptisms '.'!!! Funerals '.'!!!

1900 119 / 869 0.14 529 / 3577 0.15 229 / 2717 0.08 1901 140 / 884 0.16 503 / 3540 0.14 158 / 2640 0.06 1902 124 / 861 0.14 471 / 3288 0.14 201 / 2531 0.08 1903 121/929 0.13 517 / 3447 0.15 202/ 2617 0.08 1904 155 / 968 0.16 494 / 3378 0.15 190 / 2829 0.07 1905 168/1026 0.16 562 / 3471 0.16 296 / 2670 0.11 1906 193 / 1063 0.18 607 / 3649 0.17 156 / 2560 0.06 1907 218 / 1003 0.22 639 / 3847 0.17 160 / 2307 0.07 1908 222/ 1032 0.22 709 / 3807 0.19 322/ 2510 0.13 1909 188/1006 0.19 710 / 3869 0.18 148 / 2596 0.06 1910 237 / 1231 0.19 684 / 3888 0.18 158 / 2591 0.06 1911 243/1224 0.20 765 / 3923 0.20 401 / 2949 0.14 1912 268/1273 0.21 757 / 3991 0.19 169 / 2928 0.06 1913 214 / 1070 0.20 742 / 3637 0.20 352 / 2291 0.15 1914 198/1001 0.20 902 / 3937 0.23 173 / 2920 0.06 1915 160 / 647 0.25 637 / 2877 0.22 204 / 2516 0.08 1916 177 I 683 0.26 510 / 2193 0.23 232/ 2061 0.11 1917 193 / 698 0.28 429 / 1793 0.24 279 / 2605 0.11 1918 252 / 893 0.28 481/1781 0.27 350 / 2594 0.13 1919 403 / 1330 0.30 541/1993 0.27 358 / 2391 0.15 Source: Bericht iiber die Verwaltung und den Stand der Gemeinde-Angelegenheiten der Stadt Charlottenburgfiir das Verwaltungsjahr 1905, (Charlottenburg: Carl Ulrich, 1907), 168; Bericht iiber die Verwaltung und den Stand der Gemeinde-Angelegenheiten der Stadt Charlottenburgfiir das Verwaltungsjahr 1912, (Charlottenburg: Carl Ulrich, 1913); Bericht iiber die Verwaltung und den Stand der Gemeinde-Angelegenheiten der Stadt Charlottenburg fiir das Verwaltungsjahr 1914, (Charlottenburg: Carl Ulrich, 1916), 100; Bericht iiber die Verwaltung und den Stand der Gemeinde­ Angelegenheiten der Stadt Charlottenburg fiir das Verwaltungsjahr 1915 bis 1920, (Berlin: Bearbeitet im Statistischen Amt, 1922), 72. Catholic Churches included Herz Jesu, founded in Charlottenburg in 1877, St. Ludwig's, founded in in 1897 (dedicated to Center Party leader Ludwig Windthorst), and St. Matthew's, founded in Schoenberg. 103

Ultramontanism kept Catholics closely tied to their churches. Because they looked to Rome, German Catholics were less likely to change their practices regarding the church, and Catholics were more likely to continue to procreate, even through difficult economic times. Through the years of war, we can see from Table #1 how the Catholic/Protestant percentages changed in the category of baptisms. In 1900, we see 529 Catholic baptisms to 3,577 Protestant baptisms - fifteen percent. The ratio of Catholic baptisms to Protestant baptisms almost doubled by 1919 (541/1,993 =twenty-seven percent). The ratio of weddings and funerals grew similarly. It is interesting to see that the percentage within funerals differed greatly from the other two categories. The Catholic

Church holds strict practices regarding burials. One must be Catholic to be buried by the Catholic Church.

When Lichtenberg became pastor at Herz Jesu in 1913, Catholicism in Berlin was flourishing, but tensions in Europe were also growing. Although there were those Germans who supported peace, a feeling of nationalism permeated

Germany, and no longer did one feel the great divide between Catholics and

Protestants.

World War I

What was Lichtenberg's opinion of the war? It seems likely from his post­ war participation in the peace movement that Lichtenberg did not support the war whole-heartedly as a means to defend Germany's position in Europe. Father 104

Lichtenberg remained focused on his charges - the people of his parish and the soldiers stationed in Charlottenburg.68 He recalled the period in his prison diaries:

Four weeks after the beginning of the war, the wife of Captain von S. sent her 14-year-old son to Fridolin to inform him that the father of five children, the last was nine months old, had died in the war. When Fridolin expressed his sympathy to her, the noble Protestant woman said, "I am so full of thanks to God for everything good that He has given us in our happy marriage." And that was her widow's lament, and she added, "Don't be concerned, there will be no change in the Catholic education of the children."69

A statement Lichtenberg made in council in 1920 offers a sense of his feeling of the wartime: I was a part-time with the Elisabeth regiment during the war and I can recall that I addressed the soldiers at least thirty times; however, if I gave a blessing, I did not bless the weapons, but only the soldiers."70 Lichtenberg makes the point that he was only a part-time chaplain.

He implies that he treated the soldiers as if they were congregants - addressed them and blessed them. Lichtenberg needed to care for his congregants-in the midst of a world war. Although he may have wanted to, he could not cry peace

68 Lichtenberg's mother knew that her son gave his possessions away to those who needed them, causing him often to look like a refugee. During the war, she bought her son new and shoes, but he gave those to an old man who really needed them.

69 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X, 7.

70 Klein, Berolinen, 2:11-12. Vorlagen fiir die Stadtverordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 1920, 564 (December 21, 1920). Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 163. 105

from the pulpit for fear of antagonizing families sacrificing their fathers, sons, and brothers.

During the war, there was a small Catholic peace movement stimulated by

Father Max Joseph Metzger, among others. From 1914to1915, Metzger served as an army chaplain, but severe illness obliged him to give up his work at the front. His experience of the suffering, misery, and horror of war made him a passionate champion of reconciliation between nations. He was convinced that the only way to meet the social and spiritual need of his day was a fresh living- out of the Gospel. Together with like-minded priests, he began in 1916 at Graz in

Austria to build up a modern Order-The World Peace League of the White

Cross.71

What did priests and bishops say in their homilies during World War I?

Some focused on the misdeeds of other nations while others built up the image of Germany. In 1915, Cardinal Hartmann wrote to his parishioners in the diocese of Koln: "Infinite greatness is at stake: the survival and the freedom of the

Fatherland. No sacrifice is too great. It is right to rescue the blessings of our

German culture, as it blossomed in the sunlight of Christendom until an improved future time, through this international conflagration, enflamed by our

71 Lillian Stevenson, . Priest and Martyr 1887-1944, (London: S-P-C-K, 1952), 3, 4. Father Max Josef Metzger's work continued into the 1920s and 1930s, until the Nazis beheaded Metzger as a traitor in Brandenburg Prison, near Berlin, in 1944. Regarding the peace movement, see also, Roger Philip Chickering, "The Peace Movement and the Religious Community in Germany, 1900-1914," Church History 38, No.3, (September 1%9). 106

enemies."72 During Lent in 1916, the Munich archbishop took as a theme for his pastoral letter, "The Love of the Fatherland in the Light of Belief."73

We have no surviving "war homilies" of Bernhard Lichtenberg, but one of

Lichtenberg' s young congregants recalled, "I knew from his homilies, that

Bernhard Lichtenberg had often encouraged the faithful to look for their refuge under the cross and to place their hope in God."74 Father Lichtenberg's answer for any problem would have been to seek God, but he must have realized to talk too much about peace may have been offensive to some under his pastoral care.

In Heinrich Missalla' s short volume concerning Catholic war homilies, we see how individuals defended the war with "positive propaganda." Some

German preachers and laypeople believed that God worked His Will through the

Kaiser. They believed that Wilhelm was a "representative of God," reigned "in the name of God," and was an "interpreter of the will of God": "The soldier fights for the Fatherland, but also 'for God: because God calls [us] to obedience through the Kaiser."'75 "Bishop Paul Wilhelm Keppler recommended to the soldiers the intention: "I want to remain modest and humble and give God the

72 Htirten, "Die katholische Kirche im Ersten Weltkrieg," 731.

73 Ibid.

74 Klein, Berolinen, 3:31. Herr Georg Kruser.

75 Heinrich Missalla, 'Gott mit uns:' Die deutschen katholische Kriegspredigt, 1914-1918, (Miinchen: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1965), 93. 107

honor, like my Kaiser, like my most famous commander."76 The image of father was visible to the masses in Germany-God the Father and Wilhelm the father.

Kaiser Wilhelm remarked after the first victory at Lothringen: "God was with us.

To Him alone is the honor."77

Although some may have desired peace, from both Protestant and

Catholic pulpits felt charged with the duty of keeping up the national spirit.

Bernhard Lichtenberg was no exception. Lichtenberg ministered to German soldiers as Chaplain to the third Grenadier Guards Regiment.78 Although

Hartmut Lehmann writes about Protestant Prussian military chaplains during

World War I, some of what he writes pertains also to the Catholic clergy:

At the beginning of the conflict, and then at certain intervals, pastors were active on the home front, arranged Bufl- und Bettage and Kriegsfeiertage, that is, days of repentance and prayer and days of celebrating the war effort. After German victories, they rang the church bells and held special thanksgiving services, Dankgottesdienste. In addition, there were special prayers meetings in which God was implored to grant victory to the Germans because they were his true and loyal children. In the Protestant parts of Germany, pastors also arranged Vaterlandische Gemeindeabende, which can perhaps best be translated as "meetings to uplift the patriotic spirit."79

76 Ibid., 95.

77 Ibid.

78 We do not know the particulars, but Bernhard Lichtenberg was commissioned as a military chaplain in a subsidiary office for Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1913. Lichtenberg took part in an information trip to the Eastern Front with the War Press Corp in 1917. He received the service medal of the Red Cross. Lichtenberg also made annual collection trips through Silesia between 1916-1918.

79 Doris Bergen, ed., The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenh1-First Century, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), 132. 108

Was there a "war theology" followed by Lichtenberg and others? Did they believe that the war was a "just war?" Chickering points out, "Many pastors found a compelling theological justification for war in the doctrine of the 'two kingdoms,' which portrayed warfare as an inescapable feature of an earthly realm of sin and depravity."80 If a young man kills or sees violent death for the first time, he needs confirmation from a servant of God. He needs to know that what is happening is acceptable. In all instances, Lichtenberg' s consolatory response would have focused on the power and love of God. Chickering notes,

"The German Catholic representation of the conflict resembled the Protestant vision in remarkable aspects. Catholics, too, insisted that the German armies represented a special vehicle of God's will, which ordained, among other things, the punishment of French Catholics, who had fallen from the truth into secularism, rationalism, and modernism."81 Church ministers of every nation in the war had to contend with a war theology.

Germany depended on a close relationship between the Center Party and the Vatican throughout World War I. Early in the conflict, German secular leaders placed confidence in Center Party leader Matthias Erzberger in having the ear of the Pope. They not only wanted the Pope to remain neutral, but to have the Pope pressure Italy to remain neutral. They also wanted the Vatican to

so Chickering, Imperial Gennany, 127.

s1 Ibid., 128. 109

join Germany in pressuring Austria-Hungary to grant some land concessions to

Italy in an attempt to prevent Italy from joining the Allies. After a visit to Rome,

Erzberger reported an influential German lobby in the Vatican. The Bavarian minister in Rome related that Erzberger enjoyed the complete confidence of the

Pope, which, in addition to his influential position in Berlin's government and parliamentary circles, made him an ideal negotiator between the Holy See and

Berlin.82 (The "Law of Guarantees," passed by the Italian parliament in May

1871, gave the Pope "head of state" status, and representatives from all of the warring nations had access to him.)

German Catholics had to work harder than Protestants at showing their patriotism and absolute support for Germany. Roger Chickering indicates, "The

Kulturkampf mobilized German Catholics in defense of their own interests; and it left a legacy of mistrust and suspicion that had by no means disappeared by

1914."83 World War I offered German Catholics hope of Catholic/Protestant renovation. Catholics displayed their loyalty to the Fatherland as soldiers, in aid associations, by cheering the troops, and in giving patriotic sermons. However, they could never cut the shackle of Rome, and it was that, which kept them in a

82 Ibid., 407. During the war years within the Catholic political party, the Center, a new type of politician was gaining prominence, as personified by Erzberger, who sought to introduce a strong element of pragmatic thinking into Catholic internal policy, in partnership with Social Democrats and liberals, while yet retaining close ties with the Vatican." Stewart Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 1919-1933: German-Vatican Diplomatic Relations in the Interwar Years, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), 10.

83 Chickering, Imperial Germany, 5. 110

complicated confessional situation. Heinz Hilrten observes," Around 2/3 of all

Catholics, who were engaged against one another as enemies in the First World

War, often were not able to share the opinions of their supreme shepherds regarding the war. In Germany and France, many Catholics were of the view that a victory for their nation was crucial and the position of the church in their respective countries could perhaps even improve."84 It is unfortunate that we lack contemporary sources on Lichtenberg' s attitude toward the war.

A Move Toward Peace

By 1917, it appeared Germany could not win the war. Erzberger believed it was time to move the Center Party away from the "war party" conservatives and call for peace. He helped to organize an alignment with liberals and moderate

Social Democrats. Erzberger knew that the Pope was planning to submit a proposal for peace, and the Center Party leader's move "was timed to anticipate and to harmonize with the papal initiative."85 On July 19, 1917, Erzberger introduced a peace resolution (planned for August) in the Reichstag:

Today, August 1st-the threshold of a fourth year of war-the words of a speech from the throne hold true: "We are not motivated by a lust for conquest." Germany has taken up arms in defense of her freedom, her independence, and the integrity of her soil. The Reichstag seeks a peace of understanding and a lasting reconciliation among peoples. Any violations of territory and political, economic, and financial oppression are incompatible with such a peace . . . . Only economic peace will prepare the

84 Hiirten, "Die katholische Kirche im Ertsen Weltkrieg," 727.

ss Evans, The Gennan Center Party, 207. 111

way for the friendly relations of people . . . . However, as long as the enemy governments dissociate themselves from such a peace, as long as they threaten Germany and her allies with conquest and domination, then so long shall the German people stand united and unshaken, and will fight until their right and the right of their allies to live and grow is made secure. Thus united, the German people cannot be conquered.86

His words showed a desire not only for peace but also for a German nationalistic peace. The proposal passed by 212 votes to 126, but the German High Command ignored it.87

The attempt at peace did not last long, but neither did the war. Following

America's entry into the war (April 1917) and the Brest-Litovsk Treaty (March

1918), Germany's military efforts were failing. General ' s final offensives in the spring ultimately fell short. Erzberger realized that time was working against Germany and in July 1918, he called for the formation of a new government based on the Reichstag majority that had voted for the peace resolution one year earlier. With a new "peace" government instilling confidence abroad and German troops still holding a formidable defensive position, Germany might have been able to negotiate peace. In September,

Erzberger began to draft an outline of policies.

86 Snyder, Documents of Gennan HistonJ, 362. (Document reads August 4th, not August 1st - perhaps a typographical error) The Pope also offered a proposal for peace on August 1. Erzberger and the Center again had to deal with jibes from those who wanted to link the Pope to the Centrists. The Kolnische Volkszeitung, however, "stressed that the Pope was speaking as a neutral sovereign and not as head of the Church." John Zeender, "The German Center Party During World War I, An Internal Study," Catholic Historical Review 42 (1957): 461.

87 Ibid. 112

At the end of September, realizing that the war was lost, General Ludendorff called on the German government to conclude the peace.88 He was ready to put the responsibility for the lost war on civilian shoulders. A few weeks later, he even suggested to the Chancellor that the government taker a harder line in negotiations with President Woodrow Wilson. The German government realized that the German High Command could do no more militarily, and the government refused reinforcements when Ludendorff asked for them in late

October. On October 26, the Kaiser formally dismissed Ludendorff, while

General ("less compromised" within the High Command) remained.89 This act showed the world that Germany was moving toward peace.

Nevertheless, the Allies wanted greater action. During negotiations, President

Wilson's (third) note to the German government "practically required" the abdication of the Kaiser.9° For the allies, the Kaiser was the embodiment of

Prussian militarism. Under pressure by those in the cabinet of (Chancellor)

Prince Maximilian of Baden trying to negotiate the peace, Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to Holland with his family on November 9, 1918. Two days later, Erzberger signed the armistice agreement.

88 A.J. Ryder, The German Revolution of1918, A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 128.

s9 Ibid., 128-129.

90 Ibid., 126. 113

World War I had allowed previous political and societal tensions to lie dormant as Germans united for a single cause. Now, these tensions came to the forefront as Germany moved to create a new government. Although some moderate members of the Reichstag would liked to have moved more slowly in setting up a new government, Philip Scheidemann took it upon himself to declare a republic immediately on November 9. Revolution had already begun with the naval mutiny in October in . Revolution, with its "markedly anti­ militaristic character" sprang up in Hamburg in early November, beginning with a general strike called by Independent socialists.91 The socialists proclaimed the

German revolution as the beginning of world revolution. Munich in the south was also a sight for strong socialist revolutionary action throughout November.

Representatives of workers' and soldiers' councils of , Leipzig, and

Chemnitz asserted that the capitalists system had failed and that the revolutionary proletariat would seize power.92 The tension created by the

November Revolutions did not subside as revolutionary acts continued into

December and January. Nevertheless, members of the interim national government composed of Social Democrats and Independent Socialists presided until the January elections.

91 Ibid., 142.

92 Ibid., 147. 114

Two issues needed focus: setting up a new government and negotiating the peace. Older members of the fraction were resigning from the government and going home. These Centrists had hoped that a monarchical government could continue, but once the Kaiser fled, the monarchy ended. Konstantin Fehrenbach, sixty-six-year-old President of the Reichstag, wept during a speech to his Centrist colleagues. He concluded the speech with "Finis Germaniae" (the end of

Germany).93 Ellen Lovell Evans maintains, "The Center party as an organization had no response to make to the totally unexpected events, and it virtually ceased to exist."94

On a national level, the Center Party was in disarray. Younger members of the party, however, began to reorganize on local levels. By the end of November, the Center had representation in the government of three major states -

Wiirttemberg, Baden, and . Evans maintains that it was Adolf Hoffmann,

Culture Minister in the revolutionary Prussian Government, who gave the

Center Party new life on the national level. She points out, "His radical program, announced on November 13 and made an official decree by the twenty-ninth, included not only the abolition of confessional schools and religious instruction in all schools but plans to 'stop all subsidies to the church, to confiscate church property and buildings, to convert church holidays into nature festivals, to

93 Evans, The Gennan Center ParhJ, 221-222.

94 Ibid., 221. 115

abolish theological faculties, and to deprive the clergy of their status as officials and of their eligibility for public office."'95 These decrees fired up Centrists all over Germany and brought men like Father Bernhard Lichtenberg into the political arena.

After the November revolution of 1918, Lichtenberg received an invitation to give the main speech at an "open discussion" assembly. One of his former students, Father A. M. Klimm, O.P., reported on the event (Erb provides these details, but no date, place, or what Lichtenberg said):

After all the representatives of the invited parties had spoken more or less convincingly-mostly from an extensive file document on a lectern­ [Lichtenberg] spoke last and indeed it was unforgettable for most participants. His form was long and gaunt, his hair cropped short and his profile sharply defined, and in his black cassock and with folded arms he stood on the of the stage and spoke totally freely and calmly and with such persuasive power that even his political opponents soon discontinued their initial attempts at disruption. Then when the discussion began, he manufactured objections with such superiority and humor that one could hear bright laughter ringing through the hall. Because of this, several radical opponents appeared so irritated that loud shouts echoed from their rows, such as: "Strike the preacher dead!" and "We'll get even with him!" However, the priest remained unshakeable in his calmness, no matter how tense the atmosphere became. After the meeting, he declined every offer of personal protection, although his tall figure made him immediately noticeable. He also rejected a car. No one harmed a hair on his head; the crowd willingly moved aside for him. From this evening on, he had won us over completely-those students of his who were present. 96

95 Ibid., 223.

96 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 57. 116

One can recall Lichtenberg preaching as a young man, telling his confreres

"There can be no vacillating." He never allowed fear to sway him from his ideological position.

Because Lichtenberg held firm to the traditions of the Church, even frustrated and angry opponents at times appeared to respect his vocation. At the time of the revolution and uprisings, Lichtenberg stood one day in vestments and carried Holy Communion near the barricades in Charlottenburg. People there allowed him to pass through unharmed. At the same time a young congregant recalled, "After the war, the talk on the streets of Charlottenburg was that Bernhard Lichtenberg, at gatherings in debates with his opponents (during the war), always remained quiet and therefore aroused intense feelings."97

There is no documentation regarding what Bernhard Lichtenberg thought about the post-war revolutions, but from his actions, it seemed that he remained focused on his pastoral duties. If invited to speak during this period of change,

Lichtenberg probably focused on the unremitting love of God. In addition, if anyone drew him into a conversation about the war and its outcome, he perhaps avoided the issue. Lichtenberg was a man of peace, but understood the nationalistic mindset of his fellow citizens. When he spoke, he articulated his points from the view of a priest and pastor. International leaders were concluding the peace, Germany's new leaders were trying to set up a republic,

97 Klein, Berolinen, 3:31. Herr Georg Kruser. 117

and it was time to move on. Lichtenberg carried on in his vocation as pastoral leader of his Charlottenburg congregation and the regional Berlin community. CHAPTER FOUR

THE WEIMAR YEARS (1919-1933)

Citizenship is what makes a republic; monarchies can get along without it. -Mark Twain

When voting fell for the first time on a Sunday in January 1919, the

Archbishop of Cologne made clear the significance of the election. He declared that voting took precedence over the Sabbath obligation. It would be a mortal sin to vote against the Centrum, but a "triple sin" to fail to vote.1

The commitment to vote meant much more in this new era. The Center

Party wanted to make the most of the new Republic, and it encouraged Catholics to go to the polls. Women supported the Center in great numbers; their vote was more important to the Center Party than it was to any other party. Germany had enacted women's suffrage less than a year earlier. The war had accelerated "the emergence of Catholicism as a major force in European political life" and transformed the Center Party from being "the guardian of the rights of a disadvantaged minority into a central element of the new parliamentary regime."2

1 Anderson, Practicing Democracy, 115.

2 Martin Conway, Catholic Politics in Europe, 1918-1945 (London: Routledge, 1997), 34. 118 119

In 1919, the moderate "" of Social Democrats, Centrists, and other Democrats composed a clear majority of the 423 representatives in the

National Assembly. Although there were early struggles, these three groups worked together to lead the Weimar Republic, with chosen as its first president and as chancellor. Scheidemann appointed a cabinet that included three members of the Center Party, including Matthias

Erzberger as finance minister. Erzberger wrote to Eugenio Pacelli, Papal Nuncio in Bavaria, to justify the Center's participation in the new coalition government

(with Socialists): "The Zentrum is predestined by its entire history to be a party of positive work rather than negative opposition. The Zentrum will, of course, do its best to continue to champion the rights of the Church and the confessional schools in the coming constitutional debates."3 The Church also took up the debate immediately on the local level.

Lichtenberg: City Councilman

A member of Lichtenberg' s parish, a former governor of East Africa, suggested to Lichtenberg that he make himself available for a seat on the city

3 Klaus Epstein, Matthias Erzberger and the Dilemma of German Democracy, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959), 288-289. "In the early years of Weimar, when a united Germany was seen as necessary for maintaining the international balance, the Curia appeared content in refraining from strong condemnation of the Center-Socialist alliance. By the mid-1920s however, once the Reich as well as the world situation appeared to have attained some stability, once the presidency of Hindenburg, although to the Right, proved not to be a threat to peace but was an administration with which the Vatican could work, Rome seemed to look more approvingly on a Center alliance with political groups to the Right in the hopes that they might prove more cooperative in helping the Catholic parties carry through the legislation needed for a Reich concordat." Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 366. See also, John Zeender, "The German Catholics and the Presidential Election of 1925," Journal of Modem History 35 (1963). 120

council. Thus, Bernhard Lichtenberg became a member of the local

Charlottenburg City Council (February 1919 through September 1931) and a member of the metropolitan Berlin City Council (October 1920-November 1921 and August-November 1925). Lichtenberg never truly became a politician, because his interests always stemmed from his Christianity. There are no sources to suggest what Lichtenberg thought about the change from a monarchy to a republic. The Holy See may have had concerns in dealing with a new type of leader on a national level, but as a simple priest, Lichtenberg perhaps saw the change simply as another "Caesar."4 He would have been concerned about the godless communists and any other political party that threatened

Catholic/Christian life in Germany. Lichtenberg must have realized that the councils were important venues in which to have a voice for his congregation. It was not unusual for a Catholic priest to sit on a local council in Germany, but

Lichtenberg' s conservative clerical dress set him apart from his fellow council members.

Members of the Charlottenburg City Council could choose to serve on any of over forty committees addressing issues ranging from building an house to assisting disabled war veterans. Lichtenberg became a member of three delegations, all dealing with education: 1) Continuing education for women; 2)

4 Luke 20:25 - Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. 121

schools for higher education; and 3) measures to improve the Volksschulen.s

These all squared nicely with the Catholic Church's intense interest and involvement in the field of education. Lichtenberg "saw his participation in the

Windthorst Federation (the youth organization of the Center Party) and the meetings of the Center Party from the perspective of caring for "6 and his political work as "a form of pastoral universal responsibility."7 As time passed,

Lichtenberg' s votes in council and letters of protest regarding many different issues caused him to become more visible in the political world. This initial need for Catholic political influence in the Weimar Republic set Lichtenberg on his ultimate collision course with the Third Reich more than a decade later.

Lichtenberg found his voice in the Charlottenburg Council for the first time on March 12, 1919. He did not hesitate to refer to God in expounding his position regarding continuing education for female workers, and he had done his homework on the particulars:

I request the Honorable Mayor not to take offense if I cannot agree with his viewpoint .... [R]eligious instruction has been brought up for discussion ... . A point has been made which is relevant to the agenda for the day, specifically the extension of the mandatory school attendance for continuing education to all female industrial workers .... [T]he instruction should take place in six hours, weekly, based on the Berlin curriculum for uneducated

s Vorlagen fiir die Stadtuerordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 1919, 63-64. In 1918, there existed in Berlin 34 Catholic parish schools with another 23 schools (mostly municipalized Volkschulen) in the suburbs. Michael Hohle, Die Griindung des Bistums Berlin 1930, (Paderbom: Ferdinand Schoningh, 1996), 105.

6 DAB Scripta S. D. X., 35.

7 Klein, Zeugen, 180. 122

female workers. It provides for three scientific and three technical lessons per week . . . . I believe that one in fact has the right to make some additions (or amendments) to it. I further take the position that when physical development begins to be important, with the 14th year or the onset of puberty, then the spiritual development does not begin to be unimportant at this time, as suggested by another gentleman . . . . That if one has not grasped what religion is by this age, one indeed must miss out understanding it for his entire life. I cannot accept this viewpoint as justifiable. For I understand religion to be a connection with God and a sum total of truths.s

As Alfons Erb wrote, "Catholic education was probably Lichtenberg's greatest care." Many of Lichtenberg' s friends and associates heard him say many times, "Where there is one Catholic child, there must be Catholic instruction."9 In his many years as a priest, Lichtenberg provided religious instruction for all levels of learning. Those who experienced his efforts when they were children described him: "his solemn appearance, his tremendous seriousness, his paternal love, his holy enthusiasm for every one of many children in Communion and Reconciliation instruction; with solicitous attention, he provided the children with a Communion celebration; he won the hearts of the children."10 From their beloved priest, the children received a reverence for

God, a reverence for the Church, and a reverence for all religions. From him, they learned prayer for worship, for adoration, for intercessions, and for the needs of the poor, hungry, sad, hopeless, sick, dying, lost, heathen, Jews, and

8 Vorlagen far die Stadtuerordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 1919, 52 (March 12, 1919).

9 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 42-43.

10 Ibid., 43. 123

separated Christians.11 Because Lichtenberg was so serious about their studies, some of his older students called him "the Pope."

During two council meetings in April 1919, Lichtenberg's colleagues clashed with him over the issue of who should pay the costs associated with a hospital patient's spiritual needs. In the same manner that Lichtenberg prepared for his sermons,12 he organized his comments for council-here drawing from statistics:

Representative Lichtenberg: ... I know that spiritual care involves very extensive work in the large hospitals of Charlottenburg. I know, for example, that the Catholic clerical office has had to employ its own priest, who is officially working only in the Charlottenburg hospitals. Of the 1,482 Catholic patients last year, 317 needed to receive the Last Rites, the responsible priest held services and preached 24 times, gave the Holy Sacrament 183 times and baptized 106 children. All together, this required many more than 400 visits in the hospitals. For this work, he was remunerated with 200 Marks per year.

(Shouting: That belongs to the committee!)

Next May a new priest will have to be employed for these purposes, who will then share the salary with the current priest.

(Renewed shouting)

I am asking for no sympathy for me, but rather for the patients in the hospitals; please let me finish. This priest will divide the 200 Marks with the other, so that each has 100 Marks. I would like to recommend this matter for the assessment and the goodwill of the committee.13

11 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 43. Publishing his book in 1946, Erb had the opportunity to interview individuals who knew Lichtenberg. Erb, however, did not footnote his book.

12 Lichtenberg had said, "A homily that one shakes from his sleeve is a poor sermon."

13 Vorlagen far die Stadtverordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 162 (April 2, 1919). 124

Lichtenberg wanted the committee to understand the significance of spiritual care for the physically ill. Most of the council members believed that if a hospital patient wanted a visit from his priest, then either the patient or the

Church should pay the costs. For Lichtenberg' s colleagues, a spiritual visit was not a necessity. Although he tried, Lichtenberg could not make them believe that everyone in the hospital is in need of spiritual care. "I believe indeed that every doctor would confess, that a decline in the health of a seriously ill person would begin if his soul is taxed by denying him the spiritual comfort for which he is yearning," reported Lichtenberg. He even went on to note that priests would go on more "begging missions" if need be to raise the needed funds to pay for hospital pastoral care. Representative Loewenstein chimed in, "I simply would like to briefly clear up a few misunderstandings. We have said nothing against the idea that religious needs exist. Here, we are not dealing with general religious needs, but rather with the assuagement of very definite forms of religious needs, of denominational needs. These denominational needs are always only a concern of a particular church community, which has the job to take care of the needs."14 Lichtenberg continued to try to make his point and then became quite irritated:

This is, in the first place, not about the church, but rather about the patients, who are lying there and who have the expressed wish: I wish that a priest would come and look after me. The previous speaker has said: whoever has these religious needs should also bear the costs involved. Therefore, in his

14 Ibid., 190 (April 15, 1919). 125

opinion the poor patients in the hospital are to bear the costs. That appears to me to be less than benevolent! Furthermore, only the man on the moon has a religion without a denomination.

(Dissent and shouting among the Social Democrats: With you!)

Prove the opposite, then I want to justify myself to you, if I am wrong. I ask you to prove it to me, that there is religion without denomination.

(Shouting among the Social Democrats: But very much!)

Please, prove it, you cannot do it.1s

With a steadfast spirit, Lichtenberg never gave up trying to convince his colleagues of the power of and the need for spiritual therapy. His fellow representatives often laughed at him or taunted him, but he never hesitated to speak on behalf of spiritual needs. These needs were often at such a local or personal level, that Lichtenberg took up these causes without direction from

Church leaders.

In the spring of 1919, German bishops and the Pope focused on supporting

Germany in ongoing peace treaty negotiations and on the constitution of the new republic. Pope Benedict XV and other Church leaders opposed the Versailles

Treaty, believing that the Allies had not established it on Christian principles.

The Vatican objected in particular to the 'War Guilt' clause, the size of reparations and Allied attempts to bring the Kaiser to trial as a 'war criminal.'16

1s Ibid., 190-191(April15, 1919). 126

Germany looked to the Vatican as one power that could influence the Allies in the Versailles Treaty. It was a patriotic duty for German bishops to write letters to the Vatican asking for help. The Vatican penned urgent pleas for the return of

German POW' s. Church leaders spoke out on behalf of Germany, but their efforts did not soften the treaty. On May 7, 1919, the Allies presented Germany with the peace terms. The Germans had two weeks to submit their comments in writing.

In looking at the treaty, Chancellor Philipp Scheidemann declared that any hand would wither which bound Germany in such fetters.17 In the next two weeks, the German delegation produced pages of objections and counterproposals. The head of the delegation, Foreign Minister Ulrich von

Brockdorff-Rantzau, especially did not want Germany to accept full guilt (as proposed in Article 231 of the Treaty) for the war. The Allies agreed to some small changes in the Treaty, but nothing that changed the overall tone and consequences for Germany. The final deadline for acceptance of the treaty was

June 23. Brockdorff-Rantzau, with support from his delegation and most of the

16 John F. Pollard, The Unknown Pope: Benedict XV (1914-1922) and the Pursuit of Peace, (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1999), 144. The Vatican "had spoken out against Versailles Article 227, which would have condemned the Kaiser and leading German officials as war criminals." Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 56.

17 A.J. Ryder, The German Revolution of1918: A Study of German Socialism in War and Revolt, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 223. 127

German public wanted to reject the proposed treaty.ls His opponent regarding the treaty, Centrist Matthias Erzberger, led members of the coalition government in advocating acceptance of the peace proposal. Convinced that Germany could not afford to start fighting again, Erzberger told his colleagues that Germany's survival depended on signing the treaty.19 The cabinet, though leaning toward acceptance of the treaty, was deadlocked and resigned on June 20. Two days later, President Ebert formed a new government, which continued the debate.

Finally, the German parliament agreed to the peace settlement. The new foreign minister, Hermann Muller and the minister of transportation, , signed the treaty. Most of the German delegates, whether they opposed or supported the signing of the treaty, were relieved when the deed was done.20

On that same day, June 28, 1919, the established diplomatic relations with the Vatican. Two days later, Eugenio Pacelli became the first nuncio appointed to the German Republic. Pacelli served as nuncio both to the state of Bavaria (since April 1917) and to the nation (1920-1929). He remained in

Munich until the nunciature moved to Berlin in 1925. He assured President

Ebert that he would "work to cultivate relations, which would protect the

18 Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919, Six Months that changed the World, (New York: Random House, 2003), 463-475.

19 "His murder by national extremists on August 26 [1921] solved the 'Erzberger problem' for the Center." Evans, The German Center Party, 274. Many never forgave him for advocating the signing the Versailles Treaty. They saw him as a traitor. Wilhelm Marx succeeded Erzberger as head of the Center Party.

20 MacMillan, 463-475. 128

interests of German Catholics and the welfare of the State."21 To demonstrate the

Vatican's regard for German concerns about Church representation, Pope

Benedict XV named Faulhaber of Munich and of Cologne to the Sacred College.22 As nuncio, Pacelli consulted Rome regarding guidelines for the discussion on church-state relations in Germany and reported on events in Germany.

Eugenio Pacelli came from a minor Roman noble family and entered the

Vatican diplomatic service at age twenty-five. He rose through the ranks quickly and the Pope assigned him to Munich as nuncio during the war. Some questioned his diplomatic abilities, but in 1916, Prussian Minister Otto von

Muhlberg had assessed Pacelli' s expertise: "He is a gifted , well versed in history and law, skilled with his words, and quick at repartee in discussion. Zealous and inspired by the powers and importance of the Church, he will accordingly seek to strengthen and increase its influence."23 Although forced to leave Munich because of revolutionary threats in late 1918 and in May

1919, Pacelli had a good relationship with Germany from the start.

Hesitant of the new form of government, the Church wasted no time in working to see her needs reflected in the new constitution. Education was a priority for the Church and yet the provisions in the constitution were still a bit

21 Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 91.

22 Ibid., 60-61.

23 Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 13-14. 129

vague. The third and fourth chapters of the second part of the Weimar

Constitution dealt with "Religion and Religious Communities" and "Education

and School" respectively. In Weimar, heated discussions prevailed as the

National Assembly debated Articles 135 to 138 of the Constitution. These articles

granted German citizens freedom of worship and the right of the churches to

administer their own affairs, but they did not define a clear relationship between

the Church and the State. Article 138 indicated that state legislation would

handle state contributions to religious communities.24 Article 149 affirmed that

religious instruction was a regular school subject at school (except at schools

without confession) and that school legislation would regulate its instruction.25

These particular declarations offered some guidelines of a Church/State

relationship, but there were not enough specifics to define clearly the

relationship. Although President Ebert ultimately signed the constitution in

August 1919, continued concerns regarding the lack of assured rights for the

Church, especially in education, brought about continued communiques between the German bishops and state leaders. If state legislation could not

work out the issues, perhaps the Church could achieve agreements through

concordats.

24 See of 1919 in www.zum.de/psm/weimar/weimar vve.php. Accessed July 5, 2009.

25 Ibid. 130

The Concordats

Even without a concordat, the Weimar Constitution provided a better situation for the Church than she had during the imperial era. The Church had a strong voice in the Center Party, which helped in writing the constitution.

Nevertheless, with the German regions or the national government, "the importance and necessity of having a concordat became apparent immediately after the founding of the republic."26 Issues included diocesan boundaries, foreign negotiations, assigning of clerics, and any matter of State/ Church relationship that was not clear in the constitution. The Center Party, to be sure, had influence in German political issues, and German bishops, of course, had influence in their dioceses and local politics, but a higher-level relationship of

Church and State belonged to Rome. The Pope had "head of state" status.

Instead of depending on political parties and his bishops to protect Catholic interests, Pius XI preferred to sign diplomatic concordats with national governments. The Vatican concluded forty such concordats during the inter-war years, including the Lateran Treaties with Mussolini's Italy in 1929. The concordats guaranteed the legal independence of the Catholic Church from state control and provided freedom for its spiritual and cultural organizations to pursue their apostolic work. During the 1920s, Pacelli succeeded in negotiating concordats with Latvia (1922), Bavaria (1925), Poland (1925), (1927), and

26 Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 373. 131

Prussia (1929). With over thirty political parties in Germany, splintered parties in the Reichstag, and an anti-religious attitude within politics, however, he was not able to negotiate a national concordat in the 1920s.

The national concordat that would come in 1933 went through a relatively quick approval process because of the work that Pacelli had done on the regional concordats in the 1920s. The Holy See and secular governments had concluded various concordats over centuries. Power struggles, changes in sociopolitical situations, and maintaining religious freedom has prompted the need for these formal agreements. In Hitler's Pope, John Cornwell argues that the 1917 Code of

Canon Law gave way to greater concentration of Church authority in the person of the Pope, that from this the concordat became an "instrument of consensus" by which the lives of Catholics were regulated from the top down.27 In addition,

Cornwell focus on Pacelli, suggesting that Pacelli' s interests lay not in the interests of the German Church, but in the increasing power of the papal . authority.28 The substance of and need for concordats did not change in 1917.

Chances in society and culture trigger papal actions and changes in Church procedures, and yet the need for power at the papal level has never changed.

Pacelli wanted to get the best deal for German Catholics and maintain Catholic

27 Cornwell, Hitler's Pope, 84-85.

28 Ibid., 85. 132

Church authority in Germany. The two interests lay hand in hand, as they always had.

Pacelli' s hopes of a Reich concordat in autumn of 1924 were shattered quickly because of his own policy. For the more the Curia derived from the

Bavarian treaty (the first negotiated in the Republic), the more distrustful Prussia inevitably became of a Reich concordat. The Bavarian concordat (ratified

January 1925) guaranteed free exercise of the Catholic religion, giving the Church

"far-reaching influence over the entire educational system, especially over the elementary schools, and it obligated the state to the perpetual protection, recognition, and advancement of the Catholic Church and all its organizations and institutions."29 Because of the Vatican's stand on education, Prussia had not shown great urgency to negotiate a treaty of its own. Once Bavaria had her own treaty, however, the intra-German rivalry caused Prussia to become anxious to assert and maintain its sovereignty, and she showed increased interest in opening discussions with the Church.30 Given the possibility and preference of a national concordat, Rome had not urged discussion with Prussia.

Without the consent of the Prussian government, however, there could be no

Reich Concordat. Pacelli accepted this and entered into negotiations for a

29 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:69.

30 "There was an added reason in the beginning of 1925 for both Prussia and the Reich to consider the Vatican's offer to negotiate. A Polish concordat had been signed in February. When the treaty's clauses became known, they greatly disturbed the Germans, for they provided for placing Danzig under the authority of the nuncio in Warsaw, allowing no part of Poland to come under the jurisdiction of a non-Polish bishop." Stehlin, Weimar and the Vatican, 415. 133

Prussian Concordat. The Prussian minister president personally assured the nuncio that no provision of any kind about the schools could be included in the

Concordat. The Church and State ratified the Prussian Concordat on August 13,

1929, establishing the diocese of Berlin with the city of Berlin as the seat of its bishop. Pope Pius XI had declared that that it was unacceptable that Berlin, with her growing, blossoming Catholic life, remain a simple "Praelatura nullius"

(territorial prelature).31 The pope named Dr. Christian Schreiber, previously

Bishop of Meissen, the first bishop of Berlin, and he elevated St. Hedwig's to the status of a cathedral.

Despite the disappointing result of the Prussian negotiations, Pacelli was determined resolutely to pursue his concordat policy in Germany.32 The nuncio, fully supported and directed by the Vatican, set a standard for the German

Church/State relationship. It would be one dependent on negotiated agreements between the highest levels of Church and State governments.

There is no evidence regarding what Lichtenberg may have thought about the concordats. From his experience on the councils, he probably developed a

31 Hohle, Die Griindung, 185.

32 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:72. Stresemann, spoke out in favor of the concordat: "There is no divergence between the foreign minister and the party minister . . . . If you want to know my personal opinion, I won't try to hide the fact that, since a concordat has been concluded in Bavaria, and we are ultimately to be confronted with the conclusion of a concordat between Prussia and the Vatican, I believe that it is desirable that there should be a Reichskonkordat." He added that he had been assured by Kaas and other Centrists that there would be no concessions in education like those made for Bavaria (Evans, The German Center Party, 323). 134

greater understanding why the Church was following the concordat policy. He saw the struggles he had in discussing Church concerns in council. The purpose of a concordat, according to the Catholic Church, was "to terminate, or to avert dissension between the Church and the civil powers."33 If the nuncio could secure rights for the Church in Catholic education, Catholic youth groups, and

Catholic freedoms in general in Germany, then one might assume that

Lichtenberg, given his documented politics in the Charlottenburg and Berlin

Councils, would have supported the process.

Councilman Lichtenberg continued to experience heated discussions at the local level. In a Charlottenburg Council meeting on September 3, 1919, he had a difficult time expressing the reason for the Church's raising the rent for Church­ controlled youth homes. The Church had been charging 1,450 marks for a floor of seven rooms, doing so at a loss since the war. Now she wanted to increase the cost to 2,800 marks, which was still less than secular authorities were charging for comparable accommodations. The rent settlement office found the increase justifiable, but Lichtenberg still had to defend the Church's actions. He tried to counter the claim that the Church was a capitalist institution: "We are burdened with a debt amount of 1 million 400,000 Marks. In the last three years I have raised money five pennies at a time in the 150 Silesian cities and villages in order to complete construction of an expansion of our church which was built for 600

33 See Catholic Church website regarding "concordats" - www.newadvent.org. 135

people forty years ago and now must be sufficient for 31,000 people."34 As

Lichtenberg pleaded to be heard, Representative Hertz ended the discussion by

supporting his colleague Loewenstein: "In addition I stress that I am fully satisfied with the argument of the previous speaker. He has left no doubt that

not spiritual but rather purely material reasons are definitive for the Catholic

Church."35

Lichtenberg' s colleagues often cut him short in general council sessions

because everything he brought up for discussion had something to do with the

Church. It was his entire focus, where it appeared to hold little interest for his colleagues. Council members had to deal with many issues, but Lichtenberg' s concerns were narrowly focused. His constituency was comparatively small.

Lichtenberg did not back down when made sport of or pressured by his colleagues. From one point of view, he was probably irritating and quite exhausting. In addition, council members seemed to see the Catholic Church in a

negative light. The population of Berlin was still predominantly Protestant.

When Lichtenberg' s speeches included discussion of general welfare, and not simply Berlin's Catholics or the Catholic Church, his colleagues appeared to be more tolerant of him.

34 Vorlagen for die Stadtverordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 383 (September 3, 1919).

35 Ibid. 136

At times, Lichtenberg' s pastoral duties surfaced while attending to his council duties. During a meeting day of the Charlottenburg City Council, a Jew, perhaps not wanting to go to a Catholic Church, approached Lichtenberg and asked if the pastor could visit his severely ill wife. The next day Lichtenberg sat next to the sickbed of a sixty-year-old woman. Her great desire was to die as a

Catholic, and Lichtenberg began conversion instruction immediately. The next day, however, her children objected to the pastor's instructions, and Lichtenberg postponed his visits until the family situation could be resolved. A few days later, after he had celebrated Sunday Mass, the woman's husband came into the sacristy and informed Lichtenberg that his wife had died early that morning. He wanted to know if Lichtenberg would bury his wife as a Catholic. Lichtenberg received permission from the bishop since the woman had already been receiving instruction for conversion to Catholicism. 36

When the Charlottenburg City Council met on May 7, 1920, a long exchange regarding child welfare took place. Lichtenberg protested "against the exclusion of his pastoral ministry from the deputation for youth welfare" and against the agreement "that the vocational guardianship of all illegitimate children should be transferred to the deputation for child welfare."37 When an article first appeared in the Charlottenburg Press regarding the newly formed youth office,

36 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X, 10.

37 Vorlagen far die Stadtuerordneten-Versammlung zu Charlottenburg, 243 (May 7, 1920). 137

Lichtenberg submitted an application to the magistrate requesting representation by the ecclesial office in the (newly formed) deputation for youth welfare.

Lichtenberg was not happy with the responses he received. What is important to see in the following Council discussion is how Bernhard Lichtenberg advocated not only Catholic intercession in youth welfare, but Protestant and Jewish representation as well, that all religious faiths should have some input into the wellbeing of their youth. In doing this, Lichtenberg showed respect for

Protestantism and . In the May 1920 session, he declared:

Most honorable ladies and gentlemen: if you have read the justification to the magistrate's submission, then you will still recall that the following was asked: the magistrate has been guided by the endeavor to fill all positions and committees in the deputation, which are primarily occupied with youth care and welfare. Such a position, which is primarily concerned with youth care and welfare in the local city, is the priest's office, and I assume also the office of rabbi and Protestant pastor [my bold].38

Lichtenberg continued to speak for quite a while with only a few interruptions from his colleagues. Finally, Representative Blum voiced what perhaps many were thinking - that the reasons Lichtenberg presented caused them to oppose his suggestion. Blum pointed out that he (and others) did not approve of the church conducting its youth care based on religion, but instead expected youth care to be motivated by reasons of pure humanitarianism.39

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid. 138

Lichtenberg remonstrated and again made note of the individual faiths.

That Lichtenberg mentioned /1 the office of the rabbi and Protestant pastor" not only once, but twice, shows that he felt strongly about the right of other faiths to minister to their youth. Lichtenberg had no prejudice against non-Catholic faiths, nor did he simply tolerate them. He spoke on their behalf in council as he was speaking for his faith. Representative Dr. Luther, an evangelical pastor, supported Lichtenberg' s claims, noting that the Quakers of America, /1 a religious community," undertook the largest relief effort in the world. Both men were arguing that religious communities often have motives that are more effective than other groups. After the long discussion, members took a vote on the proposal regarding the Youth Welfare Office, with an overwhelming majority accepting as part of the language: /1 for each, one representative of the rabbinical office, the evangelical office and the Catholic office." 40 The members rewarded

Lichtenberg' s persistence. This was the precursor of current /1 faith-based" social ministries in the United States.

Of all the challenges that Bernhard Lichtenberg faced as a council member, the episode that remained most clear in his mind was the clash over naming a

Supervisor of Schools to Berlin in early 1921. Lichtenberg recalled the story in his prison diaries: The Berlin City Council had a Social Democratic majority,

40 Ibid. The following were suggested as members of deputation for youth welfare: City Representative Frau Deutsch, Fraulein von Gierke, Horlitz, Jastrow, Frau Kautsky, Lichtenberg, Dr. Loewenstein, Dr. Luther, Frau Nemitz, Fraulein Reinold, Dr. Rosenfeld, Frau Scheukalowsky, Toft, and Frau Zucker. 139

which put through anything it wanted and it wanted to make a Hamburg public school teacher, Paulsen, the Head Supervisor of Schools in Berlin. Scarcely anyone knew him aside from the readers of the Pedagogical Newspaper.

Supervisor Otto from Charlottenburg proposed that each party send two members to Hamburg to get information about the new candidate. The Council rejected the proposal, wanting merely to vote Paulsen into office. That night after the meeting, Lichtenberg traveled to Hamburg, looked up the chief supervisor, and asked him for information. The supervisor said that he knew little about Paulsen since the man had been in charge of a reform school for less than a year. Thinking that Lichtenberg's visit was official, the supervisor wanted to accompany the Berlin council member to Paulsen's school. He deferred when

Lichtenberg told him that he had not come as a representative for the Berlin City

Council, but on his own. An hour later, Lichtenberg was in Paulsen's school.

Lichtenberg told him that 400,000 Berlin Catholics had a great interest in the person of the new head supervisor, since Berlin had more than thirty Catholic elementary schools and a number of other schools of higher learning.

Lichtenberg asked him the succinct question: "Do you believe in God?" The evasive answer was, "I believe in a higher being." - "Do you believe in a personal God?" The response was "No." Lichtenberg continued, "But pedagogues put the greatest value in the personal development of their pupils and you yourself believe that you descended from an impersonal God?" There 140

was deep silence. Lichtenberg advised him not to come to Berlin; the Catholics alone would make life difficult for him. Paulsen's sunny disposition, however, took no offense at this. He said, "Auf Wiedersehen" and parted with a friendly handshake. Before he left for Berlin, Lichtenberg confirmed his opinion of

Paulsen by visiting with a Catholic pedagogue in Hamburg.41

Lichtenberg did not want Paulsen named Supervisor of Schools in Berlin.

Lichtenberg entered his name in the speakers' list early enough for the next

Berlin City Council meeting, January 13, 1921.42 There were already a considerable number of names on the list. When Lichtenberg' s turn came to speak, one of his colleagues made a motion to end the discussion, thus preventing Lichtenberg' s possibility of challenging Paulsen's appointment. The

Council did not want to hear Lichtenberg' s objections, so he took his objections to the and there began a flutter of publications in the press, which reached as far as Hamburg. Thus, the new candidate was well informed of the situation when he gave his maiden speech. Paulsen mentioned Lichtenberg' s visit to Hamburg in his speech and said he had not thought that there had been any "mental reservation" given the friendly handshake with which they had taken leave of each other. Because of Paulsen's personal reference to

41 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X.. 35-36.

42 CBS, Amtlicher Stenographischer Bericht iiber die Sitzung der Berliner Stadtverordnetensammlung, on microfilm (B758 StVV 7a), 48, January 13, 1921. Klein, Berolinen, 2:13. 141

Lichtenberg, opportunity was granted to Lichtenberg to reply. Lichtenberg asked to make some personal remarks and took the opportunity to point out the first, second, and third articles of faith of the Catholic Catechism, which fall under the heading "To Know and Love God." In this way, Lichtenberg pointed out what he expected from a supervisor of schools, from one who has power over the education of children. It was in this manner that Lichtenberg could have the last word, a word that the council had denied him.

Lichtenberg' s experience on the councils equipped him in many ways to deal with the troubling situations of the late Weimar era and the Third Reich.

Lichtenberg interacted with his parishioners with creativity, thoughtfulness, cunning, and great preparation. His political experiences added new characteristics, which complemented those aspects of his nature. Encountering the obduracy of political opponents prepared Lichtenberg to go that step further in defending himself and his values. The experience of researching and formulating a case and the success of persistent protest showed him that his words could make a difference. The anti-clerical attitude he experienced directly from colleagues strengthened his resolve to speak out for Christian values. His counsel experience added a new dimension to his character.

Although Lichtenberg participated in local politics, he had not become a politician. Neither was he a diplomat. He had become a member of the Center

Party because it promoted Catholic values. He chose to be on council 142

committees and speak in general council on issues that affected Berlin's

Catholics. He did not try to promote Catholicism in council, but simply voiced the concerns and issues of the Catholic minority. Some of his more politically liberal colleagues did not understand his motives and reacted negatively. Their lack of enthusiasm for his issues did not deter him and helped him to see the struggles of the Church outside of his parish.

Lichtenberg remained a council member through the more prosperous years of the Weimar era, but his first duties continued to focus on his parish, Herz Jesu.

He worked hard and at times almost to exhaustion to see to the needs of all of his parishioners. Lichtenberg prayed every evening with his communities for more than 30 years-evening prayer with spiritual songs, prayers for intentions of the community, and the rosary. He put effort into even the simplest things. When

Lichtenberg prayed the rosary, he prayed each Ave with a different pitch of voice. To close evening prayer, Lichtenberg often played the organ himself.

Almost every entire Sunday, he was in the Church with services, catechetical instruction, silent worship, and evening prayer.43 The Church hierarchy must have noticed Lichtenberg' s hard work, both within and outside the parish. On

July 1, 1924, a clerical convention named Lichtenberg to the Actuarius circuli

(vice-dean) of the arch presbytery of Berlin-Charlottenburg; in October 1925, the bishop named him to the diocesan synod of the diocese of Breslau as synodal

43 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 45. 143

examiner; and in March 1926, the Pope named Lichtenberg to the Cubicularius

intimus seu secretus (papal chamberlain). Lichtenberg' s hard work in his parish

had moved him into greater responsibilities for the Catholic Church in Berlin.

Lichtenberg' s Christian convictions and his political experience as a champion

for Church interests prepared the way for the ultimate confrontation with the

Nazi regime.

Even with greater responsibilities, Lichtenberg' s personal life remained

modest and simple. In Charlottenburg, he chose a room for his bedroom that

was ice cold in winter. He had no personal bank account, only an account he

directed for his many charitable duties. His practice was to distribute to the

needy. When his mother bought him a new , he gave it to a man who

needed it.44 His thirty-year-old coat would service him. He cut his own hair and

darned his own socks. Whenever the office sister could find no more old

clothing for the poor, Lichtenberg went to his laundry basket and pulled out

whatever he could find. When he traveled, he traveled light, taking in his bag a

, a , his , hankies, a razor, toothbrush, his breviary, and another book.

Lichtenberg noticed what others often took for granted. Once, he said from

the pulpit at St. Hedwig's, "We must thank the garbage men because they relieve

44 Mrs. Lichtenberg did not want her son, the pastor, to look like a ragamuffin. Each, time she told him that she was going to buy new clothing or shoes for him, he told her that he did not need them. Often, nevertheless, she purchased what she thought her son needed. 144

us of this dirty work."45 He helped everyone through gifts and money, through

advice, intercessions, and mediation. In times of emergency, he prepared a

parish kitchen for the starving, and no one needed to identify himself as

Catholic. He helped to bring joy to needy children always and with special

celebrations at Christmas. Lichtenberg received cards and letters from children

responding to his love, and he would reply to them. Lichtenberg received a

letter from a child for his name day (Feast of St. Bernhard, August 20), and he

shared it with Bishop Barres and laughed. The child had written, "I wish that

you always remain a good Catholic."46 When Lichtenberg celebrated his twenty-

fifth Jubilee (25 years as a priest) in 1924, a posting in Germania characterized the

pastor as a "brilliant preacher" and "one of the most exemplary personalities of

the greater Berlin clergy."47

For twelve years during the Weimar era (and as early as 1916), Lichtenberg

used his vacation time to go on "begging missions" (Bettelreisen) to collect the

money needed to build five new churches in Charlottenburg.48 Building costs

increased in Charlottenburg, and Lichtenberg traveled throughout regions of

Germany on his autumn collection trips: Cologne in 1920 and 1921, Munster in

45 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 48.

46 Ibid.

47 Hohle, Die Griindung, 226.

48 Lichtenberg rarely had time to socialize - a cup of coffee with a guest or his family at Christmas seemed to be all he could spare. 145

1923, Basel in 1924, Freiburg in 1925, Rottenburg in 1926, Schneidemuhl in 1927, and Silesia in 1928. He sent "begging" letters throughout Germany and

Switzerland. Even in Chicago, Lichtenberg spoke about his needs in Berlin to

German-Americans. He published his travel book Amerikanische Briefe (American

Letters) to raise funds.

In 1925, Lichtenberg chronicled his travels and collections. His recordings offer a picture of the adventure, the strain, the success, and lack of success these begging missions brought. The following from his collection journal offers a flavor of Lichtenberg's "Bettelreisen":

October 16, 1925: allowed to preach and to collect in 53 South German parishes and was restricted from 25 ... October 19: evening 71 marks, morning 54marks=125 marks October 21: Preached after Holy Mass without collection October 22: Celebrated about 7:30, preached; some 60 people at 8:30; when I later wanted to collect, the pastor gave an astonished look. The people had nothing with them. At 9:45, the train went to Rauenberg, an hour to run, went without breakfast October 27: Preaching was well received, children somewhat noisy, two collections: 51 marks October 29: Collected 130 marks November 1: Preached 4 times. Material success modest. Plenty tired in the evening. November 2: Waited for the train to Offenburg, there took refuge in beautiful city church during the bad weather "God is love" November 25: Preached before 80 people (collected 10 pennies) December 3: (Lichtenberg's birthday) Today I stand before God 50 years. Thanks be to God! I am also thankful that this day I am allowed to spend the day in the quiet Beuroner . Evening 7:00 rosary and preached, perhaps 20 women, 6 men, and a few children. Collected 5.99 marks. The collection on the next morning 1.56 marks as well as 6.50 marks from the pastor, and 2 marks from the mayor. December 17: The evening meal was a piece of dry bread with warm beer; later Anton brought some liverwurst; ice cold, dirty bed covered with 146

large newspapers, putting on gloves and then stretching out. The warm water bottle opens and I lie in water! Up. The matches aren't working, ... On the next morning get dressed in darkness, light, to the church, . . . . An hour instruction, set over the Main, ran into the parish house, a glass of wine, back over the Main, off and away to Bamburg and Charlottenburg. There at 9 in the evening. Home. Thanks be to God.49

The present-day purchasing power equivalent of 50 RM in 1925 would be approximately 345 euros.50 This indicates that Catholic congregations around

Germany rewarded Lichtenberg' s efforts at an impressive financial level.

Lichtenberg was constantly working to expand Catholic life in Berlin.

During the early Weimar period, a time of high inflation, Lichtenberg saw to it that the Church bought the needed land, even at high prices. He was ready to divide the parish, giving way to other churches: St. Canisius, St. Camillus, Holy

Spirit, St. Thomas, and Maria Himmelfahrt. As pastor in Charlottenburg,

Lichtenberg encouraged the Jesuits and other orders to send missionaries to

Berlin. The Catholic Church sent missionaries all over the world, and

Lichtenberg believed that Berlin needed missionaries as much as the other regions did: "Berlin was worth a pair of missionaries."51 When he was in

Karlshorst, he had endeavored to establish the first Catholic sisters' settlement.

49 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 41. These diaries have since been lost according to Berlin Diocesan archivist and Lichtenberg biographer Gotthard Klein.

5o E-mail to author from Deutsche Bundesbank (signed Helga-Michalik-Ringenaldus and Robert Kirchner), 12 March 2007.

51 Ogiermann, Bis zum letzten Atemzug, 20. This phrase is reminiscent of Henry of Navarre's "Paris is worth a Mass." 147

After thirteen years of tough negotiation, and allowed

Lichtenberg to take religious instruction to their community schools. Thirty years in the planning and with Lichtenberg's help, a Catholic gymnasium opened on Easter 1925 in Charlottenburg with 71 students. 52 Beyond religious needs, Lichtenberg realized that his congregants required "family friendly housing." In 1929, he intended to build 300 estate houses for lease within his parish, but the project failed.53 No matter the economic conditions in Germany,

Lichtenberg worked to bring a better life for his congregants.

In the summer of 1926, Lichtenberg had the opportunity to attend the 28th

International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago and expand his own life. It was the first of these Congresses held in the United States. Lichtenberg boarded the

"Congress ship" Liltzow along with more than 70 clerics, including Prince

Bishop von Gurk, the Bishop of Speyer, the Bishop of Osnabrilck, and the of Grilssau. Clerics celebrated seventy or more Masses daily in the first days of the voyage, but then seasickness took its toll. Nevertheless, Lichtenberg was thrilled that he "was permitted" to preach about the greatness of Eucharistic love.54

52 In 1895, Cardinal Kopp spoke of the establishment of a Catholic gymnasium in Berlin. Hohle, Die Griindung, 107-108. Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 39.

53 Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 12.

54 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 3. 148

Once in Chicago, Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich,

gave the first address at the Children's Day service.ss Starting at 5:00 a.m.,

"60,000 children garbed in the pontifical colors yellow and white and

accompanied by the from the schools, streamed from all parts of the city

into the stadium."56 Sectional meetings were offered by "nationality" -German,

Polish, Slovak, and "colored."57

Lichtenberg heard the greeting "GruJ5 Gott" (a greeting common to South

Germany and Austria) from many people. They were usually South Germans

who had settled in Chicago. After the high office (prayer) one day, someone said

to him, "Someone is looking for you, a gentleman from Charlottenburg has asked

about you." Lichtenberg found the man, the son of the vice-chairman of the

Charlottenburg Workers' Union who had emigrated to Chicago years ago, and

visited him and his family. When Lichtenberg asked, "How did you recognize

me?" the man replied, "When the cardinals entered, I was standing in the middle

55 Faulhaber took advantage of his time in America, touring the country to ask for financial assistance for German children. Gordon Zahn, German Catholics and Hitler's Wars, A Study in Social Control (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1962), 109.

56 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 5.

57 The International Congresses had the approval of the Holy See, and the purpose of the gathering was "to manifest publicly Catholic love, fealty, and devotion to Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Blessed Eucharist; to promote and inspire a greater love for Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar, and endeavor to make reparation for the outrages which have been committed against His Divine Presence in the Tabernacle." XXVIII International Eucharistic Congress Pictoral Album, Chicago, June 20-24, 1926, (Chicago: American Autochrome Co., 1926), 13. See also, XXVIII International Eucharistic Congress, Chicago, June 20-24, 1926, (Chicago: Manz Corporation, 1926). 149

nave. When I saw you, I thought, that guy has almost as big a nose as our priest does. If he starts to sing then I'll know it is he." The man had received a description of Lichtenberg (by voice) and Lichtenberg's voice preceded him.58

Lichtenberg took advantage of the opportunity to travel a bit around the states, sightseeing around Buffalo (Niagara Falls) and Washington, DC.

Lichtenberg organized his travels in a book, Amerikanische Briefe, published in

1926, and used the proceeds of sales as a Church fundraiser.59 For personal reasons, Lichtenberg visited the church of St. Cecilia in Englewood. The

Carmelite church had come into possession of a of little Theresa of the Child

Jesus. A number of things surprised Lichtenberg about America-the display of religious objects in shops windows, the lack of noise in establishments that served alcohol,60 and the tranquility of young men on the ferry. He even experienced the cordiality of a taxi driver wanting to introduce the priest to his wife and mother-in-law at home. Perhaps though, beyond the Eucharistic

ss DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 5.

/1 59 Lichtenberg received an imprimatur for his text American letters from the 28th International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago 1926" on August 7, 1926. Bernhard Lichtenberg, Amerikanische Briefe vom 28.internationalen Eucharistischen Kongrefl in Chicago 1926, (Berlin: Im Selbstverlag des Verfassers, 1926). One can see a picture of the book in Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 9.

60 Bernhard Lichtenberg visited America during the time of Prohibition. Although the Volstead Act enabled the American government to enforce the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the sale of alcohol, the American government did not have the means to enforce the act in every speakeasy in America. Lichtenberg must have visited an /1 establishment" that did not want to draw attention to itself. 150

Congress itself, Lichtenberg was most impressed with his time in Washington.

He described it in his prison diaries:

Fridolin cannot remember having gotten so splendid a chalice as the one in Washington-this one of a kind government city-Fridolin cast a glance into the Capitol building, where everything was proceeding very quietly; in the White House he and the other participants of the Congress shook hands with President Coolidge. This capital city excels in its great quietude. No kind of election propaganda is allowed. One looks in vain for inflammatory posters on walls or announcements of election meetings. 61

Lichtenberg's trip to the United States impressed him, and he returned to

Germany a man of the world. He had seen how life could proceed in a progressive nation. He quickly returned to his pastoral duties, including his

"collection trips" of 1926 and 1927. 62

When Lichtenberg did not experience the world's Catholics first hand, he read about them, including the persecution of Catholics in . He learned about the specific issues and the situation, and on May 11, 1928, Lichtenberg penned his first noteworthy letter of protest - to Mexico's envoy in Berlin. As he had in council sessions, Lichtenberg did his homework and offered many facts to bolster his case:

61 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 6. As the capital city of the United States, Lichtenberg perhaps looked for similarities between Washington and his own capital city of Berlin. In the summer of 1926, there would have been little "election propaganda" visible on the streets of Washington. In addition, Lichtenberg would have been visiting the tourist areas where one would not find election posters.

62 , 5 years Lichtenberg's junior, a Carmelite priest, also beatified by the Catholic Church as a martyr, also traveled in America. He died at Dachau after the Nazis arrested him for speaking out. (He wrote against Jewish marriage laws.) Was he more willing to speak out as well because he had traveled abroad? (Is this result a symptom or an effect?) See Joseph Rees, Titus Brandsma, A Modern Marh;r, (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971). 151

Because the large hall at the brewery could not contain the crowd of Catholics on May 7 (1928) who wanted to protest against the Mexican church persecution, a parallel meeting was held in the garden, which was noted in the pastoral letter of the deceased martyr bishop Dr. Jose de Jesus Manriquez y Sarta of Huejutla who died in prison in Veracruz on August 4, 1926. The shocking content of this piece, Article 33, which President Calles published on June 3, 1926 as a merciless implementation of the notorious Article 130 of the constitution of 1917, the scandalous atrocities with which even up to current days the Mexican government oppresses, persecutes, and murders loyal Catholic natives of the country, and not least the eloquent silence of the Mexican ambassadors in response to the unprecedented sharp accusations raised against the government, all of this, shocked in the deepest way, those gathered. They decided to renew again the strongest protest and to inform the foreign minister Dr. Stresemann about it with the request that, in the name of inviolable human rights, his influential voice should also be raised against senseless and disastrous hatred toward religion.63

The impetus for this gathering and Lichtenberg' s letter in 1928 must have come from events in Germany or perhaps from other rebellions in the Latin American world. There were no highlights moments of the Cristero Rebellion in 1928. It was in 1926 that relations between the Church and State broke down and churches in Mexico closed. Soon the peasants rose up against the government and continued their resistance of anti-Church actions for several years.

Mexico's 1917 Constitution had called for "secular education in the schools,"

"outlawed monastic orders," "forbade public worship outside the confines of churches," "placed restrictions on the right of religious organizations to hold property," and "deprived clergy members of basic rights and made them in

63 Klein, Berolinen, 2:24. 152

effect second-class citizens."64 Mexican state leadership did not strictly enforce these laws or antagonize the Church until the mid-1920s, under the presidency of

Plutarco Calles. This change brought about the Cristero (Christers, dubbed by their enemies) Rebellion, in which clergy and lay people together rose up against their government. In 1925, a representative of villagers had sent a letter to

President Calles:

Is it true that the Supreme Government attacked a church and wants to do the same to the ? Here many people are already preparing to defend the churches with firearms. I already have over 3,000 men, and I believe that the women are greater in number; there are probably 7,000 altogether. We would rather die than allow the clergy to be persecuted.65

In November 1926, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical "On the Persecution of the Church in Mexico." The Church commiserated with the Cristeros, supported their actions as a matter of their choice, and noted that she would continue to pray for the situation. The Pope's words indicated a clear perception of the

Cristeros as a protector of the Church: "Marvelous indeed is the glory of the ~' Divine Spouse of Christ who, through the course of centuries, can depend, without fail, upon a brave and generous offspring ever ready to suffer prisons, stripes, and even death itself for the holy liberty of the Church."66 Where one

64 See Jim Tuck, "The Cristero Rebellion - Part l," (Mexico Connect [website], n.d.), http:/ /www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history /jtuck/jtcristerol.html (accessed May 25, 2008).

65 Jean A Meyer, The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People Between Church and State, 1926- 1929, trans. Richard Southern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 36. See also Robert E. Quirk, The Mexican Revolution and the Catholic Church, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973), Chapter 6, "The Church Strike." 153

might think that the leaders of Rome should protect Catholic practice throughout the world, the Catholic people strengthened Catholicism and the Church.

Rome's reaction to the situation in Mexico in the 1920s foreshadowed her reaction to the Nazi regime of the 1930s. With reminiscences of the Kulturkampf leveled against German's clergy in the 1870s, Rome would not demand a halt to the persecution of Mexico's Catholics. The Vatican favored compromise and diplomacy. Scores of priests died, and Mexico expelled many more. The Church would support also Lichtenberg's efforts against the Nazi regime with the understanding that those who rose up in the name of Christianity did it from their own consciences. The Church in Mexico remained in the scope of Rome as the Pius XI wrote two more regarding the situation in Mexico (1932 and 1937).

The Church experienced persecution not only in Mexico but also in the

Communist and, later, in . Naturally, each national situation was different, but Mexican Catholics openly wanted to oppose the government to save their practice of Catholicism. The Vatican thought it best to follow a policy of caution and restraint vis-a-vis the political authority, as it would later with the Third Reich. Peace seemed to be the Church's goal in her desire to be more diplomatic than combative.

66 http:/ /www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11INIQU.HfM (accessed September 18, 2009). 154

The peace movement in Europe begun during World War I continued throughout Europe in the 1920s. German priest, Max Joseph Metzger, spoke at

The Hague in 1928 and 1929. At the International Religious Peace Day in 1928, he proclaimed, "Thus saith the Lord, 0 peoples of Europe, the choice is before you, war or peace!"67 In October 1929, there was a parliamentary inquiry to the

Charlottenburg council concerning agitation of the German Peace Association. 68

Lichtenberg was a member of the Friedensbund Deutscher Katholiken (Peace

Association of German Catholics) since 1923, having become a member of the board of directors, and he agreed with the peaceful course it was trying to establish for Germany. 69

Lichtenberg the Agitator

In November 1929, the Tannenberg Association held a public lecture in

Charlottenburg, offering Lichtenberg the opportunity to hear its views on religion. With the support of his wife, Mathilde, Erich Ludendorff founded the

Tannenberg League, an anti-Church, anti-Jewish, "mystical-religious sect," in

1925.70 Mathilde Ludendorff had announcements for the Monday evening

67 Stevenson, Max Josef Metzger, 12.

68 Klein, Berolinen, 1:4

69 Lichtenberg was also on the Committee of the "Team of Confessions for Peace."

7o Erich Ludendorff was perhaps the most significant member of Germany's high command in World War I. In the 1920s, however, when Reich General von Hindenburg was the President of Germany and Adolf Hitler led the Nazi political party, Ludendorff was a non-entity. He wanted his "place in the sun" and tried to find it with his "League." See Steigmann-Gall for his 155

lecture distributed at the Herz Jesu parish. One of Pastor Lichtenberg' s congregants, August Biermann, recalled that Lichtenberg announced the conference at the end of his Sunday homily: "Mathilde Ludendorff is holding a gathering tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. in Hohenzollern Hall. The topic is 'Leave the Church.' We are all going." Some one thousand people attended the meeting. A representative of Mrs. Ludendorff opened the proceedings with a speech that seemingly dishonored and baited the Pope and the Catholic Church.

As a second speaker continued the theme, Lichtenberg was drawn into the

; discussion. He took the stage, noting, "I have only five minutes to speak freely so I will be brief." He spoke for only a few minutes, correcting what he saw as falsehoods spoken against the Church, looked at his watch and noted, "We still have two minutes left; let us sing the Te Deum." Biermann said that he never heard this hymn of thanksgiving sung in such a rousing, heartfelt manner. When the singing concluded, one could hear the voice of Lichtenberg say, "Let's quietly go home."71 The meeting ended. Frau Ludendorff had underestimated the loyalty of the Herz Jesu congregation to its Church and pastor, as well as

Lichtenberg' s energy and gumption.

discussion of the "marginalized" Ludendorff. Richard Steigmann-Gall, The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). After 1933, Ludendorff's "religion" was always on the edge of interdiction by the state police. Hiirten, Deutsche Katholiken, 299.

71 Klein, Berolinen, 3:21-22, (August Biermann). 156

Lichtenberg decided, however, that his words that night at the meeting were not sufficient. He quickly wrote a letter to inform President von Hindenburg of the "new pagan" agitation of the Tannenberg Association. It was a letter of protest and defense:

Mr. Imperial President! The Tannenberg-League e.V. Charlottenburg held a public lecture evening on Thursday, in which Mr. Ziegler spoke about "History and the Purpose of the Jesuit Order" and Mr. Ullert (spoke) about "Why does Ludendorff fight against Rome?" [... ] In my congregation, the Jesuits, which Ludendorff's partisan guard calls "black spoilers of our people" direct a gymnasium (still in the developing phase), to which so far 320 parents have entrusted their precious children. In fact, on the first page of his above-mentioned book the author makes it clear that his attacks apply not only to the Jesuits but also to the Roman-Catholic Church . . . . It is an unbearable thought that a Prussian officer, a former Field Marshall, a former comrade of the Most Honorable Imperial President, an appointed guard of honor and authority, may dare to raise up slander of a very serious nature against the German citizens, against inviolable members of the Catholic clergy and against the Catholic Church .. . . In deepest pain and deepest indignation, this brings information to your attention in the form of a complaint, most honorable Imperial President, on the orders of the assembly, which was attended by numerous Catholics. In deepest respect (or reverence), Most obedient (humble) servant of Your Excellence, Monsignor Lichtenberg72

A few days later, Lichtenberg received a reply from Dr. Meissner in the presidential chancellery, noting, "The Imperial President ... disapproves of every agitation through word and writing that disturbs the peace of the church.

72 Klein, Berolinen, 2:32-33. Lichtenberg had done his homework, noting in his letter to the President particular points by page number of the Ludendorff-recommended book, "The Secret of Jesuit Power and its End." The Association recommended that Germans read the book: "The house Ludendorff has done its part; Germans do yours! Read the book, make it your own, circulate it and thereby rescue yourselves and the coming generations from the dictatorship of the clerics, from spiritual and intellectual enslavement." 157

Neither official nor personal possibilities exist for the Imperial President, who in fact has no connection whatsoever with the Tannenberg group, to prevent the negotiations and publications about which you complain."73

The President responded that it was not within his jurisdiction to stop

Ludendorff' s group. Perhaps Lichtenberg did not expect von Hindenburg to stop the attacks on the Church by Ludendorff in his capacity as President, but to simply pull aside his former comrade and suggest that it was not honorable or prudent for a distinguished military leader to act this manner. Lichtenberg's letter focuses on this point, and it appears that he chose to write to von

Hindenburg not because he was the President, but because he had served closely with Ludendorff and might react to Lichtenberg' s point about "guard of honor and authority." Lichtenberg was and would be purposeful in his many letters of protest, in both word choice and recipient. He also took on decisive leadership roles outside of his pastoral duties, as he did with the peace movement in

Germany.

Lichtenberg and Moral Issues Collide

When the Peace Union organized in Berlin, Lichtenberg immediately became a member and then grew into a leader. He stood at the apex of the joint committee of the Peace Union and the International "Versohnungsbund"

73 Klein, Berolinen, 2:34. Around this time, in December 1929, Lichtenberg was introduced as diocesan chairman of the Kreuzbund (a non-political organization devoted to helping alcoholics). 158

(reconciliation league) that prepared the second peace congress of German and

Polish Catholics in 1929. (The first Congress took place in June 1928 in Warsaw.)

In Berlin, Lichtenberg read a letter from Nuncio Pacelli in which he set down the

Catholic teaching of peace.

Gordon Zahn' s research on the Catholic Peace Union membership in

Germany shows an active, verbal support for peace from most of the bishops. As many as thirteen bishops were active members of the Friedensbund or had associated themselves with its program. These included Cardinals Bertram

(Breslau) and Faulhaber (Munich), and Bishops Schreiber (Berlin), Sproll

(Rottenburg) and Grober (Meissen).74 In 1930, Cardinal Faulhaber wrote that he wanted to work for peace. Even though the devotion and duty to self-sacrifice that he witnessed in World War I moved him, he believed that it was inhuman to wage war with weapons that can destroy innocent life so quickly.75 In late 1931,

Cardinal Grober warned, "Military preparedness is a form of dynamite."76

At the opening of the 8th Imperial Diet of the Peace Union of German

Catholics in November 1931, Bishop Schreiber spoke about "War and Peace." He declared, "It is the duty of all men to want to serve truth, justice, and humanity, to bring about peace in the Nation by the measure of his ability, and to help

74 Zahn, Gennan Catholics and Hitler's Wars, 4.

75 Ibid., 110. Faulhaber wrote this in Der 9-er, "the regimental newspaper published for veterans of the 'Wrede' Ninth Infantry of the former Bavarian Royal Army."

76 Ibid., 124. 159

eliminate all hindrances to peace." The speech should have been broadcast over the Berlin Radio Hour, but at the last minute, the station rejected it. The cancellation was probably due to Nazi influence.77 Massive protest by Catholics, however, finally forced the broadcast. Bishop Schreiber had offered greetings to countless Catholic organizations, including the Peace Union.78

The Berlin Radio Hour was founded in 1923. Even though some censorship existed, the policy of the station seemed to be to satisfy all of its listeners - from

Communist Left to National Socialist Right. Socialists called for equal time as the station transmitted Protestant and Catholic sermons on Sunday mornings; the station obliged. By the early 1930s, however, the Nazis had been able to put pressure on the Radio hour. On October 10, 1930, a program entitled "Can Wars be Avoided?" was scheduled, but cancelled at the last minute. The Nazis took credit in stopping the broadcast of the debate between Kurt Hiller and Father

Franziskus Stratmann, two pacifists, but with different ideologies. Beyond peace, Stratmann voiced his frustration regarding the persecution of the Jews, noting," A blasphemy, considering that Christ belonged in eternity to this race, that Christianity would not have originated without Judaism."79 Shared values would bring Stratmann and Lichtenberg together to speak out for peace.

77 Peter Jelavich, Berlin : Radio, Film, and the Death oJWeimar Culture, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 51, 120.

78 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 8.

79 Hi.irten, Deutsche Katholiken, 198. 160

On January 1, 1931, the Church had assigned Bernhard Lichtenberg as

Canon of St. Hedwig's Cathedral. Being at the Cathedral gave him greater exposure to the press. When a comrade wrote to Lichtenberg to congratulate him on being assigned to St. Hedwig's in 1931, Lichtenberg replied: "I thank you for your good wishes and ask you to remember me in your prayers that I can still remain a pastor in this new position."so Lichtenberg was primarily a pastor; it was his broader activities that sometimes got him into trouble. The issues that faced the world also faced his parishioners, and as pastor, he felt responsible for every soul.

As a member of the Berlin Board of Directors for the peace movement of

German Catholics, Lichtenberg received an invitation to a closed showing of All

Quiet on the Western Front in June 1931. Together with Dominican Father

Franziskus M. Stratmann, founder, theorist, and leader of the German Catholic

Peace Union (Friedensbund deutscher Katholiken), Lichtenberg attended the film. Catholic organizations saw to it that people had the opportunity to see the

"peace" movie, which heightened the awareness of the peace movement while

Lichtenberg continued to speak out for peace. In the Nazi political smear sheet,

Der Angriff, , ' chief anti-Semitic theorist, accused Lichtenberg of "mocking the fallen and dishonoring the dead." The

80 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14-15. Lichtenberg added to his work and exposure with other assignments. In July 1931, he was named to ludex prosynodalis (judge); in December 1931, he was named diocesan chairman of the Winfriedbundes. 161

headline read "Raus Mit Lichtenberg!" Hanky notes that the Nazi press

"deteriorated into unimaginable propaganda against Lichtenberg."81 The propaganda encouraged many to attack Lichtenberg. He received an anonymous postcard that read, "You filthy dog, you bastard priest, Jewboy, traitor, rogue, ... "82 Some people tied in the peace movement with the stab-in- the-back theory of Germany's loss in World War I. The pacifists, Catholics, and

Jews had stabbed Germany in the back. Each of these groups is represented in the name calling.

Lichtenberg raised accusations against the slandering of the newspaper Der

Angriff, and a Berlin-Mitte court held a hearing regarding the matter in February

1932. The first chairperson of the peace movement in Berlin, Dr. Kloidt, wanted to attend the hearing. He was familiar with court and made his way there; he found his way to the room by hearing Lichtenberg's loud voice up the steps and through the corridor. Lichtenberg defended not his own honor, but the honor of the peace movement. The court sentenced the newspaper to pay a fine, but

81 Ibid., 13. The Osnabriicker Volkszeitung covered the film: "The Film offers a brilliant performance, in which non-war participants portray a rather true picture of the war. For the practicing hero ideology remains little room. He gave the war participants a new impulse to the struggle against modern war, which the peace Pope Benedict XV had named a dishonorable butcher shop. From there, one can understand that Goebbels and his men ran against the Film's storm. About this film, the Jesuit priest Friedrich Muckermann wrote, Only one authority can have grounds to be against this film, namely the war industry .... To me it is incomprehensible how anyone in today's world can explain the opposition to the exhibition of this film. Whoever wants peace cannot pass sentence on a work that has such strong intention and so ethical a pure art, warns of war." Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 10.

82 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 13-14. 162

appeal negotiations took place before a Berlin State Court in June. The editor, not wanting to pay the fine, retracted his statements regarding Lichtenberg.83

Another moral issue publicly debated late in the Weimar era was abortion.

In the midst of the Depression, thousands of women demonstrated against not only rising prices, a housing shortage, unemployment, and equal pay for equal work, but also for the right to abortion and birth control. The following poem reflected their feelings:

Oh, I am a valuable thing, Everybody cares about me: The church, the state. Doctors, judges­ For nine months, But when those nine months are past ... Well, then I have to look out for myself. Kurt Tucholsky84

Women from all occupations campaigned to legalize abortion, justifying it "in terms of social eugenic health and collective welfare."85

As early as May 1929, Lichtenberg had made a statement on the politics of public health at a borough meeting in Charlottenburg. He had spoken against the development of a childbirth and sex information center. He argued that the

"Volk must not be educated to use contraception in order to be spared abortion, just as the devil should not be allowed to be exorcised through Beelzebub; but

83 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 54. Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14.

84 Atina Grossmann, "Abortion and Economic Crisis: The 1931 Campaign Against Paragraph 218," in When Biology Became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany, ed. Renate Bridenthal, Atina Grossman, and Marion Kaplan (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1984), 67.

ss Ibid., 66. 163

the people should be taught self-control, absolute before or outside of marriage and reasonable abstinence in marriage."86 Lichtenberg urged, "The battle against abortion must be designated as one of the most important public health tasks at the present time .... One must contradict the assertion of the district office that the battle against abortion is only possible if the rationalization sets in at an early time before the onset of conception. And one must combat without consideration of others a birth advice center whose major task is described as facilitating contraception. Contraception is inappropriate, indecent, and devastating."87 He and other members of the

Catholic Church continued to speak out against contraception and abortion into the 1930s.

On New Year's Eve, 1930, Pope Pius XI had issued an encyclical on Christian marriage that denounced sex without the intent to procreate and imposed an absolute prohibition on contraception and abortion. Some saw the encyclical as an attempt to force the production of 'cannon fodder' for a war against the Soviet

Union.88 The following poem by Bertolt Brecht supports this view:

You're going to be a lovely little mother You' re going to make a bunch of cannon fodder That's what your belly's for And that's no news to you And now do not squall

86 Klein, Berolinen, 2:28. Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 164.

87 Klein, Berolinen, 2:26.

88 Grossmann," Abortion and Economic Crisis," 71-72. 164

You're having a baby, that's all.89

Films also took up the theme of abortion as "a metaphor for general class and sex oppression."90

The need to limit births became particularly urgent during the Great

Depression. The legalization of abortion required the overturn of paragraph 218 of the criminal code, which "called for jail sentences for women who aborted their fetuses and for anyone aiding them." On International Women's Day,

March 8, 1931, there were over 1,500 rallies and demonstrations throughout

Germany. Three thousand people defied a ban on outdoor demonstrations and marched through the streets of Berlin shouting, "Down with the Bruning

Dictatorship, Down with Paragraph 218, We want Bread and Peace!" On April

15, over 15,000 people gathered in the Berlin sports stadium for a mass protest rally.91 On one Sunday during this time, the Volkszeitung (Peoples' Paper) of

Berlin organized a rally in support of Paragraph 218 at the Admiralspalast.

Heavily attended by supporters of the Paragraph, Lichtenberg was unsuccessful in his attempt to read the Papal Encyclical. There was no lack of sneering and cynical shouting. He made little impression on the people and he seemed "out of

89 Ibid., 66-67.

90 Ibid., 74.

91 Ibid., 74. 165

place" given the very different nature of his inner state of mind.92 At the same time Lichtenberg was faced with individual moral issues in Germany, a larger issue was looming- the National Socialist Party.

Nazism and Catholicism

Early in 1930, the vicar general of the diocese of Mainz, Dr. Mayer, had informed the Nazi party's district office in Offenbach that Catholics could not become members in the NSDAP. Mayer supported the position presented in a sermon by one of his priests, Father Weber: (1) Catholics were forbidden to belong to the Nazi Party; (2) members of the Nazi Party would not be allowed to attend funerals or other church functions in group formations; and (3) a Catholic voter acknowledging adherence to the Nazi program could not be admitted to the sacraments. Such instructions were necessary, Mayer stated, because of the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines with article 24 of the Nazi program.93 In

1931, the Volkischer Beobachter reported a short commentary in which Bernhard

Lichtenberg clearly pointed out that a Catholic could not be a member of the

Nazi Party.94 Cardinal Faulhaber and his fellow bishops agreed that such a membership was impossible to countenance. Goring visited Rome in 1931 "to

92 Hans-Jurgen Arendt, "Eine demokratische Massenbewegung unter Fiihrung der KPD im Friihjahr 1931. Die Volksaktion gegen den Paragraphen 218 und gegen die papstliche Enzyklika 'Casti connubii,"' Zeitschrift for Gesichtswissenschaft, 19 (1971), 221. Erb, 58.

93 Donald Dietrich, Catholic Citizens in the Third Reich: Psycho-Social Principles and Moral Reasoning, (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988), 57.

94 Kock, Er Widerstand, 59. 166

solicit curial support in dampening the anti-Nazi activity of the German bishops, but he was given the cold shoulder. The bishops, he was told, had to follow their consciences and their religious convictions."95

Some Catholics felt that they could serve their faith best by choosing the

Nazi Party, however, since it was more vigorously opposed to communism than were the varied Catholic parties. Donald Dietrich notes, "Catholics increasingly spoke of adhering to the Catholic Weltanschauung (world view) rather than

Catholic Lehre (doctrine), even their terminology reflecting their assimilation of national values."96 Lichtenberg had considered this very "problem" for himself when he had attended the 1909 International Eucharistic Congress in Cologne.

Cardinal Fischer had warned of the danger of speaking about a Catholic "world view" rather than a Catholic faith: "The Credo is objective, the view subjective.'"

If Lichtenberg had been a member of the Reichstag, he probably would have continued to emphasize this.

The Prussian bishops sent a pastoral letter to the voters in July 1932. They did not mention the Center Party or National Socialist Party, but the letter noted that there were not only political choices but also religious interests and the position of Church to consider. The bishops suggested, "Choose deputies, whose

95 Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler, 117. It was obvious by 1931 that National Socialism and Catholicism were incompatible, and Professor Johannes Stark took the opportunity to publish a book (in old German script) regarding the relationship. Johannes Stark, Nationalsozialismus und Katholische Kirche, (Miinchen: Verlag Frz. Eher Nachf., G.m.b.h., 1931).

96 Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 78-79. 167

character and tested attitude give witness of their admission for peace and social welfare of the people, for the protection of confessional schools, the Christian religion, and the Catholic Church."97 Finally, when the German bishops met in

Fulda in August, they offered specific guidelines for Catholics to follow regarding the Nazi Party:

All the bishoprics have forbidden membership of this Party because: a) Parts of its official programme contain false teachings ... b) Hostility to the Faith is evident in statements by countless leading figures and publicists of the Party, in particular a hostile attitude to fundamental doctrines and claims of the Catholic Church. These statements have never been refuted or criticized by the supreme leadership of the party. The same is true of the attitude to the confessional school, Christian marriage, and similar questions. c) It is the unanimous conclusion of the Catholic clergy and of those genuinely concerned to further the interests of the Church in the public sphere that if the Party were to gain the monopoly of power in Germany, which it is so hotly pursuing the prospects for the church interests of the Catholics would be gloomy indeed. d) Considerable numbers of people join the Party solely because of their support for the Party in the secular sphere, for its economic policies and political aims. But this cannot be justified. Support for the Party necessarily involves, whether one wants this or not, furthering its aims as a whole. Moreover the promises made by the Party appear to be incapable of fulfillment."98

In the next four months, however, events continued to change rapidly, and the situation, which Pius had dreaded and Pacelli feared, occurred. Upon

97 Hans Muller, ed., Katholische Kirche und Nationalsozialismus: Dokumente, 1930-1935, (Miinchen: Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, 1965), 61, doc. 9.

98 Matheson, The Third Reich and the Christian Churches, 6-7. 168

Hindenburg's request, Hitler forged a working government - a government that excluded the Center Party. From then on, the Vatican had to deal with a new

Germany. Although there were those who thought Hitler's government would be short-lived, most realized that the momentum of the NSDAP could not be suppressed. The Vatican had to consider what direction it would take - non- cooperation or concordat to insure some safeguards for the Church. Pope Pius

XI told his German bishops, "If it is a matter of saving souls, of averting even greater damage, we have the courage to negotiate even with the devil."99

99 Michael Marrus, "The Vatican on Racism and , 1938-39: A New Look ata Might-Have-Been," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 11, no. 3 (1997): 380. CHAPTER FIVE

CATHOLIC ACCOMMODATION AND RESISTANCE

(1933-1936)

We can learn by the example of the Catholic Church. Through its doctrinal edifice ... it is none the less unwilling to sacrifice so much as one little syllable of its dogmas. - Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

When we priests remain silent, the people ·will be confused and not know what to do. Preach the word, hold to it, whether favorable or not. - Bernhard Lichtenberg

In the St. Hedwig's Chronicle, Pastor Bernhard Lichtenberg did not mention the naming of the new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, on January 30, 1933. We look back on this day as a watershed moment, but for Father Lichtenberg, it may have been merely another change of chancellors. Named Pastor of St. Hedwig's

December 27, 1932, Lichtenberg maintained the parish chronicle from 1933-1938.

Lichtenberg was rather new to the task of editing the chronicle, and perhaps he considered only religious news appropriate for the parish record. As time passed, however, Lichtenberg did note other political events, such as the "death" of , the assassination of Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss, and Hitler assuming the presidency upon the death of von Hindenburg. Why then did he not note the naming of the National Socialist Hitler as the new chancellor? There

169 170

had been three successive chancellorships in 1932. Perhaps Lichtenberg hoped that Hitler's chancellorship would be only a "flash in the pan."

Hitler and his Nazi party moved into the German government with full force, forgoing any "honeymoon period." Hitler wanted complete control, and he did not hesitate to move forward with his plans. Following the burning of the

Reichstag in late February, Hitler was able to convince Hindenburg to invoke emergency powers under the Weimar Constitution, which gave the Chancellor greater power to control German society. The "Decree for the Protection of

People and State" ( Decree) suspended civil rights and freedoms, allowing the Nazis to increase their repressive measures. German Catholic

Church leaders had to decide what course of action to take. They believed in respecting their secular leaders, but how would they work with a party seemingly hostile to the Catholic faith?1 Conversely, the German public, not satisfied with Germany's position in the world, appeared to rejoice in a leader who aroused such national fervor. John Conway creates an image, suggesting,

"Unwilling to face the reality of their situation, the [German] people embraced

1 Cardinal , in his letter of February 10, 1933 made it clear that Catholics had a duty in conscience to be loyal members of the state: "The catechism says about the fourth commandment: 'We owe respect and obedience to the secular authority.' Respect and obedience to the laws and ordinances so long as nothing is commanded contrary to the commands of God and the Church. Respect and obedience, also, at a time when the present form of the state and its system does not please us .... The obedience, which the catechism requires is the obedience of a free man, who never takes part in a violent revolution or upheavals, but who cannot, because of that, call disorder, order or madness, truth." Mary Alice Gallin, German Resistance to Hitler, Ethical and Religious Factors, (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1961), 209-210. 171

the new idolatry of this latter-day Pied Piper of ."2 Catholics and

Protestants were convinced that they could remain faithful to their religious convictions, and at the same time, be patriotic citizens under the new regime. In fact, Donald Dietrich maintains, "Hitler probably generated more intense fervor for his cause than any of the bishops could for theirs."3 Maintaining a strong

Catholic presence in Germany, as the bishops wanted, would not lower unemployment or bring back national pride to Germans.

Given the rapid pace with which the National Socialists consolidated their power, some thought that the elections held in early March might be the last elections held in Germany for some time. Since talks with the Center Party had failed to secure a parliamentary majority for the new government, Hitler had received permission to dissolve the Reichstag and call for new elections. On

March 5, the Nazi Party and other nationalist parties combined for a small majority, while the Center Party held her own and actually gained three seats.4

Within days, the Nazis put pressure on the Centrists to support the Enabling Act, which would grant dictatorial powers to the new government. Cardinal Adolf

Bertram of Breslau, head of the Fulda Bishops' Conference, placed the concern of the bishops before President Hindenburg: "We as bishops are particularly concerned whether the movement which has achieved power will call a halt

2 Conway, Catholic Politics, 3.

3 Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 45.

4 With 43.9% of the vote, the Nazis alone did not win an absolute majority. 172

before the holiness of the church and before the position of the church in public life . . . . The hour has come when we must turn to the head of the state with an urgent plea for the protection of the church and its life and activity. May our call not go unheard."5 Hindenburg responded that he forwarded the letter to Hitler and would discuss it with him. Vice-chancellor von Papen wanted to smooth over the church-state relationship and asked the bishops to revise their position toward National Socialism. Everything was changing very quickly, and the lower clergy wanted some guidance from their bishops. The cardinals and bishops of Germany, however, could not present a united front.

Hitler tried to embarrass and pressure the German bishops. He did not attend the Mass celebrating the opening of the Reichstag. He asserted, "The

German Catholic bishops have quite recently in a series of public declarations on which the clergy have not hesitated to act, stigmatized the leaders of the National

Socialist Party as traitors who should be refused the sacraments . . . . In these circumstances, the Chancellor is reluctantly compelled to remain away from the

Catholic service at ."6 By not attending the ceremonial Mass, Hitler could make himself look like a victim to the general populace, could give people the sense that he was trying to make Germany safer and better for her people and it was the Catholic Church and her political Party that was stopping him.

s Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler, 237-238.

6 Gallin, German Resistance to Hitler, 207. 173

Hitler seemed to know how to deal with the Catholic situation. He tried to present himself as a statesman of moderation, assuring the Catholic Church of religious freedoms. Nazi leaders wanted to persuade the Centrists to voluntary cooperation. Hitler did not want to antagonize Catholics, one third of the

German population. On their part, there was no unity within the Center Party regarding Hitler and the Nazis. Some members had hoped for eventual accommodation with Hitler while others had wanted to try to split the Nazis and work with the more moderate members of the Nazi Party. Now, when faced with a Nazi government and the upcoming vote on the Enabling Act, the Center

Party tried to come together with one voice.

Did the Vatican pressure the Center Party to support the Enabling Act so that it could use that "favor" as currency in negotiating a national concordat with the Nazi government? Both Pacelli and Pope Pius XI were uneasy about the

Nazi stance on Christianity. Monsignor , the de facto papal nuncio, met with Vice-Chancellor von Papen the day after the Reichstag elections to offer to collaborate with the new government.7 Hitler made an overture to Centrist leader Ludwig Kaas, agreeing to guarantee certain conditions limiting the

Enabling Act and to deliver a written declaration of these conditions.s Kaas had

7 Kaas had served as confidential advisor on German Affairs to Cardinal Pacelli, when the latter was Nuncio. Joseph A. Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933: The Church Struggle Against Nazi Germany," In Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler, (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1999), 27, 134. 174

lobbied members of the Center Party for the Enabling Act. John Zeender concluded, "These and other factors suggest that there was a causal connection between the Center's Reichstag vote for the Enabling Act and the beginning of concordat negotiations."9

This "suggestion" of a "casual connection" led to debate among scholars, in particular, the 1978 Scholder/Repgen Debate. Did the Center Party's approval of the Enabling Act depend on Hitler's proposal for a Reich Concordat? German historian Klaus Scholder maintained that the Vatican pressured the Center Party to support Hitler's call for the Enabling Act so that it would have leverage in concluding a Concordat. How strong an influence did the Vatican have on the

Center Party in early 1933? Konrad Repgen argues that there was no correlation between the Enabling Act and the Concordat negotiations. Repgen notes that there was no concrete action, no idea put forth by von Papen regarding a concordat until late March or early April. Repgen' s sources stem from reports of

P. S.J., secretary to (Nuncio and Cardinal Secretary) Pacelli.10

Heinz Hilrten agrees with this view asserting, "The impetus to the negotiation of

8 Evans, The German Center Party,, 384-385. "If Briining' s account is to be believed, the possibility of a Reichskonkordat was also brought up at this time, and Kaas was 'entranced' at the idea."

9 Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933," 134.

10 Thomas Brechenmacher, ed., Das Reichskonkordat 1933, (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schoningh, 2007), 16. See chapter by Komad Repgen, "P. Robert Leiber SJ, Der Kronzeuge fiir die Vatikanische Politik beim Reichskonkordat 1933, Anmerkungen zu meiner Kontroverse mit Klaus Scholder 1977-1979," 25-36. 175

a concordat came from Berlin, and it was no prize for the muting of the Center

Party, the bishops, or the papal curia."11 Debates of this sort are common, but what is interesting about this debate is how it has continued because of the

English/ barrier. Scholder's work was translated into English, and Repgen' s work was not. A number of American authors have propagated

Scholder' s position without considering Repgen's. The Vatican had pressured the Center Party in the past to follow policy direction from Rome. Given the previous concordats, the consideration given a Reich Concordat in the 1920s, and the opportunity to be in a position to "help" Hitler (the state), it would not be surprising to see a tie between the two episodes. At the same time, there was no firm coordination among the three branches of Catholic leadership - the Vatican, the German bishops, and the Center Party.

While the Center Party confronted the Enabling Act, the Vatican considered its future relations with the new German government. The greater Hitler's power grew, the more difficult it became for the bishops to condemn National

Socialist ideology. Given the Reichstag fire, the fear of a Communist coup d'etat loomed large in the minds of the Vatican and the German Catholic bishops. To them, Hitler and his National Socialist government appeared to be the most

11 Heinz Hiirten, Deutsche Katholiken, 1918 bis 1945, (Paderborn: Ferdinand SchOningh, 1992), 233. 176

certain bulwark against Bolshevism. Already a year earlier, Hitler had exploited the German fear of Bolshevism in a speech in Diisseldorf:

It is a great honor for me that today Herr Trotski urges the German Communists to form a coalition at any price with the Social Democrats, since the only real danger for Bolshevism (as Trotski sees it) is National Socialism .... We have the firm resolve to destroy Marxism in Germany down to its very last root.12

The German Catholic leaders had not forgotten the attempted Communist coup in Berlin (1919), in Bavaria in the (1919), and in Thuringia (1920), as well as the Bolshevik invasion of Poland in 1920 on which occasion the commander of the Red Army, Tukachevsky, proclaimed, "The fate of the world revolution will be decided in the West. The path to world revolution leads over the body of Poland."13 Communism, not National Socialism, was perceived as the greater threat to Catholicism.

The Enabling Act passed with Center support on March 23. The next day, the bishops withdrew the ban on Catholic participation in the NSDAP. From their meeting in Fulda, the bishops admonished their parishioners to remain loyal to the Catholic faith and committed to Catholic unity, Christian culture, and social peace, and to work for Church, Volk, and Fatherland.14 News of an impending treaty between the Third Reich and the Vatican compounded a feeling of irrelevance and superfluity in party circles, and the Center began to

12 Foster, , 159.

13 Foster, Mary's Knight, 202.

14 Ogiermann, Bis zum letzten Atemzug, 60. 177

disintegrate.ls Hitler had been chancellor for only two months, but the Nazi

Party rapidly was achieving its monopoly of power. Hitler would have acquired dictatorial powers with or without the Enabling Act. But the Center's vote made it possible for it to be done with legitimacy, which eased Hitler's position both in Germany and in his relations with the rest of the world.16 With his new found power, Hitler began his "war against the Jews."

On March 31, 1933, Oscar Wassermann, a Jewish banker and president of a peace association, went to Bernhard Lichtenberg for help in stopping the impending Nazi boycott of Jewish business. Wassermann wanted Lichtenberg to arrange a meeting with Cardinal Bertram, hoping that the Cardinal could use his influence to stop the boycott. They met and Lichtenberg arranged for

Wassermann to meet with Bertram, who wrote:

On the recommendation of Dom Capitular Monsignor Lichtenberg in Berlin, the director of in Berlin, Oskar Wassermann (currently as president of the Workers Union of the Confession for Peace) came to me today with the request that the Episcopate intervene with the Reich President and Reich government for a revocation of the Boycott planned against the Jewish community.... I am asking respectfully the [bishops] from Cologne, Munich, Freiburg, Paderborn, and to telegraph a statement with "Comply with the request" or" Abstain from compliance."17

15 Evans, The German Center Party, 387.

16 Ibid., 386.

17 Klein, Berolinen, 2:64-65. 178

Ultimately, Bertram saw the boycott as an economic matter and thought that the

Jews could take care of themselves. He did not object to the boycott, nor did any other civic or religious association.

James McDonald, an American observer, recorded his observations on the day of the boycott:

April Fools' Day. The boycott in effect .... About 11:30 out on the streets to see the boycott in action .... The SA were orderly and so, for the most part, were the crowds, though these showed hostility if anyone ventured to enter a Jewish shop. The posting of the yellow circles on a black background was most shocking. These medieval signs of Jewish ostracism were used to cover the signs of Jewish doctors, lawyers, etc. One or two incidents I shall never forget-an old Jew facing alone a great crowd; another place the laughing, jeering children making sport of a national shame. No doubt the boycott was effective. It showed that Jewish trade could be completely stifled. No hand was raised against the SA. But the boycott is only the outward visible sign of an equally destructive discrimination against all Jews in law, medicine, school, civil service, shops, and industry, which continues unabated despite the suspension of the boycott itself.IS

Three days later, he recorded in his diary, "The Catholic Church is really incompatible with the regime!"l9 Contrary to the posture of the German Catholic bishops, McDonald was able to perceive the evolving situation whereby the

Catholic Church's independence gradually was being eroded by the state.

On May 10, Lichtenberg had the opportunity to experience a particular platform of the Nazi agenda, right on his front doorstep, so to speak. The Nazis burned more than 20,000 books on the square in front of the Kroll Opera House,

18 Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg, eds., Advocate for the Doomed: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1932-1935, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007), 33.

19 Ibid., 40. 179

which was also in front of St. Hedwig's Cathedral. Lichtenberg did not note anything about the event in the parish chronicle. We do not know if he witnessed it personally or found out about the "rituals of exorcism" later.20

The Reich Concordat

In late May 1933 (into early June), all of the German bishops met in Fulda for the first time since 1905. Having originally planned a meeting to discuss the new

Reich and issue a joint pastoral message, the bishops saw themselves confronted with an initiative from Rome that pre-empted their prepared agenda - the planning of a Reich Concordat. Up until this time, the bishops had been kept in the dark about the details of concordat negotiations. On the first day of the

Fulda discussions, Bishops Konrad Grober and Wilhelm Berning presented the document to the bishops. The Vatican had instructed Berning and Grober to make the concordat the top priority of the Conference.21 Hearing that Hitler wanted total depoliticizing of the clergy brought the discussions to debate.

Cardinals Bertram and Faulhaber were undecided but skeptical, while Cardinal

Karl Joseph Schulte was seemingly a resolute opponent of National Socialism.

20 Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939, Volume I, (New York: Harper-Collins, 1997), 57. Minister Goebbels, spoke at the planned event: "German men and women! The age of arrogant Jewish intellectualism is now at an end! ...You are doing the rights thing at this midnight hour - to consign to the flames the unclean spirit of the past. This is a great, powerful, and symbolic act . . . . Out of these ashes the phoenix of a new age will arise . . . . Oh Century! Oh ! It is a joy to be alive!" http:/ /www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/bookburning/burning.php.

21 Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933," 131. 180

The bishops still hoped to save the Center Party. There was no clear consensus among the bishops as to a pastoral letter or the future of Church/State relations.

Bishop Grober, however, was successful in convincing a majority of the bishops of the quality as well as of the necessity of a concordat.22 Berning may also have had an impact on the bishops as he could relay what he heard directly from

Hitler in a meeting in April. The Chancellor had promised to protect Germany's

Christian foundations and cooperate with the Catholic Church.23 Continued discussion of a concordat remained rather secretive through the late spring.

At the end of their plenary session, the bishops issued a joint pastoral statement indicating that the Church welcomed the "national awakening," and supported elements of the Nazi Weltanschauung such as patriotism and obedience to authority. It was intended to prepare the German public for the impending treaty.24 There may have been pressure from both the Vatican and within

Germany for the bishops to be more accommodating to the new regime. Hitler had raised his voice against Bolshevism. Catholics could join the Nazi Party and retain membership in the Catholic Church. Why would the bishops not try to work with the Nazis?

22 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:394. "The belief by many upper-class Catholics that the church and the Nazis could together form an effective barrier to the dangers of Communism was equally an illusion for which the Catholic Church paid dearly." John S. Conway, "Coming to Terms with the Past: Interpreting the German Church Struggles 1933-1990," German Histon116, no. 3 (1998): 385.

23 Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933," 124.

24 Ibid., 133. 181

In late June, Grober and von Papen concluded the preliminary concordat negotiations in Rome, and on July 2, Pope Pius XI approved the draft. Catholics celebrated the 31st Katholikentag in the diocese of Berlin on June 25, but it had not been a happy occasion for Center Party leaders. By late June, most of

Germany's political parties had disbanded-the German National People's

Party, the German State Party, the German People's Party, the Bavarian People's

Party, and finally on July 5, the German Center Party. Kaas had resigned his leadership of the party in May. In mid-July, the Nazis instituted a law against any new political parties.

Even after the dissolution of the Center Party, the Gestapo still suspected that the party was involved in illegal "" activities. Bernhard

Lichtenberg was already a target, and a Gestapo official showed up at the

Cathedral residence to question him. Lichtenberg would not answer any questions. The frustrated Gestapo agent called his superiors and informed them that Lichtenberg conscientiously objected to all questions. To that, Lichtenberg responded, "I have observed that you have now spoken an untruth. I have not refused to obey, but rather have only protested the lack of any witnesses during questioning." In the next fifteen minutes, Lichtenberg sat quietly working at his desk seemingly without any concern, until he heard his mother call, "Bernhard, finish up, they are coming." The Gestapo took Lichtenberg to their Prince­

Albert-Stra15e headquarters. His escorts led him before some young men, relaxed 182

and smoking. When they saw Lichtenberg, they sprang from their chairs and assumed the demeanor of serious interrogators. Lichtenberg inquired, "My young men, will this be a private conversation or an official questioning?" When asked if he believed the dissolution of the Center Party had been appropriate,

Lichtenberg refused to answer. A storm of indignation followed and one of the young men screamed at Lichtenberg for criticizing the Filhrer. Lichtenberg simply remarked, "My Filhrer is Christ." With this, they dismissed

Lichtenberg.2s This is probably the first time the Nazis took measures against

Lichtenberg.26 That Lichtenberg would not recognize Hitler as the supreme leader of Germany was a grave issue. This in itself would have kept Lichtenberg on a list of those to watch. As pastor of the Berlin cathedral, Lichtenberg was highly visible. Later (in 1939), Lichtenberg as Dompropst was second only to the bishop of Berlin, and the Nazis were perhaps more careful in their approach toward him. The National Socialist regime was not ready to begin arresting priests on a large scale (only a few were arrested prior to 1939), but simply watched and kept reports on them.

Why did Hitler want to conclude a concordat? At the beginning of his political career, Hitler was a great admirer of Mussolini and, as Mussolini had achieved recognition for his government from the Roman Church, Hitler desired

2s Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 71.

26 Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 16. 183

to imitate Mussolini by gaining the Vatican's recognition of the new National

Socialist state.27 Secondly, the Reich Concordat showed that the Church gave legitimacy to the Nazi regime. Pacelli could deny that perception if he wanted, but what else were the nations of the world to think? Finally, Hitler did not want to have to deal with the Churches directly. As part of his policy of

Gleichschaltung, and not wasting any time, Hitler called for the election of one

Reich bishop in 1933. That ended any dealings directly with the leadership of the

Evangelical (Protestant) Church. Given Rome's hierarchy, the best way for Hitler to deal with (or not deal with) the Catholic Church was through a document.

Had not the Catholic Church been moving in that direction anyway? For Hitler, the Concordat was essential. Although scholars still question who initiated the discussion for the 1933 Reich Concordat, it appears to be clear that both parties,

Hitler and the Vatican, had been planning for this option.28

27 When Fascist leader reached an agreement with the Vatican in the , Hitler offered an editorial in The National Observer: "If the Church can sign a treaty with the Fascist government which under no circumstances it could have signed with a liberal democratic regime, it is thereby demonstrated that the Fascist ideology is more closely related to Christianity than it is to Jewish liberalism or to atheistic Marxism . . . . If the Pope can arrive at such an agreement with Fascism, then he at least is of the opinion that Fascism and nationalism are compatible with the Christian faith." Foster, Paul Schneider, 140.

28 A controversy has existed over who first proposed the negotiation of a concordat - Hitler through his Vice-Chancellor von Papen or the Vatican through the leader of the Center Party, Monsignor Kaas. Statements by von Papen, Pius XI, and Pius XII would point to Hitler and many historians accept this point of view - Ludwig Volk, Konrad Repgen, Dieter Albrecht, and John J. Hughes. Others like Guenther Lewy and Klaus Scholder believe that the Holy See initiated the negotiations (early) to fulfill the goal of a national concordat. Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933," 129-130. 184

With the dissolution of the Center Party in July 1933, the Curia realized that its continuing negotiating position regarding the Concordat had weakened.

Pacelli's attitude toward the treaty also changed as he realized the treaty could be justified only as a line of defense. Archbishop Grober affirmed that there was agreement "among the bishops, the clergy, and leading laypeople that the

Concordat had to be concluded, and the sooner the better."29 Hitler had remarked: "The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new

Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the

Catholic church. This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism is hostile to religion is a lie invented for the purpose of political agitation."30 Pacelli emphatically disputed the assertion that the conclusion of the concordat signified an acknowledgement of National

Socialism.31 The German bishops learned only through the daily newspapers of the content of the agreement between Rome and Berlin, which ultimately concerned them more than anyone else.32 As Donald Dietrich notes, "The

Concordat was the conduit that relayed church jurisdiction directly to Rome,

29 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:400.

30 Ibid., 406.

31 Ibid., 407.

32 Ibid., 409. 185

bypassing regional bishops."33 The German bishops had little to do with the concordats of the 1920s; they had little input into the 1933 Concordat; once the

Reich Concordat was in place, the bishops were simply pawns for both the Nazi regime and Rome.

Mein Kampf

Bernhard Lichtenberg studied the views of Adolf Hitler by reading Mein

Kampf Based on his testimony during an interrogation in 1941, we know that

Lichtenberg probably read the book in late summer 1933.34 Lichtenberg made marginal notes in the book, and from these notes, we get a sense of his thoughts and questions regarding Hitler's Nazi doctrine. Mein Kampf consists of two volumes - "A Reckoning" and "The National Socialist Movement." Since

Lichtenberg's "interrogation" only covered the second volume, it may be that he read only the second volume.35

33 Michael Phayer, "The Priority of Diplomacy: Pius XII and the Holocaust During the Second World War, In Christian Responses to the Holocaust: Moral and Ethical Issues, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 89.

34 Responding to a question regarding a marginal note he wrote in Hitler's book, "mother joke," Lichtenberg told his interrogators that he read Mein Kampf to his mother when she was 83 years old as they rested at the resort of Ziegenhals. Frau Lichtenberg died November 18, 1934, at the age of 85. In the same interrogation in October 1941, Lichtenberg noted that it was hard to remember what he meant by his notations eight years earlier. Given the two bits of testimony, Lichtenberg probably read Mein Kampf in the summer of 1933. Lichtenberg' s marginal notes also indicate that Hitler had complete control in the Reichstag.

35 Lichtenberg's marginal notes (as the Gestapo questioned him) were in the following chapters: II (The State); IV (Personality and the Conception of the Folkish State); VI (The Struggle of the Early Period - The Significance of the Spoken Word); VII (The Struggle with the Red Front); IX (Basic Ideas Regarding the Meaning and Organization of the SA); X (Federalism as a Mask); XIII (German Alliance Policy after the War); and XIV (Eastern Orientation or Eastern 186

One manner of Lichtenberg' s marginal notes was in the form of imperatives or admonitions. "Don't generalize," noted Lichtenberg regarding Hitler's argument, "A boy who snitches on his comrade practices treason and thus betrays a mentality which, harshly expressed and enlarged, is the exact equivalent of treason to one's country."36 Where Hitler maintained, "This self- confidence (of the German people) must be inculcated in the young national comrade from childhood on. His whole education and training must be so ordered as to give him the conviction that he is absolutely to others,"

Lichtenberg warned, "That will become violent." Other peoples will not tolerate

"such arrogance" and "there will be war."37 Lichtenberg's comments show that he rejected a strong nationalism. This direct encounter with Hitler's ideas helped

Lichtenberg in recognizing the direction the Nazi regime was setting.

Lichtenberg questioned Hitler's views and disagreed with his analyses on a variety of topics. Where Hitler wrote, "Our enemies love the German Republic and let it live because they could not find a better ally for their enslavement of our people," Lichtenberg asked, "How does he know that?" Lichtenberg wanted

Policy). Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Translated by Ralph Manheim, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971).

36 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 20. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, (Miinchen: Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger, 1933), 461. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Translated by Ralph Manheim, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971), 415.

37 Hitler, Mein Kampf, 456 (1933), 411 (1971), LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 20. 187

proof for Hitler's assertions.38 Where Hitler had written, "Such an opinion (act of murder) can have its historical justification especially when a people languish under the tyranny of some oppressor genius," Lichtenberg made the marginal note, "justification of the murder of a tyrant."39 Lichtenberg noted "false picture" where Hitler had written, "The end of the war gives us the following picture: The middle broad stratum of the nation has given its measure of blood sacrifices; the extreme of the best, with exemplary heroism, has sacrificed itself almost completely; the extreme of the bad, supported by the most senseless laws on the one hand and by the non-application of the Articles of War on the other hand, has unfortunately been preserved almost as completely."40 Lichtenberg argued,

"According to the newest results from scientific research one cannot speak of a definite need in nature's law. For sure not in history, so that all general judgments in the area of history, (and war belongs to history) is generally false." 41 Lichtenberg perhaps thought that Hitler wrote Mein Kampf freely from his own mind, with no historical facts, and with no manner of corroborating evidence to back up claims. Such a grab-bag selection of ideas suggested to

Lichtenberg an author who employed whatever pleased him for his pronouncements.

38 Hitler, Mein Kampf, 472-473 (1933), 425 (1971), LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 20.

39 Hitler, Mein Kampf, 609 (1933), 543 (1971). LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 22.

40 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 22. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 583 (1933), 521 (1971).

41 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 22. 188

Lichtenberg also used sarcasm in his marginal notes. Lichtenberg jotted down, "Splendid cliche" when he read Hitler's contention: "For all physical and all intellectual training would in the last analysis remain worthless if it did not benefit a being which is ready and determined on principle to preserve himself and his special nature."42 Lichtenberg thought, however, "The instinct of self­ preservation cannot be equated with human drives, some of which drives can be of a subhuman nature. Conclusion: Nature, your nature, yes, but your purified nature." 43 "Aha," noted Lichtenberg, upon reading Hitler's statement:

"Parliaments as such are necessary, because in them, above all, personalities to which special responsible tasks can later be entrusted have an opportunity gradually to rise up."44 This may indicate that Lichtenberg read Mein Kampf during the time that the political parties were dissolving or perhaps they had already dissolved.

Hitler was taking on dictatorial power and Lichtenberg realized it. The

Fuhrer was speaking in Reichstag sessions. One can see Lichtenberg' s awareness of the situation as he crossed out some of Hitler's words. Regarding "the best state form," Hitler had written, "The folkish state must free all leadership and especially the highest - that is, the political leadership - entirely from the

42 Hitler, Mein Kampf, 476 (1933), 428 (1971)

43 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 20.

44 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 21. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 501(1933),450 (1971). 189

parliamentary principle of majority rule .... "45 Lichtenberg crossed out "the" and replaced it with "my" political leadership.46 In the following paragraph,

Lichtenberg injected the word "mine" as Hitler wrote about "the best minds in the national community."47 Lichtenberg was combining Hitler's written words with his actions and creating for himself a clearer picture of the man.

Lichtenberg's mother also seemed to understand the significance of Hitler.

When Lichtenberg read Mein Kampf to her, she made witty comments of her own and he would note /1 mother joke" in the margin. He made one of these "mother joke" notations at the end of chapter five where Hitler maintained that

Germany's political parties lacked "the slightest idea of what the German people needed." Hitler went on to write, /1 And no less dangerous are all those who horse around pretending to be folkish, forge fantastic plans, for the most part based on nothing but some idee fixe ...." 48 Frau Lichtenberg thought perhaps that Hitler completely fit his own description of a dangerous leader.

One can see Lichtenberg' s independent spirit in his critique of Mein Kampf

He noted that he was "of a different conviction" than Hitler regarding mass meetings and individuals. Hitler argued that the mass meeting was necessary, that it strengthened an individual's spirit in participation and created an esprit de

4s Hitler, Mein Kampf, 500 (1~33), 449 (1971).

46 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 21.

47 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 21. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 500 (1933), 449 (1971).

48 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 21. Hitler, Mein Kampf, 516 (1933), 462 (1971). 190

corps.49 Lichtenberg said that he believed in the motto, "Be my own man." He pointed out, "I have problems with such mass gatherings. If one is in a pack, one is "brave," but when one is alone, one is a coward[?]"50 Although Lichtenberg was a member of several groups, it was not because he needed the group; it was because the group needed him.

As Lichtenberg read Mein Kampf he developed his own opinion of Hitler regarding Hitler's values, perceptions, and visions for Germany. Lichtenberg perhaps knew more about Hitler's ideologies than most in the Church. There is no evidence that the German bishops or the Holy See ever discussed what Hitler had written in the 1920s.

In Mein Kampf Hitler showed no reticence in his opinions concerning the

Jews. There appears to be, however, no marginal notes made by Lichtenberg concerning Hitler's statements regarding the Jews. Lichtenberg made no apparent marginal notes that showed a defense of or an affinity with the Jews.

Lichtenberg had experienced anti-Jewish attitudes and perhaps he saw nothing new in Hitler's words. Neither did Lichtenberg make marginal notes on Hitler's comments about the Church.SI

49 Hitler, Mein Kampf, 535-536 (1933), 478 (1971).

50 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 21.

51 This is an assumption because Lichtenberg's interrogators asked him no questions about sections in Mein Kampf dealing with the Jews or the Church. 191

Did Lichtenberg think back on his reading of Mein Kampf as the years of

Hitler's rule progressed? The pastor never noted the book or his thoughts about it in any other source. As he watched the regime act against the concordat agreement, Lichtenberg may have thought that it was in no way a surprise. In

Mein Kampf, Hitler used every manner of justifying his plans. Because

Lichtenberg had read the work of the Fuhrer, he probably was better prepared intellectually for what the Nazis would legislate.

The formal signing of the Reich Concordat between the Holy See and the

German Reich took place on July 20, 1933.52 Hitler's greatest concern had been the political opposition of the Center Party, but that party already had been dissolved - a diplomatic victory for Adolf Hitler. Even German Catholic Church leaders seemed to rejoice. Cardinal Faulhaber claimed that Hitler accomplished in six months what the Parliament and political parties had failed to do in 60 years.53 Speaking for the German bishops, Cardinal Bertram sent Hitler a letter of "recognition and thanks." At a parade, Berlin Vicar General, Paul Steinmann, and other clerics acknowledged the Hitler Youth raised-arm salute by responding in kind. When a German-American newspaper in New York criticized this "undignified manner" of support for the Nazi government,

s2 The Concordat consisted of a preamble and 34 articles. For a good discussion of the Concordat (and a copy of the articles), see Joseph A. Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933: The Church Struggle Against Nazi Germany," in Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1999).

53 Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, 104. 192

Steinmann replied in an open letter that German Catholics regarded the Hitler regime as the God-given authority.

James McDonald met with Secretary Pacelli and recorded in his diary,

August 24, 1933:

Pacelli first asked my positive reassurance that I would not quote him. He then began a long discussion of the German Concordat. He was, I thought, distinctly on the defensive. His argument was as follows: the Hitler regime was undoubtedly in power; it had received an absolute majority in the Reichstag. The Church in its dealings did not pick and choose with whom it would negotiate; it dealt with those in power: as it had earlier in Germany with a Catholic Bavaria, a Protestant Prussia, and a radical Saxony. In answer to my intonation that the Concordat was a letting-down of Bruning and the Center Party, Pacelli replied in effect: Bruning had failed, the Center Party had lost its influence, the Church could not tie itself to a single party, it had to protect the interests of its parishioners, it could not make these secondary to the interests of any individual or party. Moreover, he pointed out that many Catholics, such as von Papen, had worked earnestly for the Concordat. We talked briefly about the Church's relations with Russia, with Mexico, and with Spain. Little or no progress is being made in these countries. I tried to sound him out on the question of the Church's attitude towards the Jews in Germany. He expressed a feeling of Christian charity, but his reply, both the tone and the contents, convinced me that there could be no help expected from that source.54

Pacelli was willing to talk with an American delegate, but he did not want his words documented. It was not only because of what the leadership of the Third

Reich might think, but perhaps even more importantly, what German bishops and the general German Catholic population might think. If Pacelli took a defensive posture, it may suggest that he himself questioned the outcome of the

54 Breitman, McDonald, and Hochberg, Advocate for the Doomed, 90-91. 193

concordat. When questioned about the Jewish situation, Pacelli made it clear that the Jews were not part of the purview of the Catholic Church.

Regarding the Nazis, it seemed that the Church followed the guideline,

"Don't Provoke." The bishops continued to admonish the people to work for peace and to support the public welfare, to promote religion and the rights of the church, and to support the various Catholic organizations. Church leaders warned their congregants not to turn religious services or manifestations into political demonstrations.ss The bishops allowed Catholics to join the Nazi Party, but they never encouraged it. Their statements were limited to toleration and accommodation, but not outright support. Concerns of the Catholic Church included: 1) freedom of the Church; 2) freedom of the Catholic schools; 3) independence of Catholic associations; and 4) dismissal of Catholic officials because of their Catholic ideology or their past activity in and for the Center

Party.s6

The German bishops met in Fulda in August 1933 for their second plenary conference of the year and discussed the restrictions on the Church and the ratification of the Concordat. Bishop Konrad von Preysing of Eichstatt urged his colleagues not to acknowledge the new order whose worldview was

55 Helmreich, Gennan Churches under Hitler, 239.

56 Ibid., 241. 194

incompatible with Christianity.57 Instead, he beseeched them to issue a clear statement on the dogmatic and ethical errors in National Socialism that would open the eyes of Catholics to the dangers and give them "a measuring stick for truth and falsity in the movement." To fail to do so would leave the Catholic position regarding their organizations unintelligible and contradictory. Even at this early stage, Lichtenberg would have supported Preysing' s view. Bavaria was the center of 'Catholic' Germany and because it was the place where the

Nazis had originated, the other bishops often consulted the Munich prelate and deferred to his views. Faulhaber seems to have played a role midway between the immovable Preysing and the weak and yielding Konrad Grober (the brown bishop); for that reason it was his view that often prevailed in the bishops' conferences.58 Uncertain which route the Church should take, Pacelli directed the bishops to discuss "whether it might be advisable to work for an acceleration of the ratification of the Concordat or to insist on the removal of the abuses before the ratification."59

Pacelli knew that the government would violate aspects of the agreement, but he assumed (correctly) that it would not violate them all at the same time.

57 See Wolfgang Knauft, Konrad van Preysing -Anwalt des Rechts: Der erste Berliner Kardinal und seine Zeit (Berlin: Morns Verlag, 1998).

ss Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 55. For more information on the "brown" clergy, see Kevin P. Spicer, Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism, (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2008).

59 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:410. 195

The significance for the church was that the Concordat offered a foundation for church protests, and though the protests were not always answered, it did not necessarily mean that they had no effect. Pacelli said on the eve of his election to the papacy in 1939, "For me the Concordat was and remains a fortified trench across all Germany, perhaps through all Europe, from which the faithful can always defend themselves."60 The curia had negotiated the Concordat to protect its interests. Hitler ultimately came to regard the Concordat as "a thorn in the flesh," but even in the post-war period, Pius XII looked back on the Concordat as having prevented "worse evils."61

A few weeks prior to the ratification of the Concordat, Christian Schreiber,

Bishop of Berlin, died after a long period of poor health. On the evening of

Saturday, September 2, the body was laid out in the chapel of the bishop's residence. For the next four days, 100,000 believers walked past the body with prayers. On September 6, the body of the dead bishop was transported on the

Mittelweg, Unter den Linden to the Cathedral escorted by thousands of believers, the apostolic nuncio Claudius Orsenigo, the archbishop of Freiburg, the bishops from Mensen, Limburg, Erm.land, Wiirzburg, Osnabriick, and the

Prelate from Schneidemiihl.62 On the day of the funeral, Pastor Lichtenberg offered a prayer, a prayer he offered every evening in his parish: "I must die and

60 Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler, 255.

61 Ibid., 256.

62 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. I., 219. 196

know not when and know not how and know not where; but I know that if I die in mortal sin, I am lost forever; if I but die in God's grace, I am saved forever." A radio station was to broadcast the prayer, but it never did. The seriousness of the topic did not fit into the station's style.63

The Church commemorated the finalized Concordat with a special Mass on

September 17, 1933. The Katholische Kirchenblatt wrote:

On high poles in front of St. Hedwig's Cathedral waved the flags of the Papacy and the Reich. From the and over Unter den Linden, Catholic youth organizations carried their pennants and banners on the Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Platz ... delegation flags of the Catholic men's and women's unions. With a musical band advanced a column of SA with national flags and a strong delegation of the BVG. Catholic Berlin celebrated in thanksgiving the ratification of the Concordat, the treaty between Church and German Reich. The spirit of the work of this treaty, as Father Marianus Vetter expressed in his speech, is borne from an expressed desire for peace and friendship. We Catholics find therefore no more beautiful an expression of thanks than to participate in the peace sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Holy Mass. Into the filled and festively decorated Cathedral, Vicar Dr. Steinmann carried the Eucharist. On the bishop's throne sat the representative of the Holy Father, the Apostolic Nuncio Orsenigo and conferred to the service a richly meaningful character through his pontifical assistance. Around the altar stood the flags of the Reich and Catholic student corporations, the banner of the Catholic Youth, and the flags of the societies of St. Hedwig's. In the front rows sat the honored guests ... one noticed further away a row of men from the SS, the SA, the NSDAP, and the Catholic Union for national politics ... Flags lined the steps in front of St. Hedwig's and, before the open door of the Cathedral, they provided the altar a reverent frame. Nearby, stood a delegation of National Socialists with Nazi flags .... After the gospel reading, Father Vetter ascended to the pulpit, sensing the significance of these hours. He declared, "From the spirit of the Concordat ... " [There was singing after the homily] ....After the service, Vicar Dr. Steinmann for the first time, offered a prayer for the German Reich and the Fuhrer.64

63 Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 2. 197

Lichtenberg failed to record the celebrative service in St. Hedwig's marking the ratification of the Reich Concordat, certainly a significant event for St. Hedwig's

Cathedral and the Church. Lichtenberg did not necessarily write in the chronicle on a daily, or even weekly, basis. Nevertheless, he could not have forgotten about the service, so his choice not to record the event had to be purposeful.

Lichtenberg celebrated Mass and other services of Thanksgiving to God at St.

Hedwig's. Lichtenberg' s omission of this major celebration in the parish record can lead the observer to conclude that he thought the Concordat celebration was inappropriate - Holy Mass to celebrate a pact with the devil, so that Catholic life could continue on Germany. Whether one saw the Concordat as accommodation or resistance, it was simply a document of agreement between Church and state.

Even if Lichtenberg supported the Concordat in full or in part, it was not necessarily something to rejoice in before God.

What did Bernhard Lichtenberg think about the Reich Concordat of 1933?

Historians Konrad Repgen and Heinz Hiirten, along with Fr. Ludwig Volk, have defended the Church's policy of the Concordat, arguing that it "offered the best prospects for securing the church's institutional life and pastoral work."65 Those

64 Kock, Er Widerstand, 15-16. "The Volkischer Beobachter published a picture showing Steinmann, surrounded by other clerics, replying with raised right arm to the Hitler greeting of the Catholic youth organizations marching by before him .... When ... criticized for having supported the Hitler government in an undignified manner, [he] replied ... that the German Catholics did indeed regard the government of Adolf Hitler as the God-given authority." See Lewy, Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, 105.

65 Conway, "Coming to Terms," 385. 198

two issues would have been a concern to Lichtenberg. Lichtenberg biographer

Erich Kock suggests, "What Lichtenberg thought about the Reich Concordat and its consequences is not known. It is difficult to imagine that Lichtenberg, a man with keen insight, would without reservation accept the Concordat, even though he felt himself bound by papal and ecclesiastical decisions."66

We can try, however, to put together some pieces based on what

Lichtenberg wrote, said, and did, thus creating a picture of what he may have thought.67 We know Lichtenberg was familiar with the Reich Concordat and expected it to protect the Church. On September 6, Lichtenberg and a Dominican priest, Father Marianus Vetter, wrote to the German Episcopate on behalf of

Dominican pacifist, Franziskus Stratmann.68 In July 1933, the Nazis had arrested

Fr. Stratmann. Lichtenberg and Vetter referred to "the Reichskonkordat" in the first sentence of their letter of "request," taking advantage of the current negotiations.69 The tone of the letter was one of respect and honor. If the relationship between Church and state was to be based on this document, then it

66 Kock, Er Widerstand, 16-17.

67 Lichtenberg had not noted the Chancellorship of Adolf Hitler in the St. Hedwig's Chronicle; neither did he note the celebrative service in St. Hedwig's for the ratification of the Reich Concordat. One could understand not marking the day the President named a new chancellor, especially given that there had a been several in the last years of the Weimar Republic. Not noting a special celebration in the cathedral, however, is another issue.

68 Final ratification of the Concordat took place on Sunday, September 10. The "request" letter was dated 4 days earlier. Lichtenberg and Vetter probably wanted their letter to be at the top of mail by the time the Reich Concordat was official.

69 Klein, Berolinen, 2:67. 199

should be a living document. If the Nazi regime was going to begin to arrest clergymen, then it had better be clear on the reasons for arrest.

Of the 34 articles of the Reich Concordat, Lichtenberg probably would have supported most of them. Issues important to a Catholic pastor like Lichtenberg appeared to have the protection of the state with no stipulations: "The retention of Catholic denominational schools and the establishment of new ones is guaranteed." This statement appears straightforward, and there are no conditions attached to the schools. Article 3 notes that the Apostolic nuncio will reside in Berlin and a Reich ambassador at the Holy See. This arrangement is good for communication. Articles 5 and 9 were significant for parish clergymen: state protection in exercising spiritual activities and acceptance of pastoral secrecy while caring for souls.70 It almost seemed as though the Concordat was the realization of a Church wish list.

Because Lichtenberg focused on Hitler's language in Mein Kampf, he probably would have done the same with the language of the Concordat. The

"conditional" standing of a few of the articles may have concerned him. In

Article 1 of the Concordat, the German Reich guaranteed the freedom of public practice of the Catholic religion and the right of the Catholic Church to manage and regulate her own affairs "within the limit of those laws which are applicable to all." Lichtenberg may have wondered, "What if the laws change?" In a

70 Biesinger, "The Reich Concordat of 1933," 205-213. 200

marginal note in Mein Kampf, he had written, "Is that so today," indicating he had a sense that the laws had already changed.71 Article 25 of the Concordat was also conditional in that it noted, "subject to the general laws," regarding education. Lichtenberg knew that laws could change, and if the "general laws" regarding education changed, Catholic education in Germany could be in jeopardy.

Since Lichtenberg had said on a number of occasions, "My Fuhrer is Christ," he may have considered Article 16, which required bishops to take a loyalty oath to the Reich, unsuitable for clerical leaders. To profess, "Before God and the

Holy Gospels I swear and promise, as becomes a bishop, loyalty to the German

Reich .... I swear and promise to honor the legally constituted Government ...

."could cause divided loyalties.72 Lichtenberg probably would have opposed this article as stated. Yes, the clergy and all citizens should abide by the laws of the state, but there was no reason to vow "loyalty." Having served on the

Charlottenburg and Berlin City councils, Lichtenberg knew the importance of a voice in state politics. Article 32 of the Concordat took that voice away from the

German Catholics.

Given his experience with Hitler's tome and Goebbels' practices,

Lichtenberg may have had some suspicions about the Concordat. In studying

n LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 20.

n Ibid., 209. 201

Mein Kampf, Lichtenberg already had seen the incompatibility between National

Socialism and Christianity.73 He may have wondered why the Nazi regime wanted to conclude a concordat with the Catholic Church. In addition, he may have thought about a section he had read in Mein Kampf He had noted, "Aha," because Hitler had written about the "necessity" of parliaments. Now, however,

Hitler wanted no political input from the Center Party. Why would the Nazi regime want to force out other political parties and still make a pact with the

Church? Lichtenberg believed that Church officials in Rome would do what was right for the Church. He perhaps thought that he had a limited perspective of the situation. He counted on Pius XI and the German bishops to have a broader scope of Catholicism in Germany and the world. Each had a different job to do.

Catholic responses to National Socialism throughout the Third Reich era were motivated essentially by the pastoral concerns of church leaders and their responsibility to maintain congressional freedom in the efficacy of the sacraments. Parties on both sides of the agreement appeared to welcome the

Concordat. Even so, several priests' comments on the Concordat are extant and suggest that confusion existed among the lower echelon clergy and presumably among the lay Catholics as well. Curate Fiirstl of Gauting (Munich archdiocese) apparently had great confidence in it, for when called to account for his actions

i 3 During his October 1941 interrogation regarding his marginal notes in his copy of Mein Kampf, Lichtenberg closed by remarking, "The comments I made in the book 'Mein Kampf' show that I was not satisfied with a superficial reading. I realize that the intense study of the book brought me to the persuasion that the National Socialist world view is not compatible with the Catholic Church." LAB File A Rep. 355 (Folder 19106), 28. 202

of publicly leading a uniformed Catholic youth group on an outing, he snapped at his accusers, "The Concordat will ruin you yet." Pastor Bruckmaier of

Wolfakirchen ( Diocese) was more pessimistic. In his Thanksgiving

Festival sermon (October 10, 1933), he stated that the church and priests were being persecuted. "There is a Concordat to be sure, but it exists only on paper."

He was convinced that worse things were going to happen than at the time of

Bismarck's Kulturkampf 74

Some scholars have suggested that the 1933 Reich Concordat constituted a form of resistance to the Nazi regime by the Catholic Church. I fail to see the support for that perspective. When Pius XI signed the draft, he knew of the

"terror campaign" aimed at the Church. It is not surprising that Pius moved so quickly. The Church already had felt pressure throughout June with the banning of Church association rallies and arrests of Catholics. What if Hitler lost interest in the Concordat? How would the Church protect her interests in Germany? If he were so confident that Hitler was willing to work with him, Pius could have requested more negotiations that would speak to the problems the Church already was facing in Germany. Instead, he signed the draft. The Concordat was not resistance, but accommodation. In fact, by signing the draft while problems continued, it showed that the Church already was accommodating the Nazi regime in June 1933. The Reich Concordat was a document to safeguard the

74 Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 112. 203

Catholic Church in Germany, an agreement to which clergymen could refer, as

Lichtenberg did in September 1933. The Concordat itself was not an act of resistance, but it allowed German Catholics to resist.

Attacks and Passive Resistance Among Catholics

Addressing a pilgrimage of German Catholic young men's Association in

October 1933, Pope Pius XI declared, "German Catholic youth! We are constrained to say that great hopes are reposed in you. The future lies in the hands of God.... But, beloved sons, our hopes cannot exclude every danger.

You know that we are filled with the deepest anxiety and real alarm about the youth of Germany, and entertain fears with regard to ." On this occasion, Pacelli said, "In these apartments in which I now receive you, there was signed a short time ago the Concordat, in which the father of Christendom, in his love and solicitude, took thought for you expressly, and brought into effect measures of state protection which should ensure for you and your societies room to live in and a field of activity in which to work."75 Both Pius XI and the future Pius XII realized, just as Hitler did, that the German youth was the future of Germany. The Catholic youth was a minority youth group in Germany. The

Church needed to take every opportunity to admonish loyalty to the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

7s The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the Third Reich: Facts and Documents, trans. from German (London: Burns Oates, 1940), 2. 204

Because the German bishops did not present a united front, Pacelli' s task was made more difficult. In December, Pacelli told Rudolf Buttmann, German negotiator from the Reich Ministry of the Interior, that the Pope was disturbed about Germany and would need to bring it up in his Christmas allocution unless

Germany could offer something to placate the Pope.76 The relations between the

German government and the Catholic church were such that they involved negotiations on two levels-with the Vatican directly and with the German episcopate, and these two bodies were not completely free agents because they had to consult each other.77

In December, the Reich government wanted to allay the anxieties of the

Curia. Hitler said that specific questions of interpretation and implementation could be answered best in connection with the negotiations on a new Reich concordat, which in any case would come out soon. Pacelli responded, as expected, that the Holy Father was very disturbed by the situation in Germany.

If Pacelli could produce some good news, he believed that the Pope's mood would be much improved. In this way, the negotiating positions were marked

76 Helmreich, German Churches under Hitler 243, 262. In July, Hitler had asked Buttman to study the draft of the Concordat and to prepare a memorandum on proposed changes. Church leaders met with Buttmann throughout the summer.

77 Ibid., 263. 205

out.78 Pacelli considered the German question as a whole a causa major, on which decisions were to be made only in Rome.79

The various diplomatic efforts from this side were not without their effect.

In his eagerly awaited Christmas address to the Cardinals, however, Pius XI said nothing about the German situation. Only a reference to the law on sterilization revealed the dissatisfaction of the Holy See. The fact that at the end of the year the Pope let the German ambassador know plainly that the reports from

Germany filled him with pain and concern was no substitute for a public statement. One can only guess what a sharp and clear word from the Pope about the National Socialist ideology and the infringements of the law by Hitler's government might have meant to the German Catholics by the end of 1933. He had told Pacelli that in his Christmas allocution "he must unquestionably speak about Germany."8° Certainly, it would hardly have changed the real situation, but equally certainly, it would have strengthened many loyal Catholics among the clergy and laity and given a stimulus to them at least to continue to resist the undertow of coordination. It is clear that the Pope's silence was celebrated as a victory by the German embassy.81 In spite of all the differences among the bishops, at the end of the year 1933, German Catholicism began to present a

78 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 1:515.

79 Ibid., 518.

80 Ibid., 515.

81 Ibid., 516-517. 206

picture of . Solidarity was essentially' dependent on the politics of the

Holy See and aimed at still achieving a balance of interests through negotiations with Hitler.s2

On January 14, 1934, the Catholic bishops offered a sharp statement against the Nazi sterilization laws. On the previous day, an Interior Minister advisor,

Walter Conrad, met with Bernhard Lichtenberg. Lichtenberg had helped coordinate a pulpit message based on a summary inherent in the 1930 Papal

Encyclical, Casti Connubii (On Christian Marriage). The Pulpit message read,

"The promulgated principles of Christian moral law apply to believers with respect to the question of sterilization. According to the directives of the Holy

Father we remind you that: you are not allowed to have yourself sterilized nor to order sterilizations for another person."83 Conrad wanted the bishops to revise the wording of their statement, and he expressed this to Lichtenberg. In the one- hour conversation, the pastor held firm to the bishops' position with an "iron will." Conrad was not satisfied with the bishops or Lichtenberg, and

Lichtenberg promised the minister that he would speak with Cardinal Bertram.

Three hours later, Conrad received a response: "The wording remains!"84 The

Church could be quite forceful on matters of Catholic moral dogma.

s2 Ibid., 519. On December 22, the Pope named Dr. Nicolaus Bares, Bishop of Hildesheim, as Bishop of Berlin.

83 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 168-169.

84 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 11-12. 207

One of the basic tenets of Catholic belief is the divine presence of Christ in the Eucharist.BS On the morning of March 1, 1934, during the distribution of the hosts in the Cathedral, a young man from Brandenburg violently desecrated the

Most Holy Sacrament. He said he was "turned on" by the writings of

Nietzsche's Zarathrustra and 's Myth of the Twentieth Century to carry out his act. The prosecuting attorney proposed six months incarceration for the deed. When the court ordered nine months, the defendant appealed and was incarcerated for only two months. Lichtenberg, as cathedral pastor was called to witness on both occasions. During the proceedings, he pointed out that the books had influenced the young man and suggested, "Before God only... those books should be charged." Though Lichtenberg was quick to react in certain situations, such as the Tannenberg lecture in 1929, he could also give other matters serious consideration. Here, he did not simply want to see a young man punished for the act of desecration, but he wanted to find out the reasons behind the act so that it would not happen again. Lichtenberg realized that the young man probably would never have committed this act had he not read

Zarathrustra and The Myth of the Twentieth Century, and Lichtenberg called attention to that both in his affidavit and in the parish chronicle.s6

85 The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or The Lord's Supper, is a Christian sacrament commemorating the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest and eventual crucifixion. Under Roman Catholicism, desecrating the host is defiling the actual body of Jesus Christ.

86 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. I., 221. 208

Following the episode of sacrilege in St. Hedwig's Cathedral, Catholics in

Berlin experienced more problems. Lichtenberg noted in St. Hedwig's Chronicle,

"On Saturday, April 29, the church paper was confiscated by the police."87

Although Hitler had silenced most politically suspect publications by 1935, the

Jesuit-sponsored periodical, Stimmen der Zeit, survived into 1941 while it continued to question Nazi ideology. It was able to avoid suppression because it avoided open conflict with the Nazis.88 That appeared to be vital for the Catholic

Church-avoid "open" conflict. In April 1934, Caritas, a Catholic philanthropic association founded in Germany in 1897, expanded its aid to the needy to include those Catholics persecuted by the Nazis. A Catholic youth group had been attacked by Hitler Youth in Henningsdorf in the previous month. As conflicts between the Nazis and the Church continued, each side accused the other of provocation.

During ongoing Church/State negotiations in 1934, the Third Reich took the opportunity to point out incidents with German clergy. The Gestapo had collected detailed material. A pastor from had asserted that "the

Chancellor talks on the radio like a hysterical woman." A pastor in Hessen had called the Swastika "the cross of the devil and the pagans." Another pastor from

Effeld had boxed the ears of a boy "because he had greeted him with the Hitler

87 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. I. 223.

88 Martin F. Ederer, "Propaganda Wars: Stimmen der Zeit and the Nazis, 1933-1935," Catholic Historical Review, vol. 90, Issue 3, Ouly 2004), 456. 209

greeting." Worst of all, a pastor from the diocese of Passau, "after drinking a good deal of alcohol," had declared, "If no one else will shoot Hitler, I will."

Pacelli responded to each of these situations, from reprimand in the first two cases to retiring the "inebriated" priest.89 There was no clear cut direction to follow regarding Gestapo assertions; Pacelli simply put out the fires.

On April 20, immediately after negotiations with Rudolf Buttmann, German negotiator from the Reich Ministry of the Interior, had been broken off in Rome without results, Pacelli had reported to Cardinal Bertram of Breslau that it was now up to the German bishops to continue negotiations in Berlin. Because at the time there were many administrative demands on the bishops, it was difficult to find candidates for the negotiating committees. Bertram felt pressure from Rome and from Berlin, and on May 7, he summoned a plenary assembly of all bishops for Saturday June 5 at Fulda. Because of the individual dioceses and the personality of the bishops, opinions regarding the concordat covered a wide spectrum. Conrad Grober, Archbishop of Freiburg was optimistic that negotiations could move forward. As a nationalist and with his desire to prove to the nation that the Church had something to offer, Wilhelm Berning was willing to compromise with the Reich. Berlin nuncio, , supported and seeing a similarity in National Socialism, he

89 Scholder, The Churches and the Third Reich, 2:117. 210

wanted to reconcile with the Reich from a tactical position.90 Cardinal Michael

Faulhaber emerged as one of the most outspoken opponents of the Nazi regime.

There was no clear consensus in the approach to negotiations; there was no consolidated Catholic leadership in Germany. Bishops continued to protest violations of the Concordat, but there was no unity in their ranks.

As a safeguard for Catholic life in Germany, the Concordat appeared to be failing. At St. Matthew's Church in Berlin-Schoneberg, Pastor Albert Coppenrath had the courage to inform his congregation on a regular basis of the attacks on the church by the regime. In November 1933, he had complained that Catholic members of his parish were being hindered from attending Sunday Mass by

(Nazi) uniformed men. In April 1934, he reported that Hitler Youth had vandalized the parish house. In May, he quoted a special functionary of the

Hitler Youth, who abused the regime-criticized priests and bishops as "vultures of the German need, vipers (Otterngeziicht), bandits, and scoundrels."91 Even with these slight abuses by Nazis and Nazi supporters, many still endorsed the

Reich Concordat.

James McDonald met with Pope Pius XI in May 1934. Pius defended the

Concordat:

90 Ibid., 172-176. Orsenigo became nuncio in Berlin in 1930, following Pacelli.

91 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 64. See Kevin Spicer, "Between Nationalism and Resistance. The Path of Father Albert Coppemath in the Third Reich," In Donald J. Dietrich, ed., Christian Responses to the Holocaust: Moral and Ethical Issues, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 38- 51. 211

At the Vatican I had no difficulty getting through this series of Swiss guards and into the ante-room of the cardinal secretary of state .... I was ushered in, and greeted this time with considerably less aloofness and caution than on my first visit .... I told of our relations with Germany, and of the apparent increasing economic difficulties within the Reich. Pacelli listened with obvious interest. He then talked about the Concordat (German Vatican agreement), stressing its importance as a legal basis for the church's position, even if violated. Time and again he returned to the point that the local Nazi leaders are out of hand, but the mass movement of the party is beyond the control of the central authorities. Nor did he disagree with my view that the swing of this last movement is decidedly towards , with the effect of diminishing the authority of the conservatives such as Schacht, Schmitt, and von Krosigk, and increasing that of the extremists. He spoke with particular emphasis of Rosenberg's new book as a pagan attack on all of Christianity. I, in turn, emphasized the community of interest between the Jews and the Catholics in the face of a common enemy.... On the way out Pacelli underlined that everything which he had said was, of course, private and not for publication.92

Pacelli showed an interest in the problems that other nations were having with the Third Reich. Perhaps it helped him to feel better, that the Nazi regime was creating difficulties for others besides the Catholic Church. Nevertheless,

McDonald's account shows that Pacelli believed the problems between the Nazis and the Catholic Church existed largely at the local level. Pacelli understood the breadth and enthusiasm of the Nazi movement. He believed that the leadership of both the Church and the Reich needed the "legal basis" of the Reich Concordat to control the actions of Nazis at all levels.

During the concordat negotiations in 1934, Adolf Hitler met with three representative German bishops. He articulated his willingness, following completion of the negotiations, to issue a public statement stating that "both the

92 Breitman, Stewart, and Hochberg, Advocate for the Doomed, 393-394. 212

government and party were favorably and helpfully disposed toward the activities of the Catholic Church in her own sphere."93 The Nazi regime wanted the Church to remain in a religious bubble. The Vatican wanted smooth dealings with the Nazi regime but seemed to support the "matter of conscience" with her bishops in Germany. In the summer, Bishops Grober, Berning, and Bares met with state officials and placed before them four questions which were discussed; all had to do with the position of the state toward the church and the

Concordat.94 On June 27, Hitler received the three bishops. They expressed their acceptance of the new state, but also their worries regarding implementation of all the provisions of the Concordat. Hitler emphasized that he wanted the church to cease criticizing the state and the party, and to steer clear of politics.

He agreed, on the completion of the negotiations, to issue a public statement that

'both the government and party were favorably and helpfully disposed toward the activities of the Catholic Church in her own sphere.'95 Hitler was deceiving them, but for Church leaders, it appeared that the lines of communication were open. The Fulda Bishops' Conference included in its 1934 pastoral letter the following statement: "As for the oath of loyalty to the constitution, Catholics will of course not be obligated to anything which is contrary to God or church law

93 Helmreich, Gennan Churches under Hitler, 269.

94 Ibid., 268.

95 Ibid., 269. 213

and thereby is contrary to their conscience."96 This was a significant point for pastors. Had anyone asked Lichtenberg to take an oath that compromised

Christianity in anyway, he would have refused. Many times, he noted, "My

Fuhrer is Christ!" He could not serve two masters.

Summer 1934 appeared to be a turning point for some in the Catholic

Church. On June 24, 60,000 people attended the Katholikentag in the diocese of

Berlin and listened to Dr. Erich Klausener, head of Catholic Action, speak. A week later, he was dead, murdered by the Nazis. Klausener' s murder was part of the

"," which included the liquidation of Ernst Rohm and

74 other presumed opponents of the Nazi regime. Adalbert Probst, leader of

"Deutsche Jugendkraft" a Catholic Sport Organization, was also among the victims. Both Probst and Klausener had the support of many Catholic youth. In addition, Klausener had spoken out against the National Socialists during the

Weimar era. Murdering Klausener and Probst seemed to indicate that the Nazis were sending the Church a message. Kevin Spicer points out, "Klausener' s death greatly altered the climate of trust between church and state."97

Lichtenberg recorded the event in the parish chronicle and even pasted in a news-clipping picture of Klausener:

Dr. Klausener The Chairman of Catholic Action spoke about deep faith and love.

96 Ibid., 287.

97 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 41. 214

That on June 24. On June 30at1:10 PM he was found in his office in the Transportation Ministry, his head pierced by a bullet. He was lying until 6PM guarded by two SS men who even refused entry to his wife and son.98

In the parish chronicle, Lichtenberg did not mention the murder of other Nazi opponents, only Klausener. Lichtenberg could not have taken his chronicle notes regarding Klausener's death from a Berlin newspaper. No newspaper would have noted that SS men refused Klausener' s wife and son entry to his office.

Lichtenberg noted the facts as communicated through Catholic Berlin. He also attended the of Klausener' s ashes on July 7, 1934. 99 The bodies of

Klausener and Probst were not handed over to relatives, but were cremated in defiance of Catholic doctrine. If Lichtenberg had any suspicions about the duplicitous Nazi regime, his reservations now were confirmed.

Soon after the death of Klausener, Nazi officials appeared at St. Hedwig's to search Lichtenberg' s room. They made a report on their findings, noting that

Lichtenberg had a mission statement that associated him with the group Catholic

Action. When one of the officials remarked, "Each chooses his own path to salvation," Lichtenberg responded, "God chooses."100 Lichtenberg also proclaimed again, "My Fuhrer is Christ."

98 DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. I., 224.

99 E-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, September 11, 2009.

100 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 70. 215

From this point on, Lichtenberg began reporting more "political" events in the parish chronicle:

- On July 25, the Austrian Chancellor, Dollfuss was shot. - On August 2, Requiem Mass in the Cathedral for the murdered Chancellor, whose murderer was executed in the meantime - Nuncio Orsenigo held the absolution -The representative for the Reich Chancellor was Mr. von Papen - The Cathedral was full; it was filled with diplomats - On August 2, 9AM, Reich president P. von Hindenburg died RIP - The Reich cabinet ratified a law on August 1, 1934 with the following content: 1st law: The Office of the Reich President shall be combined with the Reichstag. Therefore the authority of the Reich President will be taken over by the Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler. He will decide who will be his representative. 2nd law: This law will take effect with the death of the Reich President von Hindenburg101

Lichtenberg could no longer keep his parish separated from Berlin's and

Germany's mainstream life. The "political" events happening affected every

German in some manner - directly or indirectly. The inability to live a politically-detached Christian life at this time may have been a turning point for

Bernhard Lichtenberg.

Lichtenberg did everything he could to maintain a Catholic life for his parishioners. Given the attendance of informers in the worship services, some pastors feared their congregants would begin to avoid Mass. Lichtenberg noted in the parish chronicle, "Starting August 12 (1934), we will celebrate the daily

im DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. I., 227-228. 216

Mass at 4:30 AM."102 Until then, the morning mass was probably celebrated closer to 6 a.m. The change not only helped early workers to attend Mass, but also hindered the Gestapo in their surveillances. What Nazi official would want to sit through Mass at that time of day? In Munich, which may have had more surveillance than even Berlin, celebrated Masses at 3:20 and 4:05 in the early morning. Mayer argued, "We must make sure that the church carries on for the people everywhere."103 There is no record to show whether these early

Masses created a decrease in daily attendance.

Because of the January 1935 plebiscite regarding the region of the Saar, the

Nazi regime began to treat German Catholics somewhat more kindly in the last months of 1934.104 Germany wanted the Saar, after 15 years, returned to German control. The vote, however, was in the hands of the residents of the Saar, a predominantly Catholic population.105 The Saar Catholics had remained under the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Trier and Speyer, strengthening the Saar's ties to Germany. Hitler wanted the Church to pressure the people of the Saar to choose Germany. It was also an opportunity for the Church to show Catholic

102 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. I., 229.

103 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 30.

104 "An annex to the Versailles Treaty had put the Saar territory under rule of a commission representing the . It had also provided that fifteen years after the coming into force of the treaty the population of the Saar should indicate their [sic] desires for the future in a plebiscite. There were to be three alternatives: (a) maintenance of the status quo; (b) union with France; (c) union with Germany." Guenter Lewy, "The German Roman Catholic Hierarchy and the Saar Plebiscite of 1935," Political Science Quarterly (June 1964): 184.

10s In 1927, 72.6 percent were Catholic. Lewy, "Saar Plebiscite," 185. 217

support of the Fatherland, to demonstrate patriotism. Since the Nazis were uncertain about the plebiscite, which they could not rig, they offered an olive branch to the bishops by suggesting new negotiations. In addition, the Gestapo ordered attacks against Catholic organizations halted.

At the highest level, the regime courted Catholics. In August 1934, Hitler gave a speech in which he proclaimed, "I know that there are thousands and tens of thousands of priests who not only have been reconciled to our State, but who also, with joy, participate in strengthening our national life. I am convinced that this cooperation with the clergy will increase and become more mutually beneficial. Where could there be greater mutual interest than in our common struggle against cultural Bolshevism, atheism and criminality?"106 A month later, the German Reich Bishop107, Hans Muller, delivered a speech noting that the goal of the national German Church was a "Rome-free German Church."

This remark did not escape Catholic Saarlanders. An editorial in The Saar General

Reporter noted, "Hitler's diplomacy has been carefully husbanding the

Saarlanders towards a return to the Reich.... And now, the man whom Hitler

106 Foster, Paul Schneider, 416.

107 InMay1933, representatives from the regional (Protestant) churches elected Friedrich von Bodelschwingh as their Reich bishop. A month later, he resigned under pressure from the "German Christians" and the Nazi Party. Ludwig Muller, a "German Christian" and supporter of the Nazi Party, was elected Reich Bishop in September 1933. He was installed formally as bishop on September 23, 1934. He remained in this position nominally until his death in 1945, an apparent suicide. 218

has selected for his National Bishop drops this bombshell."108 The Catholic

Saarlanders received pressure from both the German and the French authorities, and at times, there were mixed messages.

With more than seventy per cent of the population, Catholics in the Saar region had the power to decide the fate of the Saar. An editorial in the semi­ official L' Osservatore Romano on January 7-8, 1935 emphasized the neutrality and impartiality of the Holy See in the Saar Plebiscite.109 In addition, the bishops of

Trier and Speyer /1 forbade the clergy of the two dioceses to speak in public at political meetings held in the Saar."110 Ultimately, on January 13, 1935, 91 per cent of the people of the Saar voted to have their region return to German rule.

The Nazis, with their /1 carrot and stick," downplayed the role of German

Catholics in gaining the Saar.

Once Hitler no longer /1 needed" the German Catholics, the state assumed an even more aggressive policy towards both Catholic and Protestant churches. On

February 9, Lichtenberg noted in the parish chronicle that police had forbidden a religious procession from St. Michael's Church to St. Hedwig's, "for the sake of public order and security."111 The next day, Cardinal Faulhaber preached a sermon on "The Freedom of the Church," including 111) the guarantee in the

10s Foster, Paul Schneider, 425.

109 Lewy, "Saar Plebiscite," 201-202.

no Ibid., 193.

m DAB V /26 Scripta, S. D. I., 230. 219

Concordat of freedom to exercise the Catholic religion; 2) freedom to preach the

Catholic religion; 3) freedom to defend the Catholic religion against such false teaching as that of Rosenberg; 4) freedom to answer questions of conscience such as that of parents regarding the confessional schools."112 The Cardinal suggested that martyrdom might be called for in defending these freedoms, noting the example of St. Thomas More. Faulhaber was calling the people to resistance and action. Resist Nazi control over your religious lives and act to hold onto Catholic practice and Catholic education. The Church had signed the Concordat, believing that it was the vehicle to freedom of Catholic practice in Germany. If the Nazi regime did not abide by the agreement, the Church and her members would have to fight to the point of martyrdom. As the adage notes, "Actions speak louder than words." Few German cardinals and bishops actually led their people by actions. The Church hierarchy spoke out, but did not act. Lichtenberg did both and took his battle beyond simply Catholic practice but to all Christian teachings. German Catholics needed daily, ongoing leadership by example, and words in a sermon were not enough. In addition, the people needed continuity with the change of leaders.

When Berlin Bishop Nicolaus Bares died in February 1935, Lichtenberg noted the event in the parish chronicle:

On Wednesday, February 27, Bishop Nicolaus sat with his advisors in the Administerial meeting. At the end of the meeting at 1 o'clock, he said with a

112 Gallin, German Resistance to Hitler, 213. 220

smile: I must have upset my stomach . . . . Friday morning, Strehler called us at Hedwig's Pastorate: "Bishop was taken with the doctor to St. Hedwig's Hospital. Situation hopeless, surgery out of the question." At 7 PM, we stood at his deathbed. I met Professor Sauerbruch with two doctors in the hallway. A nurse carried a bowl of vomit mixed with blood out of the room. Sauerbruch said: surgery is out of the question, the patient will die under the knife. As we stepped in his room, he said joyously: "Today proudly on the horse, tomorrow shot through the chest." Father Rauterkus heard his confession, the apostolic nuncio brought him the blessing of the Holy Father, the Bishop of Osnabriick gave him the last rites on the deathbed.113

Lichtenberg prayed the St. Joseph's litany and sang the hymn "Jesu dulcis memoria" at the death bed of the bishop.114 This shows the traditional character of Lichtenberg as well as his position within the Berlin Church hierarchy, that he stood by the side of bishops. A number of bishops, including Galen and

Preysing, escorted the body in the funeral procession to St. Hedwig's.

Lichtenberg followed at the end of the procession. Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels,

Frick, and others Nazi officials sent telegrams of condolence.115

As part of the Lenten services in the spring, Lichtenberg (holding the superior position in Berlin, with the absence of a bishop) issued an order for the

Catholic clergymen of Berlin that from March 31 through April 12, 1935, they were to offer a "Prayer against the power of Darkness."

Father and Lord Jesus Christ! See the power of darkness battle against the Children of Light. False prophets and christs have risen, anesthetizing the people, taking away their sound teachings and replacing them with fables, myths, and ringing words. In the midst of this dangerous confusion of the

rn DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. I., 230-231.

114 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 59.

11s Ogiermann, Bis zum letzten Atemzug, 92. 221

spirit, we need 0 Lord, the light of your truth and the strength of your grace. We ask you to fill the sermons of our Passion Week with the spirit of your great disciples, that they in apostolic insight and with apostolic sincerity find the right words to lead their listeners to discover that you 0 Lord are truth and life and that the Church is from you our prescribed leader to eternal life.116

Prayer engaged clergy and laypeople. Direction in resisting the watering down of their faith might probably came best in word - from the pulpit, pastoral letters, and prominent papal encyclicals.

In a very different tone, Pius XI received a large group of the Catholic youth from Germany on Easter Monday 1935: "You love your great Fatherland. You wish to serve it in loyalty and love and it should be so, beloved sons. For you know well that we also love Germany and our German sons; indeed, we can say that we love the whole world, and our love goes forth both to those that are near and those who are far away .... Difficult hours may even come continuously.

All may become doubtful - all may perhaps be endangered. But, beloved sons, one thing is certain, yes, quite certain and beyond all doubt-Almighty God in his goodness will be with us, and not against us. The Redeemer says to us all, and to you particularly, what He said to the fearful and perplexed apostles:

'Doubt not, neither be afraid; for I am with you always.'"117

In May, Poland's Marshall Pilsudski died and Lichtenberg had the opportunity to look the Fuhrer directly in the eyes. Hitler and countless German

116 Kock, Er Widerstand, 93.

117 The Persecution of the Catholic Church, 4-5. 222

ministers attended the requiem Mass celebrated at St. Hedwig's in honor of the great Polish patriot. The Fuhrer sat across from the large white cross at the front of the cathedral.118 Hitler had admired Pilsudski as a congenial dictator. The

Pope had not yet named a new bishop of Berlin, and Dom Capitular Lichtenberg celebrated the Mass before representatives from all over the world. Hitler also had sent Hermann Goring to Warsaw and to Krakow to represent the Third

Reich at Pilsudski' s funeral. In addition, Hitler sent a message to Pilsudski's widow, Aleksandra: "The sad news of the death of your husband, his Excellency

Marshall Pilsudski, fills me with profoundest grief. Together with your family, highly honored, gracious lady, accept the expression of my deeply felt sympathy.

In gratitude, I will preserve the memory of the deceased."119 The Fuhrer attending Mass may have made a good impression on German Catholics.

Perhaps because he was celebrating the sixtieth year120 of his life in 1935,

Lichtenberg took a study trip through ancient lands. It was good for him to get away for a while, especially given his mother's death in November 1934.121 As

118 Kock, Er Widerstand, 94-95.

119 Foster, Mary's Knight, 469.

120 Remembering that he had been soaked to the skin from an unexpected cloudburst, Lichtenberg wrote in his prison diaries, "But, a young man of 60 ought to be able to take that, especially if he intends to go to Malta, he will have to go across Messina to Sicily through the Scylla-Charybdis, and even Odysseus had difficulties with that."

121 Following a stroke, Lichtenberg's mother lay unconscious and dying in Joseph Hospital. Bernhard was at her bedside, praying, stroking her cheek, asking her what she wanted. The doctor told him that death was imminent. Although sad, Lichtenberg' s theology taught him that whenever death came, it was the will of God. Lichtenberg's father had died in December 1931. 223

Lichtenberg recounts the episode in his prison diaries, one senses his enthusiasm for seeing not only the Pontiff, but also Cardinal Pacelli while in Rome:

The Holy Father was in Castel Gandolfo. Well, let's go there for an audience! Upon entering the courtyard familiar Berlin faces, 50 Berliners had come with Mr. Saegle to Rome, the courtyard was filled with 600 among them 150 couples. A car pulled up. Cardinal Pacelli is coming from an audience. The Berliners are illuminated. Fridolin worms his way through and draws his Eminence's attention to the Berliners. A friendly handshake, a friendly question, and then its up to see the Holy Father. The Holy Father delivered an address in French, Italian, and German-slowly, speaks cordially of dark times, encourages, then goes through the rows of kneeling pilgrims and extends to each the fisherman's ring to kiss.122

Being in the presence of Pope Pius XI and Pacelli and hearing their words would have comforted Lichtenberg. The Berlin pastor still held a high opinion of

Vatican leaders. Lichtenberg would always stand by the side of the Church, while at the same time following his own path direct by his Christian values.

Lichtenberg continued his travels, passing through Monte Cassino, Palermo,

Syracuse, and Malta before returning to Rome. He felt himself becoming a

"native Roman."

In early July 1935, Pope Pius XI named Konrad Graf von Preysing, Bishop of

Eichstatt, the new Bishop of Berlin. It was a superb choice and probably quite a purposeful choice. Many saw Preysing as a troublemaker of sorts, and in the capital city, he could be a more formidable bulwark against Nazi persecution than most others could. At the beginning of June, resistance against Preysing as the new bishop of Berlin came from the highest circles of the Nazi government.

122 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 17. 224

Others also believed that "this personality is in no way suitable."123 Von

Preysing wrote to the Cardinal Secretary, Pacelli, to inquire about the naming of the new bishop of Berlin. As the irritations began to clear out, on June 27, Pacelli responded to von Preysing' s letter:

After careful consideration and taking note of your sacrificial humility as well as the understandable and justifiable loyalty to your previous diocese - a devotion within the secret counsel of God which we have come to expect from you.... Because of the long Episcopal vacancy and now for pressing reasons, an immediate appointment to this office is demanded. As soon as it can be assumed that you have received this communique, an official publication of your investment and appointment to this Episcopal See will be announced by His Holiness.124

In the same month that Preysing became Berlin's new bishop, the Nazi government created an office to deal with issues of the Church. To produce more efficient Church control, Hitler created the Ministry of Church Affairs under Hans Kerr! in July 1935. Kerrl was devoted to and had held a variety of positions in the regime. The issue of who had jurisdiction over Church affairs had become complicated. Kerrl had pushed for the idea of the "Ministry," and Hitler liked it. This fell in line with the regime's policy of .

With the formation of this ministry, everything regarding the Church went through Kerrl' s office. Kerrl tried to legislate an anti-doctrinal Christianity (his

"ministry" favored the evangelical "German Christians") and later concluded

123 Knauft, Konrad van Preysing, 61.

124 Ibid. 225

that Christianity and National Socialism were irreconcilable.12s He never gained total control over church-state relations as other agencies, Ministry of the

Interior and Ministry of Science, Education, and Public Instruction, tried to have a hand in Church matters.126

One particular area of ambiguity involved the handling of clergy who protested against the Nazi regime. An earlier May 1935 letter from the Berlin

Gestapo headquarters ordered its police to arrest clergy only after gaining the approval of a representative of the chief and inspector of the Gestapo.127 In

September 1935, the Ministry of Justice ordered the Ministry of Church Affairs to halt any legal proceedings against clergy until it could institute a plan of action and punishment. It also requested that, to avoid public scandal, the

Ministry discontinue any proceedings against a German bishop.128 In the summer, however, Goring had stated that the regime would no longer tolerate political dissent from within the Catholic Church. The German bishops had taken an oath to uphold the laws of the state. The Church should accept that if one broke the law, one would be punished. For Bernhard Lichtenberg and others, Christian humanitarian practice superseded state law.

1is Doris L. Bergen, Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 19, 47, 159 Kerri died in Paris in 1941.

126 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 47.

127 Ibid.

128 Ibid., 49. 226

In that same summer, a secretary of the former Social Democratic faction in the Prussian Landtag met with Father Walter Adolph to report on the poor situation in the concentration camps, especially Esterwegen.129 The secretary hoped that Father Adolph, as editor of the Catholic Church newspaper in Berlin, could find a way to help the inmates. As the secretary relayed the horrific details of conditions in the camp, Adolph requested that the man return after work hours. In the early evening, Adolph received him in his office, and Adolph's secretary took down the specifics. The next morning, Adolph showed the report to Lichtenberg.130 Lichtenberg read the report, uttering "My God, My God!" He immediately picked up the telephone and called the office of Reich Minister

Hermann Goring, asking for a personal meeting. Within a few days, an advisor in Goring's office met with Lichtenberg and told him that it was not the first time their office had heard such reports. Lichtenberg noticed written at the top of the page the official was holding, "presented by Dom Capitular Prelate Lichtenberg,

Berlin."131

Lichtenberg' s efforts did not end with a lower-ranking official. He penned a letter of protest to Goring. In the letter to Goring, Lichtenberg mentioned the

129 Klein, Berolinen 3:189.

130 Lichtenberg was "sitting in" for an ill Vicar Steinmann. Being in at the cathedral in Berlin offered Lichtenberg opportunities that he would not have had at any other location. The Bishop's office called on him often to cover for other clerics when they were unavailable for administrative duties.

131 Klein, Berolinen, 3:189-190. 227

murder of a Social Democrat, Fritz Hiesemann; the murder of a communist,

Rohr; and the shooting injury of a Jewish painter, Loewy. Furthermore,

Lichtenberg wrote: "The Jews have especially suffered; they must run through and roll in manure, muck and clean the latrines with their hands." When KZ

Commander Eicke, saw Lichtenberg' s letter, he gave a statement to Goring, requesting, "to take the liar Lichtenberg into protective custody."132 Lichtenberg had become a bigger target on the Gestapo's radar, and he was exercising his dissent more frequently. A week later, the Gestapo reported Lichtenberg's

"offenses" to the newly created Reich Ministry for Church Affairs: traitor, misuse of the pulpit, and violation of the Heimtiickgesetz. Six years later, these same offenses would land Lichtenberg in prison.

Lichtenberg did not retreat from his protests. In early August, through instructions of the Berlin Bishop Ordinariat, he sent a letter to the Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, against the broadcasting of the "Devisenschieberlied," a political smear song in which members of religious orders were openly defamed for alleged currency smuggling. Lichtenberg was successful in his protest-the state forbade further broadcasting of this song in October 1935.133

Where Lichtenberg took a stand on individual issues, the German bishops spoke out on broader concerns. There was a major campaign against the

132 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 18-19. KZ is used as an abbreviation for Konzentrationslager (concentration camp).

133 Berolinen, 1:8. 228

Catholic Church by the Reich in the second half of 1935. From their meeting in

Fulda in August, the German bishops issued several communiques. First, they wrote to the Fuhrer and the Chancellor, drawing their attention to the "concerted agitation against the clergy" and called for greater respect and protection for the clergy in accordance with the Reich Concordat. The bishops also made the point that if the clergy continued to suffer the daily insults in the streets and in the newspapers, "the right atmosphere is set up for Kulturkampf." The bishops sent a letter to the clergy making them aware of the letters sent to the Reich leaders.134

In their general pastoral letter, the bishops responded to the charge of "political

Catholicism." It was a defensive communication maintaining that the Church was not struggling politically against the Reich, but that the Church's actions stemmed from the duty of conscience in practicing the Catholic faith.135 The

Vatican also protested the interferences with the freedom of Catholics, noting breaches of the Concordat.

In July 1935, Goring replied to the Vatican protests with a pronouncement, representing all Catholic social activities as "political." He suggested that

Catholic political activities could be cloaked as religious activities. In addition, he wanted the clergy not only to abstain from criticizing National Socialism but also to get behind it wholeheartedly. He seemed to indicate that this was the

134 The Persecution of the Catholic Church, 18

135 A. S. Duncan-Jones, The Struggle for Religious Freedom in Germany, (London: Victor Gollancz, 1938), 190-191. 229

essence of the Concordat. He threatened to suppress Catholic Youth associations unless they restricted their activities. The point of his edict was that it was necessary to proceed against the clergy but with circumspection, so that they should not become 'martyrs.'136

To keep the Roman Catholic Church in its place and to destroy any influence it had on the people, the Nazi regime moved against the clergy in a rather subtle manner. Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda, thought that creating scandals involving members of the clergy was an effective way to attack the

Catholic Church. The thought was not only to create the scandals, but also to top them off with highly visible, sensational show trials. In the summer of 1935, the state began prosecuting religious orders in Germany for breaking currency laws.

Goebbels did not seem to understand that some of these trials could provoke sympathy for the defendant. This was the case with Caritas, a philanthropic organization known through Germany for its good work. Members of religious orders served in this ministry, and if money moved between countries through these individuals, so what - it helped individuals in Germany.

The Catholic clergy were not the only group under attack. In July 1935, the

Kurfilrstendamm region of Berlin had such a bloody that the police closed down all of the Jewish businesses. Throughout the 1930s, one could see

"No Jews live on the property" and "Jews unwanted" prominently displayed on

136 Ibid., 180-181. 230

house windows. By mid-1935, many of the Jews of Germany had lost their primary livelihood, and in the following year, they lost their German citizenship with the implementation of the (promulgated in 1935). When the Nazis broadcast the Reich Citizenship Law and the Law for the Protection of

German Blood and Honor on September 15, 1935, there was no Catholic protest.

The Church worked in some cases to help baptized Jews leave the country, but it did not protest the treatment of Jews, baptized or not.137

In fall, 1935, the Gestapo informed the Prussian government of camp inspector Eicke's request to have Lichtenberg taken into protective custody.138

Lichtenberg remained free, but the Gestapo took two other high profile clergymen into custody: Bishop Peter Legge of Meillen and Berlin Cathedral

Canon Dr. Georg Banasch.139 Legge, among others, was prosecuted for a foreign currency exchange violation, found guilty, sentenced to a fine, and forced out of his diocese for several years.140 Just before Christmas, the Bishop of Berlin

137 Ibid., 277. In December 1933, Cardinal Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich, had addressed the congregation in the cathedral on the Sundays of . Having been a professor of history, he defended the Old Testament as a significant part of Christianity. Following a year of disenfranchisement of the Jews by the Nazi regime, Faulhaber showed that Christianity was tied to the Chosen People. See Michael von Faulhaber, Judaism, Christianity and Germany, trans. George D. Smith (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1935). Academically, Faulhaber and perhaps many Catholic Christians understood the ties of Judaism to Christianity, but that did not change the lack of support for the Jews.

i3s Klein, Berolinen 1:8. (Chronology of events in Lichtenberg's life).

139 Banasch was released from prison March 6, 1936.

140 See Birgit Mitzscherlich, Diktatur und Diaspora. Das Bistum Meifien 1932-1951, (Paderborn: Schoningh, 2005). 231

instructed Lichtenberg to visit the prisoners held at Gestapo headquarters on

Prince-Albert-StrafSe.

Pope Pius XI had told his German bishops in 1933, "If it is a matter of saving souls, of averting even greater damage, we have the courage to negotiate even with the devil." On December 10, 1935, Lichtenberg wrote a letter to the Fuhrer,

Adolf Hitler, protesting the increased circulation of the book, Der Pfaffenspiegel.

Since scholars have only quoted one line of this letter (see underlined sentence), I have decided to include the entire letter.

The Fuhrer and Imperial Chancellor Adolf Hitler, may I be so bold as to inform you most respectfully that Pfaffenspiegel, which was prepared in more than 1,250,000 copies in particular by the Social Democrats and which for many has destroyed the reverence for the church and the priesthood, is offered for sale in the kiosks. Eight times, the last being on December 1, 1926, this worthless plagiarism, due to lack of any critique of the sources, of anti­ church writings of Weber, Ammann, Theiner, and Muench has been confiscated via court decree. Now it directs its attention afresh to itself through comments about its distribution of over 1114 million copies, thanks primarily to the Social Democrats. According to the latest research, the author is of non-Aryan heritage. Simultaneously a door-to-door postal delivery is made to all authorities of the publisher Dr.[ ... ] Buurmann - Wittingen (Hannover) with an order list for the work of E. K. Heidemann entitled "What the Christian does not know about Christianity," supposedly recommended by the Imperial Authority for the promotion of German literature. This work, which pours out onto 46 pages, a scorn of the Christian faith which cannot be exceeded, is assessed, as the propaganda leaf indicates, by the authorized Imperial Authority for German literature as follows: "a clear, factual representation which can be understood by all (of great value) of the inner essential content of Christianity without theological conceptual terminology. The author is correct that most people are not familiar with Christianity, their faith. One can wish him success in his effort, to stimulate thought." As the Cathedral pastor of the St. Hedwig's congregation, to which the Imperial Office also belongs, I consider myself justified, in bringing forward 232

the request directly to the Fuhrer, the Imperial Chancellor, to put a stop to the verbal gravediggers of the German fatherland. B. Lichtenberg Cathedral Priestl41

Lichtenberg' s use of "nichtarischer" was his attempt to get the Fuhrer' s attention. How else could Lichtenberg get Hitler's attention? Hitler would have no interest in Der Pfaffenspiegel. Why write a letter at all if the reader had no interest in the contents? Lichtenberg also noted that the "Social Democrats," another "enemy" of the Reich, prepared and distributed the literature. He was using every possible means to draw Hitler's attention to the issue. The "Imperial

Authority" was another phrase that Lichtenberg hoped would catch the Fuhrer' s attention. The Nazi regime's employment of both the Fuhrer Prinzip and the policy of Gleichschaltung meant that there was an ordered fashion of authority in German society. Lichtenberg ended his letter by referring to those who could harm the "fatherland." Lichtenberg was not a strong German nationalist either, but here was another word that could draw Hitler's (or a staff member's) attention. Hoping that Hitler might be moved to take action in the matter,

Lichtenberg used purposeful language in his. Just as important as protecting individual Christians, perhaps even more important to Lichtenberg was protecting Christianity.

Daniel Goldhagen has suggested that this letter shows Lichtenberg' s anti-

Jewish attitudes.142 Kevin Spicer maintains that Lichtenberg made a

141 Klein, Berolinen, 2:101. 233

"questionable statement" in his letter of protest to Hitler.143 At the end of the first paragraph of the letter, Lichtenberg indicates that the author (Otto von

Corvin) was /1 of non-Aryan heritage according to the latest research." There was, however, no direct evidence that could show Corvin was a Jew.144 Lichtenberg's actions in the last years of his life - praying for the Jews, helping to find them resources - dispels Goldhagen' s claims of anti-Semitism. The use of one purposeful word does not an anti-Semite make. One could maintain that it was not a questionable statement. Lichtenberg used the language of the times and he did not use it disparagingly, just what he believed to be fact.

Lichtenberg actions show that he was not anti-Jewish in anyway. He had worked respectfully with Jewish converts. He did not force quick conversions, but wanted individuals to have their heart in their decision. He believed that a converted Jew was a Christian. /1 Anti-Semitism" of the era surrounding the Nazi period believed that Jewish identity came from Jewish blood. In the council

142 In A Moral Reckoning, Goldhagen states, "Before he was shocked by Kristallnacht to stand up for the Jews, Father Lichtenberg, just like other German bishops and priests, vocalized anti­ Semitism against Otto von Corvin, the Protestant author of an anticlerical book, whom the Catholic establishment was alleging to be half Jewish. In a 1935 letter he claimed that Corvin 'according to the latest research, was not of Aryan descent.' Father Lichtenberg appears to have believed that just being a Jew, or even a half-Jew by 'race,' was sufficient to render someone suspect, unwholesome, indeed, prima facie guilty of some substantial transgression."

143 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 165.

144 "When the Nazis challenged the non-Aryan ancestry of Corvin, one of their favorite church-baiting authors, the Catholic polemicists fell back upon the fact that Corvin's book had originally been published by a Jewish firm, that he had been a friend of Jews and that Corvin had exhibited traits such as lack of compassion, cold sarcasm, a presumptuous self-confidence ... " Lewy, The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, 278. 234

session on the ministering of youth welfare, Lichtenberg included the rabbi and his office as having a need for influence in the lives of Jewish youth. Lichtenberg had become a member of the Charlottenburg and Berlin city councils to influence

Catholic life in Berlin. There was no need for him to include Protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis in his discussion, but he did. By writing to the Fuhrer in the manner that he did, Lichtenberg was trying to get rid of Corvin' s anti-clerical writing.

Why did Lichtenberg write to Hitler? When Lichtenberg wrote to Goring in

July, he received only a threat of arrest. Given their past contact regarding the peace movement of German Catholics, he could not write to Goebbels. Why not

Hitler? With the September Reich Law for Citizenship in effect, perhaps

Lichtenberg (with his helpful note) could get Corvin fired from his position. This letter is political, thoughtful, cunning-characteristics Lichtenberg had picked up while on the Berlin councils and in dealing with parishioners. One must read it in the context of the times and from Lichtenberg's point of view. Lichtenberg biographer, Christian Feldmann, supports this view, maintaining, "Lichtenberg, with his practical, political experience from the city councils, always behaved cleverly and sensibly. In his protest letter to Hitler against the promotion of anti­

Christian trash literature, he discreetly noted that the author of the notorious

'Pfaffenspiegel,' the Protestant Otto von Corvin, was 'given the latest 235

information, of non-Aryan origin."'145 Lichtenberg's cleverness permeated not only his pastoral work (as in giving food coupons instead of money to beggars) but also his obligations as a protector of the Church.

The attacks on the Catholic Church with the 1935 currency trials did not cease. In the following year, the "morality trials" took over the assault. In searching , diocesan offices and other religious houses for information that could discredit them in the currency trials, Nazi officials found information on the colorful lives of individual clerics. The Church had dealt with most of these cases, many by expulsion. Nevertheless, here was another opportunity for the Nazis to damage the reputation of the Church. Accusation of sexual misconduct focused on the St. Francis Waldbreitbach community, a religious community that had accepted less-than-desirable men during difficult economic times. Fifty-four members of the community were convicted in July 1936.

Ultimately, propaganda in the Nazi press carried the attack of immorality to all the German clergy.146 Nazi persecution against the Catholic Church in Germany continued and developed to the point that it affected many German Catholics.

The Nazis wrapped up the trials just in time for the Olympic Games.

145 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 99. Although Feldmann, Goldhagen, and Lewy have noted that von Corvin was Protestant, some others still question Corvin' s official religious background.

146 For a detailed study of the trials, see Hans Giinter Hockerts, Die Sittlichkeitsprozesse gegen katholische Ordensangehorige und Priester, 1936/1937: Eine Studie zur nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftstechnik und zum Kirchenkampf, (Mainz: Matthias-Griinewald, 1971), Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 51-54, Duncan-Jones, Struggles for Religious Freedom, 191-202. 236

In March 1936, Hitler called for a plebiscite to ratify his military occupation of the Rhineland.147 Since Berlin was hosting the Olympics, everything had to appear united and friendly. Lichtenberg recorded the tone of it in the parish chronicle:

On March 22 the following declaration was read for the vote on March 29: "The Catholics, Germany's trusted national comrades, have the desire to make known their patriotic convictions before the world." The upcoming vote can bring many of you into a difficult and painful conflict. ... Therefore let it be established: Jews who join in support of the German Catholics in a resolution for their families, and the freedom and security of their country, do so with the intention of serving the needs of the German people, peace in the world, and thereby the advancement of their people.148

Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland had no effect on the games in August.

St. Hedwig's celebrated a special Mass for Catholic participants in the Olympic

Games.

Shortly following that event, Father Bernhard Lichtenberg fulfilled a dream-he made a pilgrimage (red Baedecker book in hand) to the Holy Land, traveling through Vienna, Sofia, and Istanbul to Haifa. The following account, condensed from Lichtenberg' s details, comes solely and directly from his prison diaries and offers a good sense of the author's openness to other cultures and

147 Hitler appealed to the nation: "I will ask the German people, do you want to subjugate the French or discriminate against them? The German people will answer, NO! We should then ask the French people if they desire that they German people enjoy less liberty in their own country than is afforded to every other nation. I am convinced that the French people will answer, NO! German nation, I wait upon your decision. I am certain that your vote will confirm my action. I will regard your decision as the national will and as the voice of God ... " Foster, Paul Schneider, 495.

148 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. I., 238. 237

religions. Although Lichtenberg' s religious education would have taught him something about religious Jews, he was able to experience Jewish culture in the

Jewish "homeland" first-hand. It is important to understand Lichtenberg's actions of praying for the Jews in the context of his life's encounters with Jews, as well as Muslims and Protestants. This shows one how Lichtenberg viewed and treated people outside of his very conservative Catholic Christian faith.

The steamer that crossed from Turkey to Palestine carried nine passengers,

400 wagons of wood, and 30 ,000 chickens. Lichtenberg did not mind-he could celebrate Holy Mass each morning of the 4-day trip in his cabin.149 Lichtenberg began noting religious sites (islands) before he even arrived on the mainland.

Coincidently, on the day he set foot on the soil of the Holy Land, the British government imposed a state of emergency in Palestine.150 As he left for

Nazareth, his car had to join a caravan under British military protection. A few months earlier, riots had broken out in Jaffa, setting the stage for a 3-year period of "Arab Revolt." Arabs and Jews were observing a temporary peace at the time

Lichtenberg was in Palestine. Perhaps that is why he went at this time. One sees in his travels the tension that existed between young people of the different

149 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 22. Lichtenberg held a "slide show" for his parishioners in January 1937, sharing with them his trip to the Holy Lands.

1so Between 1936 and 1939, violence and civil strife permeated Palestine (Arab Revolt 1936). Arabs demanded an end to Jewish immigration and transfers of land to Jewish owners. There was a great deal of violence against the Jews during this period, but Lichtenberg traveled the re~ion during the peaceful respite from fall 1936 to fall 1937. He probably did not w~tness any attacks against the Jews. 238

faiths. Despite the problems in Palestine and the treatment of Jews in Germany, the two nations continued to have contact and Lichtenberg met several Germans during his travels.151

Lichtenberg accepted accommodations from every manner of Catholic religious order in the Holy Land during his travels. The of Nazareth related to Lichtenberg that he was the first pilgrim they had welcomed in six months. From there, he visited Cana and Tiberius, and on his return trip to

Nazareth, while taking a break for food, he discussed Germany with three persons, "an old Jew, a Muslim, and a Greek Orthodox Christian." Lichtenberg recounted another episode that drew in his German background.

[Fridolin] came across a restaurant, on whose windows Lemonade was advertised. He went in and found the host to be a German Jew from Hamburg with his Protestant wife. He received his lemonade and from the wife an invitation to lodge here for the night, rather than to proceed in the darkness. The sun would soon set and there was no dusk in the Orient. Fridolin however said, he wanted to get to Tabgha today, and the Jew said: "Well, he is going with God-and there he needs no protection." Fridolin decided to make note of this for the future.152

Germany was persecuting her Jews and had taken away their citizenship. Here, a German Jew was offering Lichtenberg lodging and spoke of God's protection of

151 The leaders of Palestine had worked to keep relations with Nazi Germany as normal as possible for the sake of the German Jews. Palestinian contact with Germany did not cease in 1933. The Jewish Agency executive in sent a telegram directly to Hitler to inform him that Palestine had not declared a boycott against Germany. David Ben-Gurion signed a letter noting Palestine's willingness to help with vocational training of prospective German immigrants to Palestine. The Zionist Organization sent Hitler a cable of condolence on the death of President von Hindenburg. even traveled to Palestine in 1937, but the British gave him a transit pass good for only one night in Haifa. Tom Segev, The Seventh Million, The Israelis and the Holocaust, Translated by Haim Watzman, (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2000), 29-30.

152 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 24. 239

the priest. Lichtenberg was a critical thinker and observed details of life around him. He carried certain impression people had made on him throughout his life, from early childhood, through his early priesthood, through am older age.

If Lichtenberg had fear, he seldom showed it. His continued account shows the remoteness of the region he traversed; it was much different from walking along Unter den Linden. Lichtenberg had to depend on many different kinds of people as he walked trails and roads along and through mountainous regions unfamiliar to him. When he was looking for a priest he had planned to visit, a

Bedouin led him up the mountain slope to Father Taeper's lodge. Many people, including Father Taeper, showed their astonishment that this priest, an unusually looking solitary figure, traveled alone in these remote areas.

The highlight of Lichtenberg' s trip occurred in Jerusalem, as he was able to see so many of the holy sites relevant to the life of Jesus Christ. Lichtenberg thought about how Christianity had begun there and had lasted for so many centuries, with practices and traditions that he himself continued to follow. He was a bit disappointed though, when a Muslim had to open the doors to the room of the Last Supper. Muslims had control of that piece of land, and

Lichtenberg hoped that Christians would eventually be able to possess that territory. Lichtenberg thought that when he got home, he would try to collect more money in the and Holy Saturday collections for the

Association of the Holy Land. 240

Walking on the road to Damascus, Lichtenberg passed a German Jewish settlement that was expecting 50 Jewish children in the next few days. It was guarded by a 20-year-old Jewish student from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was acting as a policeman. Lichtenberg asked him in French the way to

Emmaus. The student must have noticed his German accent because he responded in German. The young man (from Galicia) then accompanied

Lichtenberg for three quarters of an hour to Emmaus. With the approach of a camel rider, the young man pulled out his binoculars. Lichtenberg wondered out loud, "I am probably safe in your company?" The young student replied,

"Your talar is a better protection than my gun." In Emmaus, Lichtenberg stayed in a settlement of Borromean nuns and he found that one of them had been a parishioner of St. Michael's in Berlin. Lichtenberg met many people in Palestine with ties to Germany.

Lichtenberg traveled through Cairo on his return to Germany, visiting the

Egyptian Museum, Memphis, Sakkara, and the Giza Plateau. Although he "did not intend to write a guide book," he thought everyone visiting Cairo must see these sites. He also traveled with a Muslim guide to see the bazaar and the

Alabaster Mosque.

Lichtenberg' s travels opened his mind and heart to possibilities of life and worship beyond the boundaries of Germany. They made him more cosmopolitan. His transportation back to Germany was perhaps in the same 241

manner of boat, train, and walking. There is no description of how long he was gone, but we know that when he returned, he was greeted with the sad news that one of his chaplains, Johannes Surma, had died while Lichtenberg was away. Since he had traveled near the time of Christmas (he mentions listening to

Christmas carols on the ship), he may have been returning in early 1937, as Pope

Pius XI was meeting with German bishops to discuss concerns arising from the persecution of Catholics in Germany.

At their August 1936 meeting in Fulda, the bishops had summarized the attacks on the Catholic Church. The harassment of the clergy in the second half of 1935 had grown into a larger issue regarding Catholic groups. The Reich was subjecting the Church to greater and greater restrictions on meetings of Catholic societies and Catholic youth, on the work of Catholic Sisters in hospitals and orphanages, on maintaining Catholic education, and on membership in almost any Church organization. The bishops' pastoral message repeatedly noted, "We cannot understand why" these restrictions have been placed on us when these activities have been "such blessings in the past."153 Given the Concordat and the apparent Catholic rights in the first few years of the Third Reich, it was a good question. Despite such serious complaints, the bishops encouraged German

Catholics to remain loyal to their institutions and to leave the protests to the bishops. The Catholic Church had concluded the Reich Concordat and

1s3 The Persecution of the Catholic Church, 21-22. 242

continued negotiations with the Nazi regime to maintain Catholic life in

Germany. The Concordat offered a legal foundation for the Church's position.

Violations against the Concordat were growing, and the Church leaders decided it was time to speak out forcefully against the persecution.

The German bishops and cardinals had been meeting in Fulda for several years under the Nazi regime and, although the messages remained of one voice, the discussions in the sessions involved more than one point of view. At times, the debates got so out hand that they lacked productivity.154 The opinions of

Bertram (one of the elder statesmen) and Preysing (ordained ten years beyond the standard age) often remained unmediated. A few times, Bertram had sent

"good wishes" greetings to Hitler on behalf of the entire assembly, an act that

Preysing believed insipid. In the early years, bishops Berning and Grober were more open to the Nazi state than their fellow bishops were, while Cardinal

Faulhaber was more moderate and doctrinal.

On November 4, 1936, Hitler met with Cardinal Faulhaber at Obersalzberg for three hours. Each time Faulhaber brought up a grievance against the regime,

Hitler brushed it aside and returned to talk of the struggle against communism and thus the need to keep the Church and State alliance strong.155 Hitler wanted

154 Antonia Leugers, Gegen eine Mauer bischofiichen Schweigens: Der Ausschuf3 far Ordensangelegenheiten und seine Widerstandskonzeption 1941bis1945, (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Josef Knecht, 1996), 87. See Leuger's work for in depth detail and statistics on the Germans bishops and the conferences.

155 Godman, Hitler and the Vatican, 124-125. 243

to meet the Church on a common issue and had not the Concordat been signed to take care of the Church/State relationship? At times, it seemed that the

German bishops would tread lightly. They did appreciate Hitler's stance on

Communism, but it was time to speak out for German Catholics. Since July 1936,

Secretary of State Pacelli had been receiving appeals from the German bishops for an encyclical. In November, Pope Pius XI announced to the Holy Office that

"he would do something."

"Do something!" Lichtenberg would have supported this imperative wholeheartedly. Had he not always been doing something to try to better a situation? Bernhard Lichtenberg had turned sixty at the end of 1935, and by the end of 1936, he had developed the most pertinent aspects of his life. A combination of influences and experiences - family values, an adult life spent in

Berlin, political role, and traveling abroad - gave way to an older priest who felt not only compelled, but also comfortable in directing his path in resistance to

National Socialist dogma and ideology. Lichtenberg had faced personal adversity; he had received greater responsibility within the Church; he realized that the Nazi regime was not abiding by the spirit of the Concordat; he had met with Nazi officials; he had written letters of protest to significant individuals - even the Fuhrer. Lichtenberg stood by the side of the bishops and the Vatican, but a turning point was coming for both Lichtenberg and the Catholic Church. CHAPTER SIX

A TURNING POINT FOR THE CHURCH

(1937-1939)

"Er liebte die Gerechtlichkeit und haBte das Unrecht" (He loved righteousness and hated what was unjust.) (Printed on Lichtenberg' s original grave marker in St. Hedwig's cemetery on LiesenstraBe)

In January 1937, Pope Pius XI met with members of the German Catholic hierarchy. The cardinals and bishops wanted the Pope to make a statement about the state's violation of the Concordat. For two months at the beginning of

1937, the Pope and his bishops discussed the upcoming encyclical. The distribution of the encyclical was to be a secret operation. The bishops knew that if the Nazis got hold of it, the bishops' efforts would have been for naught.

In March 1937, Pope Pius XI issued three encyclicals -

(March 14, On the Church and the German Reich), Divini Redemptoris (March 19,

On Atheistic Communism), and Nos Es Muy Conocida (March 28, On the

Religious Condition in Mexico).1 At that time, Germany was not his only concern. Nevertheless, Mit Brennender Sorge has received the most attention of

1 http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Piusll / index.htm 244 245

the three encyclicals - not because of what the Pope wrote, but what he failed to write.

Many believe the document, "still hailed as the most courageous attack by the papacy on Hitler and his followers," was a diplomatic compromise.2

Although Pius XI was taking this occasion to express concern for German

Catholics, he did not take the opportunity to make a broader statement against

Nazi persecution of the Jews. He did not use the word "Jew" once in the encyclical, but mentioned "race" or "races" six times. The closest he came to speaking about the Jews was in the sentences: "The peak of the revelation as reached in the Gospel of Christ is final and permanent. It knows no retouches by human hand; it admits no substitutes or arbitrary alternatives such as certain leaders pretend to draw from the so-called myth of race and blood." Peter

Godman takes umbrage with the tempered document noting, "It was 'confusing' or 'false' to describe 'blood and race' as a 'revelation' .... The Church, declared the encyclical, existed for all peoples and nations. Yet Mit Brennender Sorge never mentions the head of that Church's role as a guarantor of human rights - including those of races persecuted within the Third Reich."3 Does the Pope have the role of /1 guaranteer of human rights?" Pope Pius XI had the opportunity to speak out for the Jews, but persecution of the Jews had not been

2 Godman, Hitler and the Vatican, 146.

3 Ibid. 246

the impetus for the encyclical. Many look at the encyclical through the lens of genocide. There was no indication in 1937 that mass killing was just around the corner. The Pope is leader of the Catholic Church, and as such, Catholics are his immediate charges. Although many have found Mit Brennender Sorge a watered- down statement, some found Pius's statements too provocative.

On Palm Sunday, March 14, Pius XI issued Mit Brennender Sorge, "With

Ardent Concern," on the state of the Catholic Church and the German Reich.

Pius expressed his deep concern at Hitler1s "flouting" of the terms of the

Concordat, at his treatment of Catholics and his abuse of Christian values. While not mentioning Jews, it asserted the inviolability of basic human rights, made a specific appeal to youth, and ended with a call for constancy and loyalty.4

German priests read it from their pulpits on March 21:

It is with deep anxiety and growing surprise that we have long been following the painful trials of the Church and the increasing vexations, which afflict those who have remained loyal in heart and action in the midst of people that once received from St. Boniface the bright message and the Gospel of Christ and God's Kingdom.s

"The painful trials of the Church" to which Pius referred, included not merely the persecution of the Church by the Nazi regime, but also the concern for

German Catholics enticed by the Reich leadership - those "straying from the path of truth." Pius's greater concern was the practice of the Catholic Christian

4 Gill, An Honorable Defeat, 58.

5 See the Vatican website, www.vatican.va, for a copy of the encyclical, Mit brennender Sorge. 247

faith in Germany. Although he had defended the Concordat as the legal basis for the Church position, and though the "current situation" included violations against the Church/State agreement, the pope referred to the Concordat only four times in the document.

Pius first referred to the origins of the Concordat, noting that the Catholic

Church had "consented" to open negotiations for the Concordat "which the

Reich Government proposed." He made sure that his audience understood that the Nazi regime had been an integral part of the negotiations, that both sides had agreed on the provisions in the Concordat. The "solemn treaty" had allowed

Catholic life to continue in Germany, but as Pius indicated, "Even now that a campaign against the confessional schools, which are guaranteed by the concordat, and the destruction of free election, where Catholics have a right to their children's Catholic education, afford evidence, in a manner so essential to the life of the Church, of the extreme gravity of the situation and the anxiety of every Christian conscience." In addition, he noted that individuals had faced

"the tragic trial of seeing [their] loyalty to [their] country misunderstood, suspected, or even denied," because of their "affiliation with religious associations guaranteed by the concordat." Pope Pius XI realized that little could be accomplished by fighting the regime over concordat violations. He directed his focus instead on the German people - bishops, priests, and laypeople. 248

The encyclical's tone of caution, encouragement, and prayer seemed to mesh: "Take care, that above all, faith in God be preserved in Germany pure and unstained." "Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State .. .is far from the true faith in God." The Pope declared that German Catholics had a right to profess their faith, and maintained that faith should be active. "It is not enough to be a member of the Church of Christ, one needs to be a living member, in spirit and in truth." Mit Brennender Sorge was the means that Pius used to reach every German Catholic at one moment. His words spoken on March 21, 1937, told German Catholics that he understood the difficulties they faced and that they should hold firm in their faith.

The words were barely out of the mouths of parish priests when Nazi officials began to confiscate as many copies as they could, and retribution began.

In addition, the Nazi resumed the morality trials and brought charges against priests throughout Germany. Hitler responded to the encyclical in his May Day address noting that he expected obedience from every German:

We cannot tolerate that state authority, which is the authority of the German nation, be challenged from any quarter. This statement applies also to the Churches. As long as the Churches concern themselves with their religious affairs, the State is not involved. But when the Churches seek by means of proclamations, encyclicals and so on to claim rights, which pertain only to the State, we will force the Churches back into the channels of their spiritual/ ecclesiastical functions. The Churches should not criticize the morality of the State, especially when they have enough to do to maintain moral order in their own ranks. 6

6 Foster, Paul Schneider, 626. 249

Hitler tried to draw back the focus to the irresponsible Church. The Nazis could not arrest every Catholic priest in Germany for reading the encyclical, but they did arrest one priest in Berlin for" duplicating and distributing" it. In May, the

Gestapo arrested Father Bernhard Hack, vicar at St. Michael's Church. Several months later, due only to the petitioning of Bishop von Preysing, the Gestapo released Hack from prison.

In late February, General Vicar Steinmann had suffered a stroke and the bishop named Cathedral Pastor Lichtenberg to assume. the vicar's office on an interim assignment. With increased duties as short-term vicar, Lichtenberg had to discontinue the weekday 10 a.m. Mass.7 Naturally, Lichtenberg obeyed his superiors, but he did not enjoy being away from his pastoral duties. Whenever

Lichtenberg needed to relax, for instance, after a Gestapo interrogation or after a trying pastoral assignment, he would seek the solitude of the Sacrament Chapel at St. Hedwig's. During difficult times, it became his favorite retreat.8

Because the Papal encyclical was critical of the Nazi regime, the Gestapo was more vigilant in its surveillance of the clergy. In the summer of 1937, the Nazis arrested and imprisoned Father Rupert Meyer, a Jesuit priest in the archdiocese of Munich. Nazi officials had ordered him to stop preaching because his

7 DAB V /26 S. D. I., 240.

s Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 36. 250

sermons were so critical of state policy, but he disregarded their censorship.9

Not all clergy, however, were critical of the regime. In October, a former

Trappist Monk denounced Lichtenberg. Graf von Kagenck, a publishing agent, reported to the Gestapo a conversation he had with Lichtenberg.10 For reasons unknown, Bernhard Lichtenberg was not among six German clergymen who ended up in Dachau in 1937.

It seemed that Pope Pius XI purposely positioned Berlin as a battleground by naming von Preysing Bishop and then, in January 1938, naming Lichtenberg as Dompropst of St. Hedwig's. Von Preysing and Lichtenberg spoke out against the Nazi regime more often and on more topics than other clergymen in

Germany did. Perhaps the papal appointments of von Preysing and Lichtenberg to important clerical positions in the German capital was a clear indication that

Rome considered these two clerics to be the best defenders of the faith in the

"lion's den."

Bishop von Preysing of Berlin continued to keep the fragile State/ Church relationship in view of his parishioners. Speaking in a sermon in autumn 1937, he revealed,

The faithful shall hear from the lips of their bishop that the powers of darkness are at work to destroy the Kingdom of God on German soil. For the most part, you are able to perceive for yourselves the form, which this great struggle is taking, the fight between faith and infidelity, between

9 Gallin, German Resistance to Hitler, 221.

10 Klein, Berolinen, 2:110. 251

Christianity and anti-Christianity. But our opponents do not everywhere fight with the visor open. It is consequently my sacred duty to tell you what are the true issues of the battle and what are not.11

Von Preysing was reacting to the increased persecution of the Catholic clergy following the release of Mit Brennender Sorge. He spoke to the laity as if they already understood the harassment of the Church by the Nazi regime. By saying

"You are able to perceive for yourselves ... ," he drew in the laity as a Church ally in the battle, which he noted is "between faith and infidelity, between

Christianity and anti-Christianity." He was indirectly asking the congregation to choose a side - the faithful, Christian side of the battle. He not only spoke to the laity in his sermons about the situation but also wrote letters to his fellow priests.

As Kevin Spicer points out, "Preysing publicly made known that he recognized the seduction of Nazism and what the Nazi government was in the process of doing to religion: pushing it into the background and, he stated, not only

'washing religion from politics' but, worse, turning 'politics into a new religion - a replacement for religion."'12 Von Preysing pushed back against the Nazi agenda by keeping the "battle" in the forefront of people's minds. While

Catholic Church leaders in Germany prepared for battle, Austria's Church leaders prepared their congregation to receive the Nazi regime.

11 The Persecution of the Catholic Church, 25.

12 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 59. 252

With his domestic policies in order in March 1938, Hitler moved forward with the /1 AnschlufS" of his native land of Austria. Hitler's soldiers moved into the towns and villages to the acclaim of churchgoers, "because both Protestant and Catholic churches had issued pastoral letters calling on the faithful 'to thank

God in their prayers on Sunday for the bloodless course taken by the great upheaval and to pray for a happy future for Austria."13 Given the strength of the

Austrian Nazis and the pressure put on Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg by

Hitler, tension had filled the air. Austrian Catholic Church leaders would have seen what had taken place in Germany in the past five years, would have heard about the violations of the Reich Concordat by the Nazi regime. Similar to

German bishops, Austrian bishops varied in their opinion of the Nazi regime and its benefit to Austria.

The Nazis courted the Roman Catholic hierarchy, especially Theodore

Cardinal Innitzer, the primate of Austria. Innitzer was /1 an enthusiastic nationalist who welcomed the AnschlufS as the fulfillment of the age-old dream of German unity."14 He personally welcomed Hitler to Vienna and persuaded his bishops to issue a pastoral letter urging the faithful to vote for the Fuhrer in the plebiscite. Innitzer also authorized the draping of swastika banners from

13 Evan Burr Bukey, Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938-1945, (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2000), 29. For a discussion of the Catholic view of the AnschluB, see Chapter 5, "Austrian Catholicism, Antipathy and Accommodation.

14 Ibid., 35. 253

churches, wrote a preamble to his draft, and signed an accompanying letter with the words "Heil Hitler!"lS

"The AnschlufS took the Catholic establishment by surprise," maintains

Bukey. "The pace of events was so rapid that the higher clergy had little time to react except on a local basis."16 At first, there was no clear-cut policy or uniform reaction. Shortly before dawn on March 12, Nazi supporters shattered the windows of the archepiscopal palace in Salzburg, threw a cordon around the building, and placed Archbishop Sigismund Waitz under house arrest. Waitz and others had been open in their consternation of anticipated Nazi occupation.

In Graz, storm troopers broke into the residence of Bishop Ferdinand

Pawlikowski, marched him through jeering crowds to the municipal jail, and locked him up. Innitzer, like many Austrians, was swept up by the enthusiasm of the moment. Impressed by Seyss-Inquart's appointment of a cabinet of largely

Catholic nationals, the cardinal agreed that the ringing of bells should accompany Hitler's triumphal entry into Vienna. Innitzer also paid a courtesy call on the Fuhrer. In the course of a fifteen-minute conversation, the dictator evaded the issue of Catholic rights by suggesting that the Austrian episcopate might help him settle the Church struggle in Germany.17 Hitler captivated

15 Ibid., 35-36.

16 Ibid., 96.

17 Ibid., 97. 254

Innitzer and on March 18, the Cardinal, along with his bishops, submitted a declaration of support for the Nazi regime:

We the undersigned bishops of the Austrian Episcopal Diocese, prompted by inner conviction and with free will, declare that, in the light of the great historical events in German/ Austrian relationship, we joyfully recognize that the National Socialist Movement has accomplished marvelous deed for the German Reich and nation in the areas of national and economic development, as well as in the area of social politics. Marvelous deeds, especially for the poorest in the nation, have been forthcoming. We are convinced that National Socialism has also provided Europe a great bulwark against godless Bolshevism. The bishops promise their cooperation for the future and add their benediction. They also will admonish the faithful to follow their example. On the day of the plebiscite, it is, of course for us bishops a national duty as Germans to identify ourselves with the German Reich, and we expect that every Christian will be aware of the obligation, which he owes to his nation.ls

Cardinal Innitzer acted as if he had no knowledge of the persecution of the

Church in Germany or of Mit Brennender Sorge.

In April 1938, Pius XI summoned Innitzer to Rome, where he and Pacelli chastised the primate for his poor judgment and wishful thinking. Deeply depressed, the archbishop sheepishly signed a new manifesto on behalf of the

Austrian episcopate. The document (drafted by Pacelli) demanded retention of the Concordat of 1933, protection of Catholic schools, and an end to government attacks on the church.19 Violence, nevertheless, continued in Germany and

Austria. In October 1938, youthful demonstrators attacked Innitzer' s own palace, causing a great deal of damage and the injury of a curate.

1s Foster, Paul Schneider, 788.

19 Bukey, Hitler's Austria, 98. 255

Following the Bishop's meeting in Fulda20 in August 1938, Gestapo agents seized a copy of the Episcopate's August pastoral letter, a typewriter, and printing apparatus from the Berlin Chancery. A week later, the regime placed a final ban on the Catholic Church papers in the diocese of Berlin. The events touched Lichtenberg personally. In the classroom where he instructed converts, a crucifix had always hung on the wall in the corner. One day when he entered the room, he noticed it had been replaced with a picture of people, which was, in his words, "blasphemous!" He declared to his convert students, "I don't know if the Third Reich will exist for a thousand years, but I do know that Jesus Christ- yesterday and today, is the same throughout eternity."21 During one of his homilies, Lichtenberg pointed out to those who regarded the Jews negatively,

"And you will also sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and whosoever that does not , he will remain outside."22 Statements like this made Lichtenberg an obvious choice to lead an organized effort to aid non-

Aryan Catholics.

20 Between 1933 and 1939, ten plenary conferences took place in Fulda (with two sessions in each of the years 1933, 1936, and 1937). The bishops met only four times in the last six years of the Nazi regime. Leugers, Gegen eine Mauer bischoflichen Schweigens, 65.

21 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 76-77.

22 Ibid., 77. "On September 7, 1938, the pope reminded a group of Belgian pilgrims of the link between Christians and Jews: 'Through Christ and in Christ we are Abraham's descendents. No, it is not possible for Christians to take part in anti-Semitism. Spiritually, we are Semites ourselves." Marrus, "The Vatican on Racism and Antisemitism," 384. 256

Even though Lichtenberg had been in the hospital for four weeks in the summer, von Preysing asked Lichtenberg to lead the newly-founded "Hilfswerk beim Bischoflichen Ordinariat Berlin," (Relief Agency of the Berlin Chancery), a continuation of Caritas and its help for non-Aryan Catholics.23 The Hilfswerk was able to evade the state regulations that had hampered the

Association and Caritas and yet continue to aid those in need.24 Working for the relief agency added to Lichtenberg's already burdensome slate of tasks.25 The

Gestapo noticed anyone who helped those whom they considered Jews, converted or not. Von Preysing knew that Lichtenberg would put his heart and mind into the work. Lichtenberg unmindful of the consequences, helped both converted and non-converted Jews-through money and specific donations, through emigration help, through mediation for accommodations, through friendly consolation and assistance.26

As a young man, Heinz Amelung worked at the Bishops Ordinariat in Berlin in the 1930s and early 1940s and assisted Lichtenberg with secretarial tasks. In

23 For detailed information on the Hilfswerk (founded August 1938), see Jana Leichseming, Die katholische Kirche und 'ihre fuden. Das "Hilfswerk beim BischOflichen Ordinariat Berlin," 1938- 1945, (Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2007). Lutz-Eugen Reutter, Die Hilfstiitigkeit katholischer Organisationen und kirchlicher Stellen far die im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland Verfolgten, 2. Aufl., phil. Diss., Hamburg 1969.

24 Hiirten, Deutsche Katholiken, 439.

25 This had been Lichtenberg's first lengthy hospital stay. In the late 1930s, he began to experience problems with his heart. Following this rather serious crisis brought about by "the wearing deeds in his life," Lichtenberg stepped right back into his work. Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14.

26 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 13. 257

an interview, Amelung acknowledged that he held Lichtenberg "in high esteem because of his [Lichtenberg's] personal courage," but Amelung also offered three stories to support his negative view of Lichtenberg: Once, when, Amelung asked

Lichtenberg to repeat the quick spelling of a Polish name, Lichtenberg responded, "The stenographer perhaps cannot take shorthand." Another time, while Amelung was taking dictation from Lichtenberg, one of Lichtenberg' s former parishioners stopped in and asked to speak with Lichtenberg alone.

Lichtenberg responded, "The stenographer may remain here." Amelung noted that he stood up to leave to give them privacy, but Lichtenberg repeated himself.

Lichtenberg did not acquiesce even when Amelung asked to be excused to use the toilette. In Amelung's third story, Lichtenberg was standing in the hallway talking with a Jew who was asking for a pass (an affidavit for traveling to South

America). Lichtenberg told the Jew that he had no more affidavits. The Jew suggested he come back the next day and Lichtenberg told him in a loud voice, "I cannot help you." Amelung suggested that Lichtenberg could have been nicer in these circumstances.27 Because of these instances, Heinz Amelung did not like

Bernhard Lichtenberg. It took a lot of courage for Amelung to state this when so many others seemed to think quite highly of Lichtenberg. Nevertheless,

Amelung' s stories add no startling revelation about Lichtenberg' s character. The second situation could have had a simple explanation of which Amelung was

27 Klein, Berolinen, 3:195-197. 258

unaware. In the third situation, Lichtenberg perhaps let his frustrations at not being able to help the Jew get the better of him. In the first situation, it seems that Lichtenberg did not realize his hurtful taunting of Amelung.

Lichtenberg had help in the relief agency by the way of Margaret Sommer.

Konrad von Preysing, the "forward-looking Bishop of Berlin," had hired Sommer in 1935 to work for the diocese as a specialist in women's affairs - Katholische

Fiirsorgeverein far Frauen, Madchen und Kinder (KFV). 28 Lichtenberg, as spiritual advisor for the KFV, had advocated for Sommer's hire.29 Sommer had been a university lecturer, but the Nazi regime pressured her to leave that position. She began by helping non-Aryan families get visas, jobs, and financial support.

There were about 190,000 Jews in Berlin, of whom about 40,000 had converted to

Christianity. There is no evidence of direct communication between Lichtenberg and Sommer at that time in the mid-1930s. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, however, Lichtenberg wrote a few short postcards to Sommer. Michael Phayer notes that Lichtenberg "inspired" Margarete Sommer (and others) to join his cause.30 Following Kristallnacht,31 Lichtenberg and Sommer apparently

28 Michael Phayer, "Saving Jews was her Passion," Commonweal, vol. 122, issue 14, (August 18, 1995), 19. Jana Leichsenring, Die Katholische Kirche und "ihre Juden, 198.

29 Leichsenring, Die Katholische Kirche und "ihre Juden," 198.

30 Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 122. "The Catholic Resistance Circle and German Catholic Bishops during the Holocaust," Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 7, issue 2, (1993), 217. 259

developed "a close working relationship."32 From 1938 on, Sommer worked on behalf of German non-Aryans and Jews.

The regime began to deport foreign Jews living in Germany to their respective homelands in late 1938. Poland refused to receive some of the Polish

Jews, and they were left in limbo at the border of Germany and Poland. Berta

Grynszpan wrote to her brother Hershel in France to tell him of the poor conditions that she and their parents were experiencing. Out of anger and frustration, Hershel Grynszpan went to the office of a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, in the German Embassy in Paris, and shot him. On the evening of

Wednesday, November 9, vom Rath had died of his wounds. This became the occasion for a carefully orchestrated nationwide attack on Jewish synagogues and property - Kristallnacht.

In Berlin, along Unter den Linden, crowds shouted at Jews waiting in line for the travel documents. Jews lingered at travel offices everyday waiting to get the appropriate documents for emigration. Crowds forced one of these offices to

31 On November 9-10, 1938, the Nazis staged state sanctioned, anti-Jewish riots against the Jewish community of Germany. These came to be known as Kristallnacht (now commonly translated as "Night of Broken Glass"), a reference to the untold numbers of broken windows of synagogues, Jewish-owned stores, community centers, and homes plundered and destroyed during the . Encouraged by the Nazi regime, the rioters burned or destroyed 267 synagogues, vandalized or looted 7,500 Jewish businesses, and killed at least 91 Jewish people. They also damaged many Jewish cemeteries, hospitals, schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood aside. Kristallnacht was a turning point in history. http://www.ushmm.org/ museum/ exhibit/ focus I kristallnacht (accessed December 13, 2009)

32 Klein, Berolinen, 3:125. Elisabeth Kellermann noted the relationship between Lichtenberg and Sommer during an interview in 1968. Lichtenberg later wrote to Sommer from prison and she in turn was at his trial. The relationships between staff members in the Berlin diocesan office seemed to be very cordial and supportive. 260

close, while chanting: 'Down with the Jews! They are going to Paris to join the murderer!'33 An American newspaper reported that in the Friedrichstrasse in downtown Berlin, crowds pushed police aside in their hunt for plunder.34 An estimated 91 Jews were killed in Germany on November 9, and violence continued for several days in some places. News of some of the deaths were reported by diplomats and foreign correspondents. The Berlin correspondent of the Daily Telegraph wrote that the caretaker of the Prinzregentstrasse Synagogue

"is reported to have been burnt to death with his family." The correspondent had also learned on good authority that two Jews were lynched in Berlin's East and two more in the West End. News of further deaths were reported from other parts of the country.35 It is estimated that 30,000 Jewish males were arrested and sent to concentration camps, but most were released by January 1939.

Angela Lehmann, a member of Lichtenberg' s household staff, remembered the morning of November 10: "I can still remember the devastation after Reich

Kristallnacht. The Dompropst was already up early and told us about the destruction. It had upset him. My aunt and I went shopping later and witnessed for ourselves what had occurred. The windowpanes of the shops were broken

33 Martin Gilbert, Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, (London: Harper Collins, 2006), 27-28. (See Chapter 2 for a discussion about Berlin in particular.) For an oral history of the Berlin Jews during Kristallnacht, see Leonard Gross, The Last fews in Berlin, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982).

34 Gilbert, Kristallnacht, 33.

35 Ibid., 36-37. 261

and the displays ransacked. We walked around the shards of glass and the remains of threads and buttons. With tears in our eyes, we reported to the

Dompropst the madness. He said, 'Let us pray for the blinded."' Lichtenberg was speaking about the instigators who acted without seeing the transgression of their deeds.

On the evening of November 11, the Nazis organized mass demonstrations in Munich against both Jews and Catholics. The Nazi Gauleiter of Bavaria, Adolf

Wagner, warned a Munich audience: "Every utterance the Pope makes in Rome is an incitement of the Jews throughout the world to agitate against Germany."36

It was in Munich that the Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, had provided a truck for the community rabbi to rescue religious objects from the Ohel Yaakov Synagogue before it was pulled down on Kristallnacht.

A week after Kristallnacht, Lutheran Pastor J. von Jan preached to his congregation in Memmingen, whose synagogue had been burned down on

Kristallnacht: "Houses of worship, sacred to others, have been burned down with impunity-men who have loyally served our nation and conscientiously done their duty, have been thrown into concentration camps simply because they belong to a different race." Because of his sermon, a Nazi mob dragged von Jan out of his Bible class, brutally beat him, and then threw him onto the roof of a shed. The mob smashed the vicarage, just as, a week earlier, so many Jewish

36 Ibid. 262

houses had been smashed. As a punishment for his courageous stand, the Nazis imprisoned Pastor von Jan.37

Up until November 1938, Lichtenberg had confronted the Nazi regime in a manner that it was willing to tolerate from him - mainly through letters of protest. Lichtenberg' s position as the number two man in Berlin next to the bishop (since the beginning of the year, when the pope named him Dompropst of

St. Hedwig's cathedral), created a thorny situation for the Gestapo. Following

Kristallnacht, however, Lichtenberg entered a new phase of opposition, one that the Nazis would ultimately no longer tolerate -praying for the Jews. On

November 10, Lichtenberg voiced the phrase that would be part of his legacy:

"Outside, the synagogue is burning, and that too, is a house of God." From the night of November 10, 1938 until his arrest in October 1941, Lichtenberg prayed with his evening congregation, ''For captives in the concentration camps, especially imprisoned priests and ordained individuals, for non-believers, for persecuted non-Aryan Christians, and for the Jews." This was Bernhard

Lichtenberg's defining moment. This is the deed that distinguished Lichtenberg from other clergymen, even those who resisted the Nazi regime in another manner. Praying for the welfare of the Jews was not standard Catholic practice, but it was a Christian act. Lichtenberg had taken Christianity to the Jews.

37 Ibid., 158-159. 263

Erb tells the story of a woman, dismissed from her job as a nurse after fifteen years. A convert, whose grandfather was a Jew, she described how a fearless priest (Lichtenberg) saved her from despair and how she found security and a home in the Catholic Church. Without intending to become Catholic, she had gone to the cathedral in May 1938 and allowed the priest to give her conversion instruction: his simplicity, his truthfulness, his honest ways touched her. On the evening of November 10, she decided to go to his service, and she heard

Lichtenberg say, "What happened yesterday, we know. What will happen tomorrow, we do not know. But, we have experienced what has happened today. Outside, the synagogue is burning and that too is a house of God." When she heard him say this, she almost stopped breathing. She thought, "What courage!" especially when she saw the armed SA enter the church. Perhaps because of the horrific events of the day and night, many people filled the church. Then Lichtenberg prayed, "I know that I must die. I know not how, I know not when, I know not where. But one thing I do know-Jesus Christ yesterday, today, and in all eternity."38 This common prayer of Lichtenberg perhaps meant more to him that evening, as he knew the Gestapo would not receive well his perceptions of the day.

Bernhard Lichtenberg was one of only a few clerics who spoke out against the "night of broken glass." The Holy See and Church formulated no protest

38 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 75-76; Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 94. 264

against the" anti-Semitic" vandalism.39 A priest in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz compared those who smashed Jewish windows with the extreme Bolsheviks.

However, as Donald Dietrich notes, it was the disorder that the priest condemned, not the anti-Judaism.40 Most priests and Church officials remained silent, not wanting to bring any retribution against the Catholic Church. It was the Jews' problem, not the Church's problem. Bertram, like so many of his fellow

Catholics, thought that only Jews who had converted to Christianity were truly worthy of being saved. Since Bishop von Galen was on a trip in the church district of OberhausenSterkrade from November 9-14, he did not witness the

"pogrom" in Munster personally. He read about the destruction in the German

Reich in the newspaper while he was away.41 Heinz Mussinghof reports (from

Max Bierbaum' s Galen biography), "The bishop supposedly declared he was ready to go to the pulpit on the next Sunday, if from the Jewish side it would be explained in writing that they would not hold him responsible if the Nazis used his public appearance as an opportunity for even more assertive action against the Jews out of revenge. After careful consideration the Jews (supposedly) said it would be better if the bishop were not to comment on their situation publicly.

39 Thomas Brechenmacher, Der Vatikan und die Jud.en: Geschichte einer unheiligen Beziehung, (Miinchen, Verlag C.H. Beck, 2005), 198-199. Some authors have suggested that the Vatican protested against the excesses of Kristallnacht, but none have significant documentation.

40 Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 241.

41 Heinz Mussinghof, Rassenwahn in Munster, Der Judenpogrom 1938 und Bischof Clemens August Grafvon Galen, (Miinster: Verlag Regensberg, 1989), 85. 265

Therefore, Galen's public protest ceased." 42 This is similar to reports on why

Pope Pius XII made some of the choices he did. Pius thought that speaking out against the persecution of Polish priests (after World War II began) might make the situation in Poland worse.

As for von Galen, he often stated in his sermons that he was violently opposed to the racism of the Nazis, but he rarely addressed the topic of anti­

Semitism specifically.43 Although it is hard to imagine that von Galen actually believed that the Jews had some hand in the destruction of their own homes, businesses, and places of worship, he asked them to explain their side of the story. This seems to suggest that von Galen had considered true some of the

Nazi myths that Jews were an international force out to destroy all Germans everywhere.44

Popular attitudes towards the persecution of the Jews were inconsistent. In places where National Socialism was able to attach itself to deeply-rooted anti­

Semitic traditions, ethnically based anti-Semitism of the Nazis also found receptive audiences, though on a much lesser scale than might have been expected in the view of the central role played by hatred of the Jews in Nazi ideology. Peukert notes, "The mass of the population, however, was not induced to actively support the persecution of the Jews; nor, on the other hand, was it

42 Ibid., 87.

43 Griech-Polelle, Bischof von Galen, 53.

44 Ibid., 116. 266

moved to criticize it on grounds of principle or indeed to show solidarity with those who were being persecuted and defamed. Hence anti-Semitism was in no sense as some historians and journalists have supposed, an essential instrument in integrating and mobilizing the population in a National Socialist direction."45

Had there not been a "Jewish Problem," the Nazis would still have been able to unite Germans under a nationalistic spirit based on previous wars, a right to their place in the sun, and national superiority over eastern states.

David Bankier studied public opinion under Nazism and he found that the

Nazis observed a gap between the ideal and the reality of German society regarding anti-Semitic propaganda. Many in Germany were rather apathetic about the persecution of the Jews. He notes, "In surveys of the public mood in

Catholic regions, such as the Rhineland, with more liberal traditions, we find a flat rejection of the incitement. Large sections of the population were repelled by the Stiirmer methods and refused to comply with demands to take action against the Jews."46 Kristallnacht appeared to bring no significant change to public reactions regarding the Jews. An overwhelming majority approved of social segregation and economic destruction of the Jews, but not physical brutality.

In the months that followed Kristallnacht, the Church itself remained quiet.

In homilies and religious instruction, however, priests continued to assert that

4s Ibid., 58.

46 Bankier, The Gennans and the Final Solution, 71. 267

Jesus was a Jew. Occasionally, a priest would speak out on behalf of the Jews.47

With his prayers, Lichtenberg tried to make his own congregation aware that the

Jews were being persecuted. He thought that this was the manner in which he could help the situation. Regarding Lichtenberg and the Church leadership

(Vatican and German bishops), Feldmann questions whether or not it was merely actions that diverged or also ideology.48 Was it part of Christian values to speak out when anyone was being persecuted? Should the Church have spoken out on behalf of the Jews? It was no so much ideology, but interpretation of Catholic

Christianity. At times, the teaching of Jesus Christ could get lost in the teaching of Catholicism - and "love your neighbor" was not a black and white issue, but quite gray. This is what Lichtenberg tried to illuminate in his homilies - the Jews are our neighbors. Lichtenberg' s travels throughout the world had helped him to conclude that everyone was his neighbor. Lichtenberg saw human beings, and, as we see from his prison diaries, what attracted him mostly were God- fearing people.

Early in 1938, Pius had invited to Rome Father John Lafarge, an American

Jesuit traveling in Europe. Pius gave Lafarge a secret mission: "to write a condemnation of the racial policies of Nazi Germany." LaFarge's work developed into the encyclical, Unitas (The Unity of the Human

47 The Gestapo presented one Catholic priest in the district of Neustadt an der Aisch in Middle Franconia a summons in the summer of 1940 for allegedly saying in his sermon "the Jews should not be cast out since they too are human beings." Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 241.

48 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt 91. 268

Race). It has over one hundred topic paragraphs within a number of high level

themes. One of those topic paragraphs is titled "Condemnation of anti-

Semitism." Yet, in the paragraph, there is no condemnation. The author simply

writes that "persecutory methods are totally at variance with the true spirit of the

Catholic Church.... " 49 He later writes, [The Church's] concern is not with

political victories and triumphs, not with alignments of states and the devices of

politicians; hence she is in no wise concerned with the problems concerning the

Jewish people that lie within those purely profane spheres."50 It seemed that the

encyclical was to be merely a restatement of Church practice and belief. There

were no specific criticisms of the Nazi regime. With war on the horizon, perhaps

Pius XI felt pressured to emphasize again the Church's values and teachings

regarding everyday humanity, war, and the practice of a good Catholic life. The

finished encyclical was never made public.

Pope Pius XI had been weakening physically for well over a year and

collapsed with a heart attack on November 25, 1938. He died in February 1939, and in less than a month, his secretary of state, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, was elected the new Pontiff. The ultimately decided that a

diplomatic pope would be preferable at this time over a spiritual pope. Pacelli

had been known for his "cool and critical thinking" and as "a veritable prince of

49 Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI, Steven Rendall, trans., (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1997), 253.

so Ibid., 256. 269

diplomats."51 Peter Godman suggests that the new Pope followed the recent trait of the Vatican - "hold back" - but at the same time, he used "cleverness" in dealing with situations encountered.52 Those who praise (or at least do not vilify) Pope Pius XII, often point to what he did behind the scenes, out of sight from the Nazis. For some, there was an obvious feeling of change from Pius XI to Pius XII. Susan Zuccotti notes," After the election of Eugenio Pacelli as Pope

Pius XII on March 2, 1939, diatribes against the Jews disappeared from the pages of the L'Osservatore Romano. No longer were Catholics regularly reminded that the Jews had killed Jesus and consequently were condemned to live until their conversion, separately from Christians."53 Having strong ties to Germany from his time as Nuncio, Pope Pius XII did not need a grace period at the beginning of his pontificate.

Pope Pius XII set his own direction with the German government, as Pope

Leo XIII had done in the previous century. Pius XII expressed his desire for peace between Church and State. What strengthened and encouraged the

German bishops more than anything else was the attitude of the Pope. Pius XII,

51 David G. Dallin, The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII rescued fews from the Nazis, (Washington: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2005), 69.

52 Godman, Hitler and the Vatican, 162-163.

53 Susan Zuccotti, "L'Osservatore Romano and the Holocaust, 1939-1945," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17, no. 2 (2003): 250. "[Zuccotti's] study examines three types of articles that appeared in the Vatican newspaper between September 1939 and May 1945: those describing Nazi actions against the Jews, those reporting Pius XII's allusions to Jewish suffering, and those discussing racism." Ibid., 252. 270

nuncio to Bavaria from 1917to1925 and to Germany from 1920to1929, was a

Germanophile. He had long been known in Vatican circles as ii papa tedesco - the

German Pope. His admiration of the Germans survived the Third Reich un- altered. The new pope was in a very different situation than his predecessor.

Where Pius XI had focused on continuing negotiations, as well as accommodation and resistance to the Nazi regime in its years of consolidating power, Pius XII was dealing with the full-grown beast. War was on the horizon,

German and Austrian Catholics continued to experience persecution by the Nazi regime, and each new move by Hitler required a response by the Vatican that anticipated the next move.

As German troops marched into in March 1939, Berlin

Nuncio Orsenigo wrote to Cardinal Maglione at the Vatican: "The reaction of the

Berlin population is varied. The Catholic people are silent; outwardly they are in unison with the rest of the population but feel the moral guilt for the aggressive practices and violation of treaties by their own Government. The Protestants seem less sensitive in general to moral considerations and to approve more readily of political success: let us hope that their pastors at least are less superficial."54 German Catholics, especially in the region of Bavaria, were more inclined to speak out against something personal. Doris Bergen notes,

54 Orsenigo to Maglione, March 18, 1939. Gerard Noel, ed., The Holy See and the War in Europe, March 1939-August 1940: Records and Documents of the Holy See Relating to the Second World War (Dublin: Clonmore and Reynolds, 1968), 95. 271

"Catholics, for example, protested the removal of crucifixes from Bavarian

schools. In one village, when a local priest was arrested for criticizing removal of

the crucifixes, fifty women challenged the mayor. Unless their priest was

released, they threatened, they would stop working and turn in their Mother's

Crosses."55 At the same time, the Gestapo continued to press on St. Hedwig's,

seizing the files of the Catholic Young Men's Association. They also confiscated from the rectory a film of the 34th International Eucharistic Congress (1938 in

Budapest).

Through the spring, Lichtenberg, Margarete Sommer, and others continued

their work on behalf of non-Aryan Catholics and Jews. The Relief Agency had its

offices on the property of the Herz-Jesu community on Schonhauser Allee 182,

not far from the Berlin "barn quarter." Most of these requests probably came after Kristallnacht, a highpoint of violence against the Jews. Lichtenberg did

what he could to protect those who sought his help - with travel affidavits, food, clothing, and letters or recommendation. Because the Catholic Church often

referred to baptized Jews, some have asked if the Agency had helped only converted Jews. Jana Leichsenring included detailed statistics in her book about

the Relief Agency. She notes that during its existence, at least 2,470 people were referred to the "Hilfswerk." One can break this number down into religion

55 Doris Bergen, "Catholics, Protestants, and Christian Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany," Central European History 3 (1994): 346. 272

(Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, atheist, ... ) and Nazi classification (non-Aryan, full

Jew, grades of mixed Jews ... ). Of the 2,470 known individuals, 1, 327 were

Catholic, 211 were Jewish, and 71 Protestant, with 821 "unknown" and 40 in other categories. The cross section by Nazi classification lists 310 non-Aryans,

829 full Jews, 366 Aryans, and 466 "unknown," with remaining as some grade of mixed "races."56 Ultimately, from these statistics, only about 54 per cent were known to be Catholic. It is not unusual that the organization maintained this type of data, and it may have helped in keeping these types of classifications while working under a Nazi regime. If the Nazis questioned what type of people the Agency aided, staff could show that it was not hiding anything or it could be selective (with valid information) in what it showed investigators.

In the summer of 1939, Bernhard Lichtenberg lay in St. Joseph's Hospital II in Berlin, unable to work on behalf of the Agency.57 Following four weeks of hospitalization in 1938, Lichtenberg had stepped right back into his work. Now, a year later, he suffered a complete physical breakdown, caused by a bad kidney infection. Consequently, he asked his bishop to be relieved of all his duties so that he could go to a monastery and prepare for death. Bishop von Preysing refused the request because he was of the opinion that he could not do without

56 Leichsenring, Die Katholische Kirche und "ihre Juden," 299. Leichsenring also offers some statistics by occupation.

57 St. Joseph's Hospital admitted Lichtenberg on July 18, and he remained there until September 13. On the same day Lichtenberg entered the hospital, Pastor Paul Schneider died at Buchenwald, the first martyr of the . 273

Lichtenberg' s work. Instead, von Preysing assigned a second chaplain to St.

Hedwig's to offer some relief. While resting in a hospital bed, Lichtenberg learned of Germany's blitzkrieg attack on Poland. War, especially against a country filled with Catholic brethren, probably added to the stress Lichtenberg felt. A doctor's report in 1941 characterized Lichtenberg's health:" As the result of a weakened heart muscle, coronary sclerosis, and frequent Herzkrampfanfalle

(severe heart palpitations), the patient must be careful with 'every agitation and overexertion and poor diet."'58 If von Preysing chose to keep Lichtenberg active in Berlin, the St. Hedwig's Dompropst decided that he would continue as before in word and deed.

After Lichtenberg left the hospital in September, he spent six weeks in Bad

Worishofen undergoing a Kneipp59 cure. From there he went to the seaside health resort of Heringsdorf for three weeks of relaxation. Lichtenberg never spoke about his problems. Before his health breakdown in 1939, the housekeeper

58 Klein, Seliger Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14.

59 The Kneipp cure was a form of hydrotherapy that Lichtenberg not only used but also highly recommended. Lichtenberg wrote in his prison diaries: "Fridolin would like to recommend to all in general the arm bath, that means, if you have heart palpitations, can't lie down, have to raise up repeatedly, put your arms up to the shoulders, for 30 seconds, 1 minute, into cold water and then swing them back and forth for one minute. And, then wait for the successful results! After some time, repeat it, if you wish. Have yourself an oval arm bath tub made of tin, so that you can comfortably put your folded arms into it. If you are suffering from heart cramps, angina, do the same exercise with 40 to 41 degree hot water - and you will not be able to thank God enough for the relief, for the invigorating sleep. - "Yes, but I don't suffer from angina, I suffer from something else." - Buy the book: The Kneipp Cure, the Cure of Success by Dr. Schalle. It will benefit you and many others, in the morning you will be able to say even more cheerfully than usual: "Deus, Deus meus ad Te de luce vigilo." People in the twenty-first century are still using the "Kneipp Cure." 274

often found blood and pus in the bed linens. Because of pain in his legs,

Lichtenberg took off his shoes when he was preaching from the pulpit, and no one knew.60 In the morning before his July collapse, it took all his strength in order to receive a very sick convert into the church. Without regard for his own health, Lichtenberg was always ready to serve.61 While he was in the hospital,

Lichtenberg had said, "Ah, I cannot celebrate Holy Mass, I cannot pray my breviary, I cannot pray the rosary, I cannot achieve one 'Our Father,' I can only sigh, Ah, loving God."62 Today we understand more about how stress can aggravate physical afflictions. Persecution of the Church had continued and increased and Lichtenberg was in a role of playing offense and defense. War, the continued persecution of the Church and of the Jews, age, and ill health took their toll on the 63-year old Dompropst. Even in weakened condition,

Lichtenberg ultimately returned to the pulpit and dared to continue to pray for the Jews.

60 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 49.

61 Ibid., 50.

62 Ibid., 64. CHAPTER SEVEN

THE NAZI REGIME RAISES THE STAKES

(1939-1941)

When we priests remain silent, the people will be confused and know not what to do. Preach the word, hold to it, whether favorable or not. - Bernhard Lichtenberg

The German bishops said nothing when World War II began and actually rejoiced in Germany's early victories with the ringing of church bells. Catholic bishops told the faithful to fight bravely for Germany and to pray for a just peace, which they did not define.1 Bishop Conrad Grober, preached to a packed congregation in the Fulda cathedral: "When the Fatherland is in danger Catholics can be counted on not to waver in their patriotism. Among the bishops there has not been a single one ... who entertained thoughts that opposed the best interests of our beloved people and Fatherland. We will remain faithful to the Fatherland to the last drop of blood."2 Catholic priests below the designated age and exempted from combat by the terms of the 1933 concordat, served in the medical

1 Michael Phayer, "Questions about Catholic Resistance," Church History, vol. 70, issue 2, (June 2001), 330-331.

2 Ibid., 331. 275 276

corps or as military chaplains. Chaplains were role models for the soldiers around them and "paragons of Christian manliness."3

War was an opportunity for German Catholics to show their patriotism as they had done in the First World War. Catholic loyalty to the fatherland could perhaps redirect some of the Nazi persecution aimed at the Church. When the

Nazi regime wanted the return of the Saar, it strongly curtailed the attacks against the Church. When the government needed its Catholic citizens, life generally got better for the Church. Maybe during wartime, Germans of all backgrounds could come together.

When the first soldiers were wounded or died at the front, Lichtenberg prayed for the soldiers "on both sides," even for the victims of the bombings as for imprisoned priests and all the people in the concentration camps.4 Pope Pius

XII shared Lichtenberg's sentiment "without distinction among people" in his first Christmas message during wartime. Instead of serving people in truth and love, Pius noted, "We are forced to behold in sorrow and anguish the spiritual ruins which are mounting up owing to a mass of ideas which cloud and distort truth ...."s He tried to offer hope in his message -- that the world would eventually tire of war, and peace would again reign in a world united by justice

3 Doris Bergen, "German Military Chaplains in World War II and the Dilemmas of Legitimacy," Church History 70, no. 2 (June 2001): 239.

4 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 17.

s Noel, The Holy See and the War in Europe, 331. 277

and love. His sermon was a message of peace. In addition, Pius appeared to point a finger at Germany (the aggressor nation) as he declared that all people should be inspired by courage to oppose "the dark instinct of base vengeance."6

As supreme shepherd over the world's Catholics, the Pope had to preserve political and national neutrality in his language. Yet, as a "prince of peace," he could make subtle gestures of opposition toward the antagonists. On October 20,

1939, in his first encyclical, (On the Unity of Human Society),

Pius XII addressed his concerns:

The hour in which this encyclical reaches you is in many respects an Hour of Darkness in which the spirit of violence and discord brings indescribable suffering to mankind. Do we need to give assurance that Our paternal heart is close to all Our children in compassionate love, and especially for the afflicted, the oppressed and the persecuted? The blood of countless human beings, even noncombatants, raises a piteous dirge over a nation such as Our dear Poland ... 7

The Pope showed by his words that he did not support Germany's move for lebensraum. Speaking in general terms, though, as a man of peace, would not draw the wrath of the Nazis. The world expected the Pope to speak for peace and to console those suffering from war, and the Nazis could accept minimal intervention.

In addition to the military war against enemies, the Nazis continued their war against the Jews. By 1940, disenfranchisement, dehumanization, and

6 Ibid., 334.

7 Foster, Mary's Knight, 571. 278

expropriation, had given way to concentration. Given the geographical location, the Jews of Pomerania (northeast Germany) were the first deported-to Lublin in

February 1940. Orsenigo sent his first dispatch dealing specifically with the Jews to the Vatican: "A system of forced transport of less acceptable persons from one region to another, imposed without regard to their age or to the difficulties of such a journey in the most inclement weather, or to the right to safeguard of their own household goods, already practiced in the Polish regions, has now also been extended to the regions of old Germany, from where the Jews (men, women, the aged, children) are forced to depart in special trains to ship them to far-off Polish territory and the environs of Lublin."s In the same month, the young pastor of

Stettin-Podejuch, Albert Willimsky, died in Sachsenhausen, and the Gestapo announced intensified repression against bishops and the general clergy.9 Many

Polish priests had already been murdered, and Hitler planned to take Western

Europe in the spring. The regime could come down hard on the Church without expecting a voice of disapproval.

Following Germany's attacks on and occupation of Denmark, , the

Netherlands, and , Pope Pius XII wrote to the sovereigns of those nations assuring them of his continued prayers for their nations and for peace. To Queen

s John F. Morley, Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews During the Holocaust, 1939-1943 (New York: KTAV, 1980), 109.

9 The Gestapo summoned the General Vicar of the Bishop of Berlin, Dr. Prange, to receive the order. Klein, Berolinen, 1:11. 279

Wilhelmina of the he wrote, "We implore God, the supreme arbiter

of the destiny of nations, to hasten by His all powerful assistance to the re-

establishment of justice and liberty."10 Pius spoke out for peace and freedom,

but what could he do in a practical manner to stop Hitler from using the people

of the defeated nations as forced labor.

Steps for mobilizing Jewish labor began in spring 1940. By May in Berlin,

Jewish men between eighteen and fifty-five and Jewish women between eighteen

and fifty had to register with the Jewish communities division in charge of forced

labor. By the summer of 1940, there were still 72,327 Jewish residents in Berlin,

of whom 25,000 women and 16,000 men between the ages of eighteen and sixty were fit for forced labor. In early 1941, about 20% of the remaining Jewish

community of Germany worked in forced labor, many in arrnaments.11 One

Catholic priest in the district of Neustadt an der Aisch in Middle Franconia was

presented a summons in the summer of 1940 for allegedly saying in his sermon

that quote "the Jews should not be cast out since they too are human beings."12

Beyond his protest letters, praying for the Jews, and religious duties as

Dompropst of St. Hedwig's, Lichtenberg also had personal issues to deal with

now and again. On June 11, 1940, one of his nieces, who had spent considerable

10 Noel, The Holy See and the War in Europe, 413.

11 Marion A. Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Gennany, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 173-174.

12 Dietrich, Catholic Citizens, 241. 280

time in his parish house, told him that she was leaving the Catholic Church. Her

future husband was Protestant, she subscribed to his beliefs, and over time, she

had moved away from her own Catholic faith. She did not want to live in a

mixed marriage and on September 19, 1940, she was married in a Protestant

Church. Lichtenberg viewed her marriage as invalid. Until his death, according

to her request, he prayed for her to return to the Church, and he hoped in

eternity to continue this practice. After several years, his niece returned to the

Catholic Church.13

Every evening, Lichtenberg continued to pray for the many groups

persecuted by the Nazi regime. St. Hedwig's, however, was not under

Lichtenberg' s complete control. Nazi officials had requested a celebrative service

there for the Italian Air Marshall Balbo. On July 6, 1940, Nuncio Orsenigo,

assisted by several priests, celebrated the service attended by Dr. Otto MeifSner,

State Minister in the presidential chancery of the Fuhrer and Chancellor, Goring

in his pilot's uniform with medals, General Milch, Reich Justice Minister Gurtner,

several high Nazi officials, and Police President Graf Helldorf. The musical

procession of the air force battalion complemented the choir in the Cathedral.14

A man of peace, Lichtenberg probably did not support the use of the cathedral for this festivity.

13 Kock, Er Widerstand, 82-83.

14 Grobbel, 14. 281

The bishops met in Fulda in August 1940 as a matter of course, but with

Germany in the midst of war and no easing of Church persecution, there was

little to discuss (openly). It was obvious that the Gestapo was arresting more

priests, but protest yielded nothing. Germany was at war and anything said against the state in any way was cause for arrest.15 In November 1940, the

Gestapo imprisoned pastors Bernhard Hering (Petershagen) and Alois

Dobczynski (Barth). In February 1941, Pastor Albert Coppenrath was expelled from Berlin.

The Battle of Britain had brought air raid attacks to the cities, and the Jews

became an unintended target. Lichtenberg protested the attempt to segregate air

raid shelters. Christian Feldmann pointed out the purpose of the segregation,

noting the proposed rule "left the liquidation of the unloved Jewish citizens to

the care of the enemy bomb squadrons."16

Lichtenberg' s positions as Dompropst and head of the Hilfswerk, along with

writing letters of protest regarding Nazi practice, and his own poor health,

should have kept him quite busy. Nevertheless, when Lichtenberg read the

contents of a lecture given by theologian Karl Adam, he could not hold back his

rage. Adam had intended his (December 1939) lecture for a specific audience,

15 In1942, they sent Pastor Paul Adamus and Brother Hermann Maria MSJ to Dachau. See E. Weiler, ed., Die Geistlichen in Dachau, sawie in anderen Konzentrationslagern und in Gefiingnissen (Modling: Missionsdruckerei St. ) for a comprehensive list of clergy imprisoned at Dachau.

16 Feldmann, Wer Glaubt, 101. 282

but copies of the lectures began to circulate throughout Germany. Since 1933,

Adam had worked on trying to show compatibility between Christianity and

National Socialism. Since Lichtenberg had a very strong opposing view to

Adam's and as the Dompropst realized that some intellectuals had approved of the lecture's content, he penned a very long letter to Adam (November 4, 1940), noting point by point where he believed Adam posited an inaccurate picture.

Lichtenberg quoted Mein Kampf to show why the two practices were incompatible. Where Adam tried to portray German Catholicism as "unfruitful,"

Lichtenberg noted the stable perpetuity in Catholicism. Lichtenberg pointed out where the Nazi Weltanschauung suppressed Christianity. Within a few weeks,

Adam responded to Lichtenberg's letter, suggesting that Lichtenberg misunderstood some of the theologian's points. Lichtenberg conceded this as he wrote a final letter to Adam at the end of November. Nevertheless, they would never come to perceive the same situation in the same light. The exchange between Adam and Lichtenberg is exemplified best in the words of Father Kevin

Spicer, who has written about the Adam/Lichtenberg letters:

What Lichtenberg might have lacked in theological sophistication, he made up for in the genuineness of his response to Adam's lecture and in his desire not only to protect the Catholic Church but also to point out the impossibility of creating a bridge between national Socialist weltanschauung and Catholic Church teaching.17

17 Spicer, Resisting the Third Reich, 177-178. See also Kevin Spicer, C.S.C., "Last Years of a Resister in the Diocese of Berlin: Bernhard Lichtenberg' s Conflict with Karl Adam and his Fateful Imprisonment," The America Society of Church Histon120:2 (June 2001). 283

Lichtenberg saw how the Nazi worldview and Nazi practice hurt the Church, and often, there was little he could do to stop them.

Beginning in May and through the summer of 1941, the Gestapo began seizing Church properties in Berlin, including Christ the King houses, one of the

Priest hospices in the Petersburger StralSe, and buildings of the curate of St.

Clemens.18 Lichtenberg offered his apartment to the leader of the seminary and director of Christ the King House when their places were confiscated, and he offered the same to two men from a religious order.19 After the Gestapo seized

St. Clemens, Lichtenberg sent a letter of protest to Himmler. Lichtenberg took the issue to his congregation when the Gestapo confiscated St. Peter's seminary in Berlin-Grunau. A report from December 1945 describes his reaction.

"It was a late Sunday morning in St. Hedwig's Cathedral in 1941. The church was filled with people. The Dompropst climbed into the pulpit, highly agitated, and said with a far-reaching voice and distinctive tone: 'I announced that this week the Gestapo has closed the seminary. I have asked the men to produce the reason for this. No one could give me a reason.' Then he left the pulpit, sat down in the choir, found the console of the organ and began to play the song 'You, My Guardian Spirit.'"20

For attacks against the church, for intervention in Church law and God's

Law, Lichtenberg protested not only from the pulpit, but also in writing.

Agitated, he would pace through three rooms back and forth while dictating the letters. A parish sister remarked one time, "Herr Dompropst, don't you want to

is For a list of confiscated property, see Kent, "Pope Pius XII and Germany," 67-68.

19 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 75.

20 Ibid., 74. 284

express yourself in a milder manner? I believe you will achieve nothing and could end up in prison." Lichtenberg answered her, "Then I'll just simply go to prison. When we priests remain silent, the people will be confused and know not what to do. Preach the word, hold to it, whether favorable or not."21

As Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, violating the ten-year non-aggression pact, the bishops met in Fulda. Even at this late date, they continued to look at violations of the Reich Concordat. The three-day meeting was plagued with several problems. At no previous meeting had there been such a high absentee rate. The average age of the bishops was now 73 years

(Cardinal Bertram was 82), and they had dealt with a lot in the previous decade.

Antonia Leugers points out, "The conference stood under the pressure of escalating war coupled with the expected demands of a "party truce" and the hindering of a 'stab in the back.'"22 In addition, it was frustrating for the Church in that she had no concordat rights in conquered territories, such as Poland. In

Germany, the Nazi regime forbade priests to instruct Polish children, and it ordered them not to administer in any way to Poles. A number of German priests ended up in Dachau for "Polenseelensorge," pastoral ministry to Poles.

It was in the summer of 1941, that another (prosecutable) Catholic issue came to the forefront - the Nazi euthanasia policy. Although some had

21 Ibid., 74-75.

22 Leugers, Gegen eine Mauer bischiiflichen Schweigens, 174. 285

questioned the Nazis on this issue in previous years, it was the August 3 protest sermon of Clemens August Graf von Galen in Munster that brought the issue to the forefront. In late July, von Galen had heard about the "euthanasia" of mentally ill patients. Beth Griech-Polelle maintains, "This sermon turned out to be the most important and the most outspoken one delivered by a member of the

Catholic hierarchy during the Nazi era."23 Euthanasia was a moral issue that concerned the Church and it needed a leader to bring it to the fore - especially one high enough in the hierarchy to be untouchable.

Clemens August Graf von Galen was von Preysing' s cousin and Bishop of

Munster.24 Though he had once pledged his loyalty to Hitler, he too had worked on the 1937 papal encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge. Von Galen objected to unquestioning obedience to the Reich and he spoke out against Hitler's theory of the "purity" of German blood.25 But it took the discovery of Nazi atrocities on his doorstep-in his own diocese-to spur him into his most famous action, earning him his nickname of "the Lion of Munster."26 On August 3, in St.

Lambert's Church in Munster, von Galen began his sermon noting the eviction of

23 Griech-Polelle, Bishop von Galen, 83.

24 In one among the constant flow of letters to his wife, dated 6September1941, von Moltke wrote, I asked him [von Preysing] about Galen. He assured me that Galen was a perfectly average type with little spiritual depth, who had therefore only very recently perceived how things were going and hence had always been prepared to compromise. So it is all the more impressive that the Holy Ghost has now filled and enlightened him.

25 Gill, An Honorable Defeat, 59.

26 Ibid., 60. 286

nuns and priests as he had in previous summer sermons. He then went on to tell the congregation that he had come to learn that "unproductive members of the national community" were being killed - some of them just outside Munster.

Like the Bishop of Passau, von Galen noted that these killings were "murder" by the law code of the state. He asked the people to consider whether unproductive individuals have lost the right to live. He drew his congregants into his own deep concern. To give them guidance, he reviewed the Ten Commandments one by one, beginning with "Thou shalt not kill."

Von Galen's euthanasia sermon was repeated in diocesan churches in the form of a pastoral message, and some Nazi leaders thought he should be arrested and sent to a concentration camp. To arrest a bishop, however, might cause an unwanted confrontation with Rome.27 Hitler had said, "I'm quite sure that a man like the Bishop von Galen knows that after the war I shall extract retribution down to the last farthing. And that if he does not succeed in the meanwhile in getting himself transferred to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, he may rest assured that in the balancing of our accounts no 't' will remain uncrossed no 'i' left undotted."28 Even though the RAF dropped copies of his sermon over

27 On August 11, 1940, on behalf of Catholic bishops, Cardinal Bertram had sent a letter of protest against euthanasia to the Reich Chancellery. Von Galen's pulpit sermons against euthanasia came a year later.27 Helmreich notes, "The Nazis were not anxious to make martyrs out of the hierarchy and were circumspect about imprisoning bishops or other higher clergy, especially in Germany proper. During the war, Bishop Dr. Michal Kozal of Poland, Bishop Gabriel Piquet of France, and Bishop Dr. Johannes Neuhausler of Munich were sent to Dachau, but they were the only bishops who were ever consigned to concentration camps."27 287

Germany, nothing was done to von Galen. Others, however, who disseminated or discussed his sermon, lost their jobs, were sent to concentration camps, or were executed.29 Von Galen's popularity in Westphalia, and the impact his arrest might have had on the public morale and on Catholic soldiers, forced the Nazi regime to forego arresting the beloved bishop.

To support its policy of euthanasia, the Nazi regime produced a film in 1941:

Ich klage an ("I Accuse"). In the film, a woman, not wanting to live with a debilitating disease, convii:i.ces her husband and a doctor to help her die. The inherent argument of the film was that individuals in an incapacitating physical condition or with severe mental problems would not want to continue to live under those circumstances. It was a merciful act to help them to die. Reactions to the film varied. The "broad masses" seemed to agree with the film's arguments, whereas intellectuals and doctors were said to be hostile toward the film.30 The Catholic Church viewed euthanasia as a violation of the Fifth

Commandment. Bishop Simon Konrad Landersdorfer of Passau noted the connection between the film and Nazi efforts to implement its euthanasia policy in a pastoral letter. In addition to noting Christian moral teaching, Bishop

Konrad pointed out that killing the incurably sick was murder in terms of

28 Michael Burleigh, Death and Deliverance: 'Euthanasia' in Germany, 1900-1945, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 178.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid., 217. 288

paragraph 211 of the Criminal Code, and consensual killing was an offense under paragraph 216.31 Sometimes one can question what Christian practice entails. When it deals with one of the Ten Commandments, however, there is little argument. The euthanasia policy was a simple issue for the Catholic clergy.

Euthanasia was wrong. The German bishops made it clear to the German people what constituted murder from a Catholic perspective. Other un-Christian acts by the Nazi regime may have been difficult to decipher by many religious leaders, but euthanasia was not.

Lichtenberg personally thanked von Galen for his courage regarding the euthanasia policy, and he secretly transcribed von Galen's sermons and distributed them.32 Lichtenberg also penned a letter to Reich-Arztefilhrer

(Reich's chief physician) Dr. against euthanasia. Lichtenberg opened his letter to Conti referring to von Galen's August 3 sermon. Lichtenberg continued by noting German law:

If also the ten commandments of God are publicly ignored, then the RStGB still has power as law. #211 of the RStGB states: Whoever deliberately kills a person, will be punished with death if he has carried out the murder with thought. #139 states: Whoever retains credible knowledge about the intention of a crime against life( ... ) and refrains from (omits) filing a report

31 Ibid., 218.

32 E-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, September 11, 2009. For copies of von Galen's sermons, see Beth Griech-Polelle, Bishop von Galen and "Image of a Church-Resister: Bishop von Galen, the Euthanasia Project and the Sermons of Summer 1941," Journal of Contemporary History 36, no. 1, (2000). See also, Bischof Graf van Galen Spricht! Ein apostolischer Kampf und sein Widerhall, (Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1946). 289

to the authorities or to the threatened person in a timely manner will be pums. h e d ....33

Lichtenberg concluded his letter:

Also on my priestly soul, there lies the burden of having been an accessory to the crime against the moral law and the state law. Even though I am but one person, I demand from you, as man, as Christian, as priest and as German, an explanation for the crimes that occur at your command and with your approval and which provoke revenge that has the power of life and death over the German people.34

Von Galen's sermons dated July 13, July 20, and August 3. Lichtenberg did not write to Conti until August 26. Perhaps Lichtenberg felt that von Galen had high visibility and it would not be necessary for Lichtenberg to echo the bishop.

Maybe he did not want to steal the bishop's thunder, so to speak. When

Lichtenberg finally protested, he chose not the milieu of the pulpit, but a letter to the Reich's chief physician. He chose someone that he thought could actually do something about the matter. Around the same time, Lichtenberg had also outlined a protest letter he planned to send to the Reich Minister for Church

Affairs, Kerri, against the Nazi church policies. For reasons that we do not know,

Lichtenberg never sent a letter to Kerri. He also never received a response from

Conti.

33 Klein, Berolinen, 2:150. August 26, 1941

34 Klein, Berolinen, 2:151. The day before Lichtenberg wrote to Conti, SS Reichsftihrer Heinrich Himmler introduced a confidential decree to lead "all the inflammatory preachers" and state enemy elements to a concentration camp for a long time. 290

By August 1941, the Nazis had achieved their goal of eliminating close to

70,000 "useless eaters." Given the number and frequency of protests against the euthanasia program, Hitler ordered an end to the gassing of patients in psychiatric hospitals. The issue regarding how much influence Catholic Church protests influenced Hitler's decision is debatable. Robert Proctor notes, "Protests

(especially from the Catholic Church) had become sufficiently frequent to cause a certain amount of concern among those administering the operation."35 Henry

Friedlander maintains, "Hitler was probably pushed to issue his so-called stop order primarily by widespread public knowledge about the killings and far less by church opposition."36 With public knowledge and Church protest regarding euthanasia, the regime backed off its practices. It could bide its time on a governmental euthanasia policy. It did not matter. Killing continued. No longer was this a gassing operation directed by the regime, but hospitals continued the practice of euthanasia on their own using simpler methods of injections, poisonings, and starvation.

Three days after Lichtenberg wrote his "euthanasia letter" to Conti, two female students were in the Berlin Cathedral when Lichtenberg offered his evening prayers. The two girls told a friend about Lichtenberg' s prayers for the

Jews, and the friend's father reported it to the Gestapo. In late September and

35 Robert N. Proctor, Racial Hygiene: Medicine under Nazis, (London: Harvard University Press, 1988), 192. See also Burleigh, Death and Deliverance.

36 Friedlander, The Origins of Nazi Genocide, 111 291

early October, the two girls gave their statements to the Gestapo. The girls' statements were almost identical:

On Friday 8.29 1941 I wanted to go with my Friend Ilse Herbell, Berlin NW 87 Altonaerstrasse 17. (Tel. 39 17 43) to the Theater at , to see if I possibly could find some work there. Since we had time in the evening, we walked down to the street "Unter den Linden" and talked about architecture etc. We came to the church "St. Hedwig's" and its architecture really impressed us. We decided to look at the interior also. It could have been about 7:45 PM as we entered the church. There was a well-attended in progress. Since my friend and I are Lutheran, we did not pay too much attention at first, but looked at the surroundings. I have to say here that I did not understand the Latin phrases the pastor used since this was the first time I took part in a Catholic Church service here in Berlin. I repeatedly took part in Catholic services in the Rhineland, but here at St. Hedwig's it was new to me. We became interested as the pastor said a prayer in German. The beginning of his prayer I did not hear, but I can remember the following remarks: " .. Jet us pray for the Jews and the poor incarcerated in the Concentration camps." I was so shocked about that prayer, that I do not remember in what context "Bolshevik" was used. I can however state that it was used. I do not know the name of that pastor, but I can testify that it was used in that prayer. Together with my friend, I immediately left the building, in spite of the service still being in progress. If other attendants left the church also, I was not able to tell. Signed: Liselotte Schachtenberg37

These statements set the stage for Lichtenberg' s arrest.

In September 1941, the Nazi regime decreed that all Jews had to wear the

Star of David beginning September 17. Before Lichtenberg left again for Bad

Worishofen for his Kneipp cure and relaxation, a Catholic woman of Jewish descent called him and asked to meet with him. The woman was a factory worker and could only meet in the evening. Because he was leaving for vacation,

37 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19107) 3-4. (Second witness 5-6) One might question why these two young Lutherans had "repeatedly [taken] part in Catholic services" in their home region. 292

Lichtenberg asked her to come over right away, meeting with her just before he left. She informed him about the publication of the law. Lichtenberg did not believe it until she showed him. "That is monstrous, cruel," Lichtenberg declared. He had just come from the evening prayer, in which he always prayed for the Jews. He tried to comfort the distraught woman with loving words, calling her "my daughter." Hopeful, the woman responded, "Reverend, perhaps the future will be better."38 When asked whether the order for Jews to wear the star would change his evening prayer for the Jews, Lichtenberg responded firmly and unshaken, "On the contrary."39 This new manner of singling out the Jews showed that the Nazis were raising the stakes on the "Jewish problem."

Shortly after Reich Law prescribed that Jews must wear the Jewish Star, the

Catholic Church celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Lichtenberg saw the feast as an opportunity to do something about the link between the Star of David and the Christian cross. In one of Lichtenberg' s journals, was found a rebus with a saying: "The Star of David on the left and the cross on the right breast testify to the harmony between the Old and ." And he wrote, "When for the first time on the feast of Exultation of the Cross the Star of

David will illuminate on the left breast of the Catholic Jew, then should also the

38 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 77.

39 Grobbel, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 14. 293

Cross of Christ beam from the right."40 Writing about his trip to Palestine in his prison diaries, Lichtenberg noted how the Jews carried the blood of Christ in their veins. Apparently, he felt strongly about the connection between Judaism and Christianity.

Although they could not truly understand the humiliation, degradation, and psychological stress Jews felt in wearing the Star of David in public, Lichtenberg and Margarete Sommer felt an empathy with the Jews. In the fall of 1941, when the Nazi regime implemented the decree that all Jews must wear the star,

Sommer immediately appealed to the titular head of the German Catholic church, Cardinal Adolf Bertram. Given her position with the Hilfswerk, she asked him to issue pastoral guidelines to priests that would alleviate the humiliation

Jewish converts experienced when attending church. Sommer had taken over the active management of the Hilfswerk on September 15, 1941.41 Bertram responded by recalling the faithful spirit of St. Paul that Christians were neither

Jew nor Greek, but he advised that "Jews" should attend an early Mass, if

Catholic Nazi party members made a scene over their presence.42 One could fight the Nazis or accommodate them.

In September 1941, Margarete Sommer was working with the Hilfswerk to organize help for "soon-to-be-deported" non-Aryan families. Throughout

40 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 21.

41 E-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, September 11, 2009.

42 Phayer, "Questions about Catholic Resistance," 338. 294

Germany, Nazi officials were selecting Jewish communities for deportation to the east. Initially, Sommer organized volunteers to inventory their property so that, one day, they could reclaim it, prepare practical provisions for their journey, and calm them as much as possible. Once she suspected genocide was taking place, she organized people to hide Jews, provided escape routes, and used her own allowance to supplement rations of the victims.43 Sommer went all over Berlin to instruct mothers on how to instill Christian principles in their children, at a time when young people were exposed to the most thorough anti-religious indoctrination. In all her activities, Vicar General Dr. Prange protected her and gave her what she needed to do her job.44 Additionally, she had her ally and collaborator in Bernhard Lichtenberg - at least for a little while longer.

In the middle of October 1941, Lichtenberg found a flyer on his desk, on which was printed a Jewish star and above it the title, "Wenn Du diese Zeichen siehst ... " (When you see this sign ... ). What followed was the usual hate campaign against the Jews: "When you have read this text, then you know,

German men and you, German women, resolve to do something ... Recognize your enemy." Lichtenberg decided immediately to act in some manner against the contents of this anonymous pamphlet, to take a position in his community, and for this purpose, he wrote a report to read from the pulpit. He spoke to his

43 Ibid., 338-339. H. D. Leuner, When Compassion was a Crime: Germany's Silent Heroes, 1933- 1945, (London: Oswald Wolff, 1966), 140.

44 Leuner, When Compassion was a Crime, 140. 295

chaplains about the draft of his statement. They advised him against speaking out on the matter, but he did not take their counsel. Lichtenberg wrote out the text he wanted to read from the pulpit on October 26, 1941, the last Sunday of the month. It would be the feast of Christ the King:

In Berlin houses, an anonymous hate flyer against the Jews is being distributed. It maintains that every German, who supports the Jews from false sentimentality, practices a betrayal of his people. Let you through these un-Christian convictions not be deterred, but rather hold onto the firm precepts of Jesus Christ: "You should love your neighbor as yourself."45

Lichtenberg never had the opportunity to read that text to his congregants.

The beginning of the deportation of Berlin non-Aryans began October 18.46

The Gestapo arrested Lichtenberg five days later. Lichtenberg had offered the same prayers from the pulpit for almost three years. Why did the Gestapo wait until fall 1941 to arrest him? At the time of his arrest, Lichtenberg was seven weeks shy of his 66th birthday, and in recent years, he had had serious health problems. Without great cause, the Gestapo seemed to want to avoid arresting a high-profile elderly pastor in Berlin. The "great cause" came with the deportation of Berlin Jews. The Gestapo knew that Lichtenberg would have been a loud voice as an advocate for the Jews. The Jews were being sent to the East, and the Nazis wanted to silence Lichtenberg permanently.

45 Hanky, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 20.

46 See map showing paths of deportations to the east in fall 1941. Martin Gilbert, Atlas of the Holocaust, (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1993), 80, (Map 92, "Twelve Eastward Deportations, 16 October - 29 November 1941"). Dates for this first transport from Berlin may vary between sources. 296

Between 1933 and 1941, the Gestapo summoned Lichtenberg at least seven times. Each time, Lichtenberg would say to his house staff, "I have to go to the

Gestapo today; I may not be back in time to eat." On October 23, the Gestapo arrived at St. Hedwig's Cathedral and ordered Lichtenberg to police headquarters. As he was getting ready to leave, one of the two officials who accompanied him pulled off Lichtenberg' s cassock; it was the first time in many years that he left the house without it. He called home and informed Sister

Stephana, "I have been arrested!" At the same time, other officials remained at the parish house and rummaged through Lichtenberg' s rooms. They found

Lichtenberg' s pulpit proclamation planned for the next Sunday regarding the anti-Jewish posters and his copy of Mein Kampf They confiscated them both.

Following the preliminary proceedings at the police station, an SS man, who addressed Lichtenberg as "you pious pig," took him to the Alexanderplatz for interrogation. After many hours of questioning deep into the night, they finally moved him to PlOtzensee Prison, House IV, cell 48.47

47 For more information on PIOtzensee, see the website http://www.gedenkstaette­ ploetzensee.de I index e.html. CHAPTER EIGHT

FROM ARREST TO DEATH - TEGEL PRISON

(1941-1943)

Never am I less alone, than when I am alone. Because when I am not alone, I am with people. And when I am alone, I am with God.1 Bernhard Lichtenberg

I must die and know not when, and know not how and know not where; but I know that if I die in mortal sin, I will be lost from eternity; if I die in God's grace, I will be save.2 Bernhard Lichtenberg

Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis arrested nearly 300 German priests, who ultimately ended up in Dachau.3 Almost one third of those were incarcerated in

1941. Something happened or changed in the fall of 1941, and the Nazis changed their attitude toward the German clergy. A few issues may account for the Nazis

1 "Nie bin ich weniger allein als wenn ich allein bin, weil wenn ich nicht allein bin, bin ich bei den Menschen, und wenn ich allein bin, bin ich bei Gott." DAB File V /26 Scripta S.D., Book IX, 36.

2 "lch muB sterben und wens nicht warm, und wens nicht wie und wei(3 nicht wo; aber daB wei(3 ich, wenn ich in einer Todsiinde sterbe, bin ich verloren auf ewig; wenn ich aber in Gottes Gnade sterbe, bin ich gerettet fiir ewig." (This is the correct version of the prayer; e-mail from Gotthard Klein to author, September 11, 2009.) Testimonies by those who knew Lichtenberg confirm that he prayed this at every evening prayer service. Sometimes, he shortened the phrasing, but the essence was the same.

3 Weiler, Die Geistlichen in Dachau, 67. See Patrick J. Gallo, "Dachau's Priests," Seattle Catholic: A Journal of Catholic News and Views, 28 March 2003, http:/ /www.seattlecatholic.com/article 20030328.html (accessed July, 2008). See also, Bedrich Hoffmann. And Who Will Kill You: The Chronicle of the Life and Sufferings of Priests in the Concentration Camps (Poznan: Pallottinum, 1946). 297 298

taking a firmer hand with the Catholic Church in 1941: First, it was nearing the height of the Nazis' control of Europe. Second, the first major transports of Jews from the Reich began in November 1941.4 Third, von Galen's protest against euthanasia hardened the Nazis against accepting this kind of open protest from the Church. A number of priests were arrested for disseminating von Galen's message. Jean Bernard, an imprisoned priest from Luxemburg recalled the changes in Dachau in early October 1941. "Some people said that the Pope had given a strong speech on the radio, and that the German bishops had issued a public protest."5 Up until fall 1941, clergymen, no matter their nationality, lived together in "priest blocks." One day in early October, that changed, as non-

German clergymen were separated from the German clergy. The month of

Lichtenberg' s arrest and imprisonment showed a change in Nazi policy toward the German clergy.

Charges against the clergy varied from "influencing the youth against

National Socialism" to "defeatism." Most of the priests arrested in 1939 and 1940 had been charged with "administering to the Poles." Only a few clergymen, besides Bernhard Lichtenberg, were arrested for "praying for the Jews." Father

Joseph Reukes (1941) and evangelical pastor Dr. Albert Hermann Hesse (1943)

4 Morley, Vatican Diplomacy and the Jews during the Holocaust, 113.

s Jean Bernard, Priestblock 25487, A Memoir of Dachau, (Bethesda: Zaccheus Press, 2004), 53. The non-German priests "were no longer permitted wine, midday rest, or to attend Mass." 59. 299

both survived incarceration in Dachau for this "crime."6 The Gestapo arrested a few clergymen for violating the "Heimtiickegesetz," (the Malice Law of 1933) and the "Kanzelparagraph," the Pulpit Paragraph, a law left over from

Bismarck's Kulturkampf.7 Those arrested for the latter sometimes spent two years in prison before their transport to Dachau; others went directly to Dachau.

Arrested August 12, 1941, for violating the Kanzelparagraph, Pastor Gustav

Banholzer, 61, from Freiburg, spent two-and-one-half years in prison before the

Nazis sent him to Dachau in 1944. Banholzer survived. Lichtenberg's arrest followed a similar path of incarceration, but he did not survive.

After his arrest on October 23, 1941, the Gestapo interrogated Lichtenberg for the next ten days, for hours at a time. When asked about his "political" activities, Lichtenberg said:

In regard to politics, from before World War I up until its dissolution in 1933, I was a member of the Center Party. As a Center Party representative, I was a member of the Charlottenburg City Council until 1930/1931. In addition, I was a member of the Berlin German Catholic Peace League. When the Berlin German Catholic Peace League united with similar organizations in the Confessional Union for Peace, I became a member of the presidium.

About my attitude regarding the NSDAP, the NS state and its leading men, I explain as follows: About my attitude toward the NSDAP, the National Socialist state and its leaders, I answer to questions as follows: In the chapter

6 Weiler, Die Geistlichen in Dachau, 295, 349, 354, 558. Chaplain Otto Kohler was sent to Dachau in 1944 for hiding a baptized Jew. Griech-Polelle maintains that Chaplain Johannes .Klumpe also prayed for the Jews. Documents from Weller's edition show that he was incarcerated in Dachau as "an enemy of the state." Griech-Polelle, Bishop van Galen, 116.

7 "Controversy over clerical influence never ended. In 1912 opponents believed the misuse of the pulpit was 'spreading even further."' Anderson, Practicing Democracy, 147. 300

"Worldview and Organization" in the book "Mein Kampf" on page 507, paragraph 2 it reads:

"Today it may be, painful though it be, concluded that in the much more liberated ancient world that the first ideological appeased concurrent with the rise of Christianity. No one can deny the fact that since Christianity's advent the world has been subjected and ruled by this power - that one can only counter force with force; tenor with tenor. Only then can a new situation begin."

Since this book is the basis for the National Socialist worldview, as a Catholic pastor, I must reject the worldview expressed in the above-cited excerpt very strongly. My attitude toward today's National Socialist follows the Apostle Paul's attitude, as it is written in Romans 13. Since there is no Catholic version of the New Testament available in this room, I will quote from memory: "There is no power except from God and it is ordered by God .... The authority is God's servant for the good ...." With that, I want to say that I do recognize the state. But as a Catholic Priest, I cannot accept every step the government takes and say yes and amen to everything. I ask therefore that you compare it with my letter that I wrote to the Reich Physician Dr. Conti, of which I sent a copy to the State Police.

If the tendency of the government's orders and measures are against the revelations of Christendom and are therefore against my priestly conscience, I will have to follow my conscience and accept the consequences that will come to me personally. It follows that I am against evacuations with all the accompanying circumstances, because they are against the main Christian commandment, "Thou shallt love thy neighbor as thyself." I recognize in the Jew my neighbor who is created in God's image and whose soul is immortal. Since I cannot hinder the government's order, I decided to accompany the Jews and Christian Jews into exile that I may serve them in a pastoral capacity. I use this opportunity to ask the Secret Police to grant me that request.8 To the Point: In connection with the previously expressed views, there is also the "Announcement," on the leaflet, which I wrote "When you see this sign ... Jew." I had intended to have it read this coming Sunday (10. 26. 41) during all church services at St. Hedwig. My incarceration is the only cause why this reading cannot take place. To the third question, how I stand on the leading men in the state, I allow myself a qualifying answer: I

s Lichtenberg had requested to travel with Berlin Jews to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, the German name for the Lodz (pronounced woodge) ghetto. For a map noting the transport of Berlin Jews to Lodz in fall 1941, see Gilbert, Atlas of the Holocaust, 80. 301

recognize Adolf Hitler as the head of the Reich. When I frequently wrote comments in red ink in the margins of my copy of "Mein Kampf": that should not be seen as a criticism of the person Adolf Hitler, but only a critique of a train of thought which I did not accept.

For me, the person of Adolf Hitler is as a spiritual leader just as holy as any other human being. Therefore, I include Adolf Hitler by name in my daily morning prayer. If I am accused of criticizing not only the thought process but also the person of Adolf Hitler and thereby also the situation in the German Fatherland, which has come about through him by making notations in a copy of "Mein Kampf," then I also have to say the following: A person's deeds are the consequences of his principles. If the principles are wrong, then the deeds will not be right either. That applies even for Adolf Hitler. During my interrogation, I took the liberty of pointing out Adolf Hitler's wrong principles. Therefore, the resulting deeds will not be correct. I battle against false principles, from which false deeds have to result; For instance, the removal of religious classes in schools, opposition to the cross (compare Removal of crosses from schools), abolition of the Sacraments, secular marriage, intentional killing of "unworthy life" (Euthanasia), persecution of Jews, etc.

The questioning continued:

Question: Do you confirm this point of view from the pulpit?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Therefore, you admit that you do not approve of the state's actions?

Answer: I do not approve the measures resulting from the principles I cited.

Question: It should be clear to you, that because of the just mentioned points that you publicly discuss, civic unrest could result.

Answer: This unrest can only be avoided if false measures are stopped.

Question: Therefore, you put the rights of the church before the state? 302

Answer: Christ the Lord gave the right to teach, to administer the sacraments and moral commandments not to the state but the Church.

Question: That means, therefore, that the state's measures, like for example the evacuating of Jews, does not belong to the state's responsibilities?

Answer: We were not talking about persecuting Jews, but of other measures that contradict Christian morals.

Lichtenberg appeared to think carefully before answering questions put to

him. He would not allow his interrogators to put words in his mouth or put him

in a corner from which he could not escape. Once the examination had moved from the state to the Jews, a pertinent question was placed before Lichtenberg:

Question: You apparently mentioned the following during the worship service on 29.8.1941: We pray for the Jews, we pray for the prisoners in the concentration camps and especially for the poor brothers. The word Bolshevik was also used in that context.

Answer: I pray every evening with my Brethren for the non-Aryan Christians in dire situations, for the Jews, for the prisoners in concentration camps, for the imprisoned Priests and nuns and fathers, especially for priests from our diocese, for unbelievers, for desperate people considering suicide, for the millions of nameless and stateless refugees, for the fighting, wounded, and dying solders on this side and the other, for the bombed cities in friend's and enemy's countries, etc. and the Passus (Passion) from the church prayer, for the Fatherland and the leaders of the people.

It is correct, that on August 29. 1941, on a Friday at 7:30 PM after the Way of the Cross, I petitioned as mentioned before. The reporter about the happenings of that evening must have mistakenly understood, if he thought he heard the Bolsheviks mentioned in the petitions. I could include, without hesitation, the Bolsheviks in my daily petitions, that they would be healed from their insanity. Also in the reading, the mention of Bolshevism is not possible, because currently we are reading the writings of St. 303

Augustine about God's state. That is from the fourth century and then that word was not in use. As an afterthought on the question of why the witness concluded that I prayed for Bolsheviks, I arrived at the following opinion. Generally, in my evening prayer I pray for the eradication of housing need and unemployment. There is no unemployment in Germany, but my prayer was catholic, that means universal, I thought I should continue with the same prayer, because in other countries there is still unemployment and housing need. I tend to still pray for the harassed Mexicans, Russians and Spaniards, because Christians are persecuted in these countries. Maybe the reporter thought by mentioning of the Russians that I meant to pray for the growth of Bolshevism.9

Lichtenberg signed a transcribed copy of this interrogation.

The Gestapo saw many of Lichtenberg' s activities and associations as beyond the realm of Catholic practice. The Church had too strong a "societal presence" in Germany; she had stepped beyond the appropriate Christian precinct. The Nazi regime, with the signing of the Reich Concordat in 1933, appeared willing to allow the Catholic Church to have a presence in Germany, but refused to permit the Church to step outside her ecclesiastical orbit. Catholic youth groups competed with the Hitler youth, making them a target of the regime. Lichtenberg was not only a pastor of a Catholic Church, but also a proactive member of Catholic organizations-the Boniface Union, Men's Society of St. Hedwig's, and the Peace Association of German Catholics (until its dissolution in 1933). All of the organizations that stood outside the Nazi order were seen as opponents of the regime, whether they were passive or active in their vocations. Lichtenberg did not hesitate to voice his opinions or to agitate

9 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19106), 14-17. 304

demonstrably for causes in which he fervently believed - for instance, his advocacy for the public viewing of" All Quiet on the Western Front."

Lichtenberg's "worldview" was a polar opposite from that of the Third

Reich. Erb maintains, "Lichtenberg would have had himself cut into pieces before he would have given into National Socialism, and its governors, helpers and executioners, regarding a matter which was against his conscience."10 No one could remember hearing a "Heil Hitler" from Lichtenberg, only "GrillS Gott," which he even used when speaking with the Gestapo on the telephone.

Lichtenberg would not acquiesce to Nazism even if he were in the minority.

As the questioning of Lichtenberg continued, Bishop von Preysing acted to see how he could intercede on his prelate's behalf. The bishop brought attention to the prelate's ill health. Lichtenberg' s doctor attested:

Because of a serious kidney condition, Prelate Bernhard Lichtenberg has been under my care since 1939. The last kidney examination revealed a rise of the resting nitrogen at a level of 78.4 % mg. The urine analysis showed huge numbers of white blood cells, numerous red cells, and kidney components.11

The following day, the bishop sent a message to Pope Pius XII to inform him of the imprisonment of Lichtenberg:

As he (Bernhard Lichtenberg) was able to inform, it was a prayer for the incarcerated Jews that he said publicly during vespers in the cathedral. I am convinced that the deep piety and the confessional courage of the convictions of the prelate, together with God's grace, will sustain him in

10 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 69.

n Klein, Berolinen, 2:163-164. 305

prison. I fear, however, a very negative impact of incarceration on his already fragile health.12

Von Preysing' s close relationship to Lichtenberg was obvious. Cesare Orsenigo, the German Nuncio, did not notify the Vatican Secretary of State about

Lichtenberg's arrest until November 12. German officials had considered that

Orsenigo might inquire about his Dompropst's arrest and imprisonment, and they planned simply to tell the nuncio that "Lichtenberg had prayed for the

Jews."13

On October 27, Lichtenberg' s interrogators asked him how he came to have a copy of the text written by Reich minister Dr. Goebbels and sent to all Division leaders of the NSDAP. There is no information as to what this document was.

Lichtenberg responded, "In the conversation with a member of a Confessing

Lutheran church who visited me for the second time in my office whom I had not known until then, the gentleman handed me this copy of a copy of the text with the remarks that nothing can be kept secret. I read it and he asked me if I wanted to keep it; I said yes." The questioning continued:

Question: Who is the man who gave you the copy, will you please name that person?

Answer: I know the man by name; I decline to give the information of who the person is. If by reading and accepting the paper I did a

12 Klein, Berolinen, 2:169.

13 Morley, Vatican Diplomacy, 112. 306

punishable deed, I want to pay the penalty. I do not want that said gentleman to get into trouble.

Question: I think you do not want to give the name, because there is a danger that your church (Ordinariat Berlin) will lose an important news source. What do you say about that?

Answer: I did not even imagine such a thought. I am not a spy. By chance, I got these writings and they only mean something to me, because I see now from the official side, what I was watching painfully the last couple of years. Minister Goebbels had the same plan for the future that was there already before they were in power. Then nothing was said about religion, but a concordat was celebrated with the Holy Father, which became law but was not kept during the years. If now the same plan is to be put in place, the Catholics and all Christians have to be prepared that a sudden "Stop" will disallow any discussion about religion. After the final victory, for which not just national socialist blood but also Christian blood ran in streams, the campaign for the total destruction of church and Christianity will finally be over.

The tone of this last statement suggests that Lichtenberg had both a moment of resignation and catharsis. He admitted to himself and his questioners verbally that there was no longer room in the Third Reich for the Church or Christianity.

It was a sad thought. It was an angry moment. Lichtenberg could recall his troubles with Goebbels ten years earlier. Through Lichtenberg' s protests and actions over the last ten years, he had perhaps hoped for the best, but now acquiesced. Lichtenberg continued in his response:

Pertaining to the letter, I wrote to the Reich's physician Dr. Conti, which you found and discussed during my interrogation of 25.10.41 ... Copies of this letter I sent to the following: The Reich secretariat, The Reich Interior Ministry, 307

The Church Ministerium, The Secret Police.

The letter that I wrote to the Head of the German Police, Mr. Himmler, from June 1941, I wrote because of the following reasons: As chairman of the church committee of St. Hedwig, I felt responsible for the security of both properties, Saarland Street 66 and Wilhelm Street 122, because of the Prussian law about church properties. I wanted the confiscation terminated. I never did get an answer to that letter. I will use every legal means in the future to get these properties back as well as the Clemens church. The document with the title "Material" is a draft I wrote. It came from the thought: what would you write to the church minister if you would have a responsible position in the Catholic Church?

Question: What is the letter about from lawyer Dr. Lukaschek, addressed to you?

Answer: After the confiscation of the properties Saarland Street 66/Wilhelm Street 122, I took a cure in Worrishofen, where I had time to think about how to proceed to help the St. Hedwig's congregation to be treated justly. After the church minister and the police headquarters repeatedly failed to respond, I chose to call the Court of Justice for a decision. On my return trip through my home province of Silesia, I visited the former Oberprasident Lukaschek and considered that question with him. The letter, which I received shortly before my incarceration, is an answer to my question I had asked in person.

Question: From what source do you know Dr. Lukaschek?

Answer: Years ago, he visited me either in my home or in my office at the Ordinariat. Since I was adviser for the Relief Agency of the Berlin Chancery, the letters from Franziska Wollenberg and Maria Schure were given to me by the General Curate to answer them. I do not know these people personally. I took both letters along home to work on them there. In my 43 years in Priestly Service, so many books and brochures were sent to me that I cannot remember if I 308

read all of them. I do not remember if I read the brochure 11 Germany Where To?"

Question: Would you please give your opinion about the sermons of the Bishop from Munster?

Answer: I am pleased and relieved that the courageous Bishop preached in such an apostolic way and I say yes to everything he said in his sermons.14

Again, the police asked Lichtenberg to sign a transcribed copy of the interrogation.

Each interrogation session focused on a different Lichtenberg /1 offense." The police were building a case for the prosecutor. The interrogation on October 30 regarded Lichtenberg' s marginal notes in the Fuhrer' s book. When the Gestapo arrested Lichtenberg, they had made a complete search of his room in the rectory. One of the things they confiscated was Lichtenberg' s copy of Mein

Kampf They questioned him about the marginal notes he had made - page by page. Generally, Lichtenberg knew what he had meant by each remark and he gave his interrogators a simple answer. Following one of his answers, however,

Lichtenberg appeared to become tired, overwhelmed, or annoyed with the process. He said, /1 And by the way, it is very hard to say after eight years what one thought about short remarks like, 'nevertheless' and 'today.' Apparently, he was not concerned about punishment for an interlocutory remark. The

14 LAB A Rep. 355(Folder19108), 18-19. 309

questioning covered two dozen pages of marginal notes. After the interrogations, the officials required that Lichtenberg sign a copy of the transcribed statements.

Lichtenberg was in poor physical health when arrested, and he was visibly worse after the interrogations. Bishop von Preysing acted on Lichtenberg' s behalf with official letters and personal intercession, noting the poor health of his

Dompropst. In crisis himself, Lichtenberg still looked out for others. As he entered his cell in Plotzensee on October 23, Lichtenberg introduced himself to his cellmate. "Now, my friend, how are you?" asked Lichtenberg of Paul

Spikoska, a stateless worker of Polish descent.15 Lichtenberg later heard

Spikoska' s confession and other inmates could hear them singing hymns together. The two formed a close relationship, and at the first opportunity,

Lichtenberg asked Sister Stephana to help the man, his "loving, true comrade," once the Nazis released him. Sister Stephana, a colleague and housekeeper of

Lichtenberg' s at St. Hedwig's, never had the opportunity-the Nazis executed

Spikoska in Sachsenhausen.

On December 2, 1941, the Gestapo submitted a final report on Bernhard

Lichtenberg.16 They were very careful in their prosecution of Lichtenberg. They

1s Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 82.

16 The Associated Press reported in the New York Times on November 9 (over two weeks after Lichtenberg' s arrest), "BERLIN DEAN HELD; PRAYED FOR JEWS, Gestapo is Reported to Have Arrested Priest in Charge of Catholic Cathedral." The first paragraph of the article read, "The Rev. Bernhard Lichtenberg, dean of St. Hedwig's Roman Catholic Cathedral here and sometimes 310

did not simply take the word of the two girls who had given statements about

Lichtenberg' s prayer service. The prosecution made sure that it had concrete evidence for its charges. In its prosecution, it included only those actions in which Lichtenberg informed others of his ideas. The primary indictment focused on Lichtenberg' s prayers from the pulpit, prayers for "enemies of the state."

Enemies of the state included those in concentration camps and the Jews. The prosecution argued, "With that prayer the accused endangered the public peace.

In this prayer lies also a malicious critique of state's measures.... These remarks are suited to undermine the trust of the people toward the political leadership."

With this single point, the prosecution charged Lichtenberg with violation of both the Pulpit Paragraph (Paragraph 130a StGB.) and Paragraph 2, Section 3 of the Malice Law. The prosecutor's report also included a detailed account of

Lichtenberg' s intent to share with his congregation the contents of an anonymous hate sheet against the Jews. Since the prosecution could not confirm the origins of the handbill, and since Lichtenberg had shared the contents with only a few members of his staff, an investigation into this matter would have to continue. Since Lichtenberg had not informed others of the marginal notes he had made in his copy of Mein Kampf, the prosecution did not include it in the representative of the Bishop of Berlin, has been arrested by the German secret police and is being held in Ploetzensee Prison, in the northwestern section of the city, reliable sources said today." New York Time, 9November1941, 1. Writing in his journal November 4, German poet and journalist Jochen Klepper noted, "Prelate Lichtenberg, who had prayed for the Catholic Jews in St. Hedwig's Cathedral, was also arrested." Jochen Klepper, Unter dem Schatten deiner Fliigel: Aus den Tagebiichem der Jahre 1932-1942, (Giessen: Brunnen Verlag, 2002), 562. Klepper, along with his (Jewish) wife and daughter, committed suicide in 1942. 311

charges. The report made no mention of Lichtenberg' s August letter protesting the Reich's euthanasia policy.

What was included in the charges and the final report, and what was not included are both interesting. The reason for Lichtenberg' s imprisonment - his prayers for enemies of the Reich - had been going on for three years. The timing of his arrest might suggest that the euthanasia issue and the circulating hate sheet against the Jews had something to do with Lichtenberg's seizure by the

Gestapo on October 1941. The Gestapo had arrested other priests for propagating von Galen's euthanasia message. Lichtenberg, apparently, had not spoken about this issue from the pulpit. The charges clearly were centered on how Lichtenberg had reached the public with his dangerous ideas, through his prayers for the Jews. Although Lichtenberg had offered this "treachery" in his prayers for three years, the Reich waited until fall 1941 to silence him. The Nazi regime would no longer tolerate obvious opposition to its policies.

Given the facts presented by the prosecution, the Church could not successfully protest Lichtenberg' s imprisonment. Lichtenberg' s own testimony substantiated the charges. On the day following the prosecutor's report,

Lichtenberg said (and wrote) that he stood fully by his earlier statement and had nothing to add to it. He noted, "I think I am not only authorized but obliged, to preach to the Catholic believers, that they may not let themselves be confused by 312

unchristian dispositions but live by Jesus Christ's commandment: 'Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.' That includes Jews."17

After Lichtenberg was committed to the Moabit prison, Bishop von Preysing saw to it that the doctor's attestation was renewed. It was positioned solidly:

"Patient suffers from a weak heart muscle, coronary sclerosis (angina pectoris), heart spasm attacks, and warned urgently from excitement, over exertion, poor nourishment." From the reason of this bishop's petition, the state attorney from the court made a remark in Lichtenberg' s file. is

Lichtenberg' s health was precarious, especially given the pressures of interrogation and the living conditions in the prison. On December 9, 1941,

Lichtenberg required medical attention, and prison officials moved him to the prison infirmary cell 34, where he remained for an unknown amount of time.19

Shortly before Christmas, Bishop von Preysing visited Lichtenberg in the infirmary cell. Two months later, von Preysing sent a letter to the general prosecutor requesting permission for Lichtenberg to celebrate Mass in his cell, but the prosecutor denied the request.

17 LAB, A Rep. 355 (Folder 19107), 28.

1s Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 99.

19 Klein, Berolinen, 1:14. As Lichtenberg lay in his infirmary bed, the world seemed to explode. In early December 1941, the Germans failed to take Moscow due to the Soviet counter­ offensive. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and Hitler followed by declaring war on the United States. The Conference was held in January 1942 to discuss the Final Solution of the Jewish question. 313

I intend to turn down the petition, in case I am not provided with another ruling. The offer of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the cell is, in my opinion, not consistent with the requirements of the prison routine.20

About a week later, Lichtenberg suffered a heart attack.

Lichtenberg had prayed often for priests imprisoned and in concentration camps. Now he experienced confinement. His first concern in his imprisonment was to receive his breviary and to remain bound to his brothers over the prison walls through his breviary prayer. He received it within weeks after his imprisonment. Additionally, he received from the prison library the Holy Bible and from his own book collection philosophical and religious works, as well as ink and a notebook. From the military hospital, he requested in a petition to be allowed to use his arm bath. His doctor in Bad Worishofen had advised him to use it when he was plagued by angina pectoris-it offered relief. Lichtenberg had been successful in many of his requests. He had asked Sr. Stephana to send him thread so he could darn his torn socks. That was permitted, but at Easter, the prison refused her request to send him a statue of the Madonna and two

Easter eggs.21

Lichtenberg kept himself busy while awaiting his trial. On May 8, 1942, he told Sister Stephana that he had finished 147 hymn translations and 153 homily outlines. Necessary (prison) hospital stays interrupted his work several times.

20 LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19107), 46 and LAB A Rep. 355 (Folder 19108), 13.

21 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 100-102. 314

Bishop von Preysing demanded Lichtenberg' s transfer from the prison to special handling in his own private hospital, but the Justice Minister refused, noting,

"While in custody, the prisoner Lichtenberg has shown neither remorse nor a change of attitude."22 He would remain in their custody. Lichtenberg received the news with lowered head. When the lawyer asked him if he had a reply,

Lichtenberg, with his deep strong voice said, "What you have read to me, Herr

Staatsanwalt, with the many paragraphs, does not interest me, absolutely not, but" - and his voice became brighter and even stronger-"but, the last part, that

I have not changed and would speak and act as before-that, Herr Staatsanwalt is completely accurate."23

Lichtenberg had begun his diaries early in his confinement, writing about his personal life and travels, but in May 1942, he reminisced about his pastoral ministering. May is a special month in the Catholic calendar, a month dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Lichtenberg recalled (in third person):

Since 1906, [Fridolin] had given a short May sermon every year on every evening in May. This year for the first time, he has to relinquish it. So he would like to compensate for it with "Deus meus, deus meus ad Te de luce vigilo" and ask the Mother of God to accept it kindly as a substitute.24

At the same time, he remembered the annual pilgrimage to his "beloved Silesia countryside." Twenty-five years earlier, Lichtenberg had organized the first trip

22 Ibid., 101.

23 Ibid.

24 DAB V /26 Scripta S. D. X., 12. 315

as a "spiritual and physical recuperation for the stressed Berliners." Fifteen to fifty people traveled with Father Lichtenberg to Silesia by bus and or train from

Monday to Friday.2s Confined to a cell, Lichtenberg still thought about ministering to the people of Berlin.

Lichtenberg' s main trial took place on May 22, 1942, lasting three hours. He had a great deal of support in the courtroom as onlookers included Prelate Georg

Banasch, Chaplain Wolfgang Haendly, Pastor Mahlich, Margarete Sommer,

Elisabeth Kellermann, and Sister Stephana Ostendorf. The proceedings began at

9 a.m. As the Lichtenberg "faction" entered the hall, a police official warned them "to speak not a word, and to take no notes," because there were many

Gestapo spies in the room. There Lichtenberg's friends and colleagues saw him standing in the prisoner's box, looking very pale, but with no apparent trepidation. He was in quiet discussion with his attorney, Dr. Stenig until the trial began. 26

The prosecution charged Lichtenberg with "misuse of the pulpit and

offending the malice law." On the first charge, the state claimed, "The accused, in carrying out his vocation as clergyman, on August 29, 1941, in a church,

prayed publicly from the pulpit for the non-Aryan Christians, for the Jews, as well as for those confined in prisons or concentration camps, especially for his

25Ibid.

26 Klein, Berolinen, 3:68-69. This account is from notes that Sr. Stephana Ostendorf, a confidant of Bernhard Lichtenberg, took at his trial, along with her memory of the day. 316

fellow priests ... this evening preaching jeopardized the affairs of the state, the

public peace, in a public forum." The two young women who had given

statements to the Gestapo regarding Lichtenberg' s prayers were in the courtroom briefly in the beginning of the proceedings. In a practical attempt to show the

chairman that praying for the Jews was not a politically purposeful act,

Lichtenberg noted how "for the last 36 years," he had prayed for many people -

persecuted Christians in Mexico, persecuted people in Russia and Spain. When the chairman asked Lichtenberg to clarify how his prayers for the Jews came about, Lichtenberg explained what he saw the morning of November 10, 1938:

It was in November 1938 when the windows of Jewish-owned shops were smashed and the synagogues burned; there I walked through the streets of my parish before I celebrated Mass between 5 and 6 in the morning. As I witnessed the destruction, I saw the police standing by passively. I was outraged by the vandalism and asked myself what could be done to help and how this could happen in an ordered nation. As I thought, I said to myself that help could come only through prayer. It was on this evening that I prayed for the first time, "Let us pray for the persecuted non-Aryan Christians and for the Jews.27

The Chairman then asked Lichtenberg if he could provide a similar explanation for his prayers for his fellow clergymen in the concentration camps.

The Oompropst began to respond, first in a composed manner and then he revealed a deep agitation:

I can no longer recall exactly how this prayer developed. I knew from the many imprisonments of priests and suspected at that time, what I know today, because I myself have been in prison for 7 months and have had the experience first-hand. It is difficult for a priest to be in prison. In this

27 Klein, Berolinen, 3:70. 317

distress, he needs the strength and the comfort through God. Therefore, I placed the priests in the protection of God so that they would not grow disconsolate .... 2s

The questioning and testimony on the first charge concluded and examination continued on the second charge - "offending the Malice Law." (Sr.

Stephana did not take notes during this portion of the exchange and had only her memory to recount it.) The prosecution wanted to know how Lichtenberg had come to receive a copy of a flyer against the Jews - a flyer, which Lichtenberg regarded as "inflammatory." The Dompropst said that a caretaker at the

Cathedral, Mr. Hoptner, had given it to him. The prosecutor then asserted that the Jews crucified Christ, that they were a cursed people, and that the Church had condemned them from a council. Lichtenberg responded that the God of the

Jewish people had often been portrayed inaccurately, that God had always been merciful to them. He referred to the intercession of Moses in the parting of the

Red Sea. Asked (again) why he prayed for the Jews, Lichtenberg responded in a powerful and persuasive voice: "Because Jesus Christ - may God eternally be exalted - was born of this people."29 Furthermore, he said that he did not see the

Jews as an enemy of Germany.

When the trial ended at noon with Lichtenberg's "guilt" confirmed, Sr.

Stephana caught the eye of the constable. He indicated that she could speak to

28 Ibid.

29 Klein, Berolinen, 3:71. Sr. Stephana recalled Lichtenberg's statement "clearly": "Und weil Jesus Christus, Gott hochgelobt in Ewigkeit, dem Fleisch nach aus diesem Volke hervorgegangen ist." 318

Lichtenberg for a brief moment. She took Lichtenberg' s hand, noticed he was close to tears, and heard him say, "Wie Gott will, ich halte still." (In God's Will, I remain tranquil.) Others then came over to take their leave of Dompropst

Bernhard Lichtenberg.30

Lichtenberg Enters Tegel Prison

As officials transported him to Tegel Prison on May 29, 1942, Lichtenberg appeared to accept his sentence, continuing to utter, "In God's will, I remain tranquil."31 Tegel Prison held a few thousand criminals and political prisoners.

Responding to a prison questionnaire about any strong passions (drinking, smoking, sex), Lichtenberg recorded, "I labor daily against inordinate ambition, avarice, and pleasure." When asked what he planned to do after his release, he responded, "I intend to fulfill the will of God and remain true to my priesthood until my last breath."32 These four words that gave title to German biographer

Otto Ogiermann's work - Bis zum letzten Atemzug. Lichtenberg remarked officially that he would continue in the manner he had until his death. When it came Lichtenberg' s time for release after his two years in prison, Nazi officials

30 Klein, Berolinen, 3: 69.

3I Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 110. For a history of Tegel Prison, see 100 Jahre Justizvollzugsanstalt Tegel (Berlin: Justizvollzugsanstalt Tegel, 1998). Harald Poelchau was the Protestant chaplain in Tegel Prison during the Third Reich. His books offer insight to the prison. It is not known if Poelchau ever met Fr. Lichtenberg. Harald Poelchau, Die letzten Stunden, Erinnerungen des Gefiingnispfarrers Harald Poelchau, (Berlin: Verlag Volk und Welt, 1949) and Die Ordnung der Bedriingten, (Berlin: Lizenzausgabe mit Genehmigung des Kathe Vogt Verlages, 1963).

32 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 110. 319

could easily point to this document to prove that Lichtenberg was still a risk.

From this statement, Lichtenberg must have realized that he would never again

lead his congregation under a Nazi regime.

Lichtenberg suffered physically in the prison, especially from hunger. When

one saw him, he was always thinner than before. The day's rations in Tegel were about 150 grams of bread with a half liter of black coffee in the morning and evenings and a liter of watery stew. Two times each week, they received some sausage in the evening.33 Due to his large stature, he never felt sated. And when

he was sick, he often ate less. Lichtenberg was thrilled and glowed when, one

time, the sergeant gave him a carrot he took from the garbage can - it tasted so

good.34

Imprisonment took its toll on Lichtenberg's health. He had been examined a few weeks after his arrest and again at his arrival at Tegel. Although different

doctors probably examined Lichtenberg, the following changes perhaps give

evidence of the decline in Lichtenberg's health. His height decreased from 176

cm. to 175 1h cm (about 5' 9"); his hair was not" dark, blond, and gray," but

simply "gray"; most notably, his eyes had changed from brown to gray; an apparent loss of weight caused Lichtenberg' s eyes to appear dull and his ears

33 Ibid., 111.

34 Ibid., 112. 320

and nose to look larger.35 On June 1, Lichtenberg received a physical

examination and was placed immediately in the prison hospital for in-patient

treatment. He remained there for almost three weeks.36 Documents show that

Lichtenberg's weight at this time was 73 kgs. (about 161 lbs.).37

Tegel Prison rules allowed Lichtenberg to have a visitor every two months,

and he could write and receive one letter each month. On July 5, 1942,

Lichtenberg wrote to Bishop von Preysing. He wrote about the support he had

been receiving from so many friends and colleagues, in letters and visits, and he

named the many people. Lichtenberg concluded his letter by reminiscing:

43 years ago, in July, we sat in Ohlau with our morning coffee. There came a letter from Breslau with my appointment as third chaplain in St. Jacob's in Neille. What jubilation!. .. Thank you again heartily for your letter of June 22, which I could read only with tears of joy and request continued for prayers for imprisoned Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg, Carthusian monk.38

Lichtenberg appeared proud that he had always been able to live a Spartan life.

Now, in prison, he had no choice and his moniker of "Carthusian Monk" fit him

perfectly. Lichtenberg not only reminisced in his diaries, but in letters. This

manner of recollection shows how much time Lichtenberg spent recalling his life.

35 DAB Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 4, fol. 1-139, 43, 84.

36 Klein, Berolinen, 1:15.

370AB. Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/6b, fol.13-32, b) Krankenhaus des Strafgefangnis Tegel, 16.

38 Klein, Berolinen, 2:264-265. 321

The peace he experienced when he died indicated that his life's survey had given him comfort.

Most of Lichtenberg's letters were to Sr. Stephana, and sometimes to take advantage of his monthly letter, he would write a letter to many or receive a single letter written by many. From her first visit in July 1942, Sister Stephana perceived that the Dompropst had come to a decision. She almost had the impression that one could see in him the apostle's words, "I overflow with joy in all my sorrows." Animated and joyful, he told her about his studies in his cell, fortunate that he was able to have books in his cell. On the visiting day, he had just worked up a homily with the theme: "Christ will make you free." He drew strength and courage from his books and the Bible. News of the death of his nephew Leo, who had been a "splendid Catholic," moved Lichtenberg.39

Lichtenberg appeared to make the best of his physical situation. The cell was often cold, but Lichtenberg was able to go out in the fresh air about 25 minutes each day with small groups of men. He had to perform physical work

in the prison, which took its toll on his aging body. Lichtenberg was not allowed to celebrate Mass in his cell, so when he went back to his cell, he would read and write. In a letter from February 13, 1943, he noted that he had written about 800

39 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 113. Others' letters from prison have been published. See , Alfred Delp, SJ: Prison Writings, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004); Dorothy F. Buxton, ed., I Was in Prison: Letters from German Pastors, (London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1938); Stevenson, Max Josef Metzger. 322

pages with one pen. One of Lichtenberg's regular requests was for a pen, paper,

and ink.40

Father Alfred Delp, who would later die at the hands of the Nazis, spent a

few months in Tegel Prison in 1944-1945. He also maintained a diary with letters

and meditations. His words, however, revealed a tone of hopelessness:

So far as concrete and visible influence goes, the attitude of the Vatican is not what it was. It is not merely that it seems so because we get no information.... We overrated the Church's political machine and let it run on long after its essential driving power had ceased to function. 41

Delp was ordained a (Jesuit) priest in Munich in 1937. He wrote end edited for

Stimmen der Zeit (a Jesuit-sponsored newspaper), preached against the Nazi

propaganda film Ich klage an in 1941, and joined the Kreisau Circle in 1942. Delp followed his own path as had Lichtenberg, separate from other Catholic

clergymen, but Delp' s involved a more active resistance. The Jesuit's

despondency probably stemmed from his expectations of success in active

resistance. Although not directly involved in the attempt on Hitler's life in July

1944, Delp was arrested due to his Kreisau connections to the conspirators. The

Nazis hanged him at Plotzensee Prison on February 2, 1945, the last of the

Kreisau members to be put to death.42

40 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 115.

41 Mary Frances Coady, With Bound Hands: A Jesuit in Nazi Germany, (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2003), 139-140.

42 See Coady, With Bound Hands. 323

Lichtenberg was such a well-known personality as a political prisoner of the

Third Reich that many people remembered the last episodes of his life.

Superintendent Albertz reported:

I had been in Tegel already a long time because of the investigations and teachings of the Confessing Church from Berlin-Brandenburg when from many in our work cell I heard that Dompropst Lichtenberg had been committed. The prisoners, who were rather rough and hard to care for, were moved by the inhumanity of the justice that such a sick man had been thrown into prison. The compassion that one had with him changed soon into great high attention, as one got to know him. He as a Catholic Dompropst and I as a member of the leadership of the Confessing Church were kept apart from each other. That did not completely hinder contact between us. My position in the prison library allowed me to pass along to him a good book, and we occasionally exchanged Bible verses.43

Other prisoners told how Lichtenberg sincerely thanked people for every little favor. If one asked him why he was in Tegel Prison, he answered simply, without bitterness, that it was held against him that he prayed for Christians of

Jewish descent and for the Jews.44

Lichtenberg was thankful for the littlest things, but he was overjoyed when

the aged Cardinal Bertram visited Lichtenberg' s brother in Silesia: "As my brother Franz wrote to me about the visit from Milnsterberg, I could only with

tears of joy be thankful. It was as if the Cardinal himself had come through the

door of my Carthusian45 cell and blessed me."46 Lichtenberg was in prison. No

43 Erb, 111.

44 Ibid., 117.

45 Living in such poor conditions in the prison, Lichtenberg liked to think of himself as a Carthusian monk. 324

one else had spoken out to echo his sentiments, yet Lichtenberg showed no malice for Berlin's higher clergy or for Rome. He never indicated that he believed that Pius XII, the German bishops, or any of the German clergy should have been more aggressive against Nazi practices. He had never stepped away from the Church leadership and even in prison he appreciated its efforts on his behalf.

Although Lichtenberg did not say anything against other clergy, Bishop von

Preysing was not pleased with Nuncio Orsenigo' s seeming apathy in

Lichtenberg' s case. Perhaps the strongest critic of Orsenigo was the Bishop

Preysing. Between 1939 and 1944 Preysing was one of the Pope's principal sources of information about the church in Germany. In that time, Pius XII wrote

18 letters to Preysing, more than to any other bishop. One can find Preysing' s most severe remarks on Orsenigo in his letter to the Pope on January 23, 1943

("Would it not be possible to replace ... while the Nuncio takes a long vacation?"). He appeared to be accusing the nuncio of greater loyalty to the

Gestapo than to his fellow Catholics.47 Orsenigo was not removed. Lichtenberg respected both the nuncio and the bishop, perhaps simply because of their positions in the Church.48 He probably thought that the German bishops and the

46 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 118.

47 Morley, Vatican Diplomacy, 105.

48 "Obey your prelates, and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls." (Heb 13:17) 325

Pope followed their Christian conscience in the same manner that he followed his.

While Lichtenberg was in Tegel Prison, German bishops had debated in their 1942 Fulda meeting whether they should speak out against the persecution of the Jews. They decided that it would be better to try to protect Jews

(individually and in small groups) secretly.49 The following year, they debated a strong statement drafted by Bishop von Preysing and Margarete Sommer:

With deepest sorrow -yes even with holy indignation-have we German bishops learned of the deportation of non-Aryans in a manner that is scornful of all human rights. It is our holy duty to defend the unalienable rights of all men guaranteed by natural law .... We would not want to omit to say that meeting these previously mentioned stipulations would be the most certain way to deflate the crescendo of rumours regarding the mass death of the deported non-Aryans. 50

The bishops rejected Sommer's draft because the Reich Concordat allowed them to speak about only Church matters, Cardinal Bertram wanted to avoid conflict with the state, and Germany was in the midst of a war - "Fatherland first."51

When news of mass killing surfaced, Sommer and von Preysing worked intently to get Pope Pius XII and the German bishops to condemn Nazi atrocities.

Von Preysing pressed Pius repeatedly, writing him thirteen times in fifteen months during the critical years of the genocide of the Jews. To bolster their case, Sommer gathered secondhand information about genocide from all over

49 Phayer, "Questions about Resistance," 331-332.

50 Ibid., 332. Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 73.

51 Phayer, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 74-75. 326

Germany. She obtained convincing reports from a "leak" within the Ministry of the Interior in Berlin. Even with all of this documentation, Sommer could not convince the dean of German bishops, Cardinal Adolph Bertram, that Hitler was murdering Europe's Jews. Bertram seemed annoyed that von Preysing continued to send this "messenger" woman to him. 52 Christel Beilmann, who was a teenager during the war, recalls that the bishops "did not praise people like Lichtenberg, the Jesuit Alfred Delp, the Munich students Hans and Sophie

Scholl or von Stauffenberg ...."53 German nationalism was too strong for one to overcome with moral arguments.

The timing of Lichtenberg' s arrest had some connection with the deportation of Berlin's Jews. It seems likely that the Nazis did not want Lichtenberg speaking, writing, and moving freely about Berlin while they instituted the

"Final Solution." The deportation of Berlin Jews to ghettos in Poland began shortly before the Gestapo arrested Lichtenberg. The first deportation of Berlin

Jews directly to Auschwitz took place on January 12, 1943. Two months later, on

March 2, one of the largest single deportations to Auschwitz took place: 15,000 men, women, and children from Berlin.54 Martin Gilbert notes Joseph Goebbels'

s2 Phayer, "Saving Jews," 19-20.

53 Phayer, "Questions about Resistance," 333.

54 Gilbert, Kristallnacht, 261, 263. 327

reaction: "We are now definitely pushing the Jews out of Berlin."55 On June 19,

1943, Goebbels declared Berlin "free of Jews" (judenfrei).56

Margarete Sommer and Gertrud Luckner, as emissary of the Freiburg

Archbishop Grober, continued to try to help the Jews of Berlin after

Lichtenberg' s imprisonment. Sommer, with the great support of Bishop von

Preysing, tried to get the German bishops to challenge Hitler regarding the murder of the Jews. The bishops rejected the Preysing-Sommer proposal.57 On

March 24, 1943, Luckner, "enroute to Berlin with over a thousand dollars that she intended to give to Rabbi for support of Berlin's large Jewish population," was arrested and sent to Ravensbruck, where she remained until the end of the war .58

Monsignor Georg Banasch visited Lichtenberg in Tegel Prison soon after St.

Hedwig's had been hit during an air raid on March 12, 1943. Monsignor Banasch showed Lichtenberg pictures of the ruins. Lichtenberg became nostalgic and teary-eyed when he saw the pictures of the Cathedral. Karl-Heinz Hoefs described the "demise" of St. Hedwig's:

55 Ibid., 263.

56 Kaplan, Between Dignity and Despair, 232.

57 Phayer, "Questions about Resistance," 11.

ss Ibid., 7. See Victor Klemperer, I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1933-1941, Translated by Martin Chalmers, (New York: Random House, 1998) for a chapter on the memory of Gertrud Luckner. 328

The proud wooden dome caught fire and the mighty cross it bore plunged through the floor and into the depth of the crypt. The flames obliterated almost everything, with only the surrounding walls of the church and the tabernacle chapel escaping destruction together with the badly damaged door. The mutilated marble in the meager torso of Cardinal Querini's old high altar were all that remained. Only very few graves escaped damage in the crypt, including those of the first bishops in Berlin.59

Before leaving, Banasch asked Lichtenberg if his meals were adequate.

Lichtenberg replied, "Not entirely, I am always hungry."

The day after Banasch' s visit, Lichtenberg fainted in his cell and was hospitalized in the prison infirmary for one month. His weight had dropped to

62 kgs. (about 136 lbs).60 The Church in Berlin contacted Lichtenberg's relatives on March 20 to inform them of the Dompropst' s serious health condition.

Lichtenberg received a visit from Bishop von Preysing the following day. Von

Preysing was a great support to Lichtenberg. In April, von Preysing received a letter from the Pope:

It has comforted us, to use an obvious example, that the Catholics, indeed also the Catholics of Berlin have demonstrated much love to the non-Aryans in their distress, and connected with this (in this context) we make a special comment of fatherly recognition and inner sympathy to the now imprisoned Prelate Lichtenberg.61

59 Karl-Heinz Hoefs, St. Hedwig's Cathedral (Berlin: Dresdner Druck und Verlagshaus GmbH, 1982), 14. Lying in the Soviet zone in the postwar period, reconstruction of the cathedral did not begin until 1952.

60 DAB. Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. Il/6b, fol.13-32, b) Krankenhaus des Strafgefangnis Tegel, 17.

61 Klein, Berolinen, 2:295. 329

Lichtenberg never wrote to the Pope questioning the "influence" of the

Church. He never wrote to other Church leaders or political leaders from prison.

The subject and tone of Lichtenberg' s letters included his feelings regarding

Christianity and the people of his parish. Conversely, Father Max Josef Metzger, a martyr of the Third Reich, wrote to the Pope from prison.

Holy Father! I am writing this letter in a prison cell. For weeks I have been kept here without knowing of what I'm accused, but I know that the Lord who embraces everything in his wise plans has given me, not without a good reason, this time for quiet and prayer . . . . I suffer also, because for months the nations have faced one another on the frontiers, each concentrating its thought on the destruction of the other-nations who have had the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them, and to almost all confess his name. Is Christianity for them but an empty phrase, a mere Sunday performance?[... ] Has the church no influence on world events, and must these be left to be the sport of the evil one? I know that your Holiness grieves especially over the disunity of the body of Christ and that you, like your predecessor of blessed memory, are ready at any personal sacrifice to lead Christendom to unity . . . . I had to obey the urge of my conscience and present my ideas with all respect to the representative of our beloved Lord and King .... Signed-your most devoted Dr. Max Josef Metzger62

Metzger, like Lichtenberg, had great respect for the Church leadership. Metzger, however, did question the "influence" of the Church. He never received a reply to his letter and "it is doubtful" that the Pope ever received Metzger's letter.63

"Has the Church no influence?" Scholars ask this same question today, regarding the Church's actions/ inaction. Had the Pope read Metzger' s letter, he may not have known how to respond.

62 Stevenson, Max Josef Metzger, 44-55.

63 Ibid., 44. The Nazis executed Metzger at Brandenburg Prison on 17 April 1944. 330

When Lichtenberg was in the prison infirmary in April 1943, he befriended a twenty-year-old Belgian. The young man was dying and Lichtenberg gave him his own crucifix. People in the hospital could hear Lichtenberg singing, as he held a Good Friday service in his cell. In fall of the same year, Lichtenberg was back at the prison infirmary in a cell with a German and a Serb. He told Sr.

Stephana of these hospital comrades, "I have such patient listeners here.

Whenever the sirens blare at night, I pray the Stations of the Cross, and by the time all clear is sounded, we are finished with our prayer."64

As Allied forces moved up the Italian peninsula in fall 1943, the German bishops met again at Fulda. By this time, the Nazi regime and the Catholic

Church did not have as much time to make life difficult for each other. In

September, the bishops issued a statement against "killing" when millions of

Jews and other innocent people were already dead.

Killing is bad in itself, even when it is done in the interest of the common welfare: against innocent and defenseless mentally ill and other sick; against incurable invalids and fatally injured, against those with inherited disabilities and children with serious birth defects, against innocent hostages and disarmed war and other prisoners; against people of alien race and descent. Even the government can and is permitted to punish with the death penalty only those who are truly death deserving-criminals. 65

It is hard to understand the point to this statement at this time, other than the

Church wanted to have a statement on the books regarding "killing."

64 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 116-117.

65 Ibid., 364. 331

On September 29, 1943, Lichtenberg wrote his final letter from prison.66 He had gained weight since April, but at the end of the summer, again in the prison infirmary, his weight had begun to drop dramatically: September 19, 72kg;

October 3, 65kg; October 10-12, 62kg.67 Lichtenberg's letter to Sister Stephana shows that he realized his life was ebbing away:

Praised be Jesus Christ in all eternity. Amen Most honorable Sister Oberin, Our dear God has sent me to the infirmary of the prison for the third time. Therefore, I must write what is probably my last prison letter in bed. As I review the last two years from this perspective, I want to and must thank God from the bottom of my heart, also all those who carried out His Holy Will regarding me. It is my firm conclusion to carry out the spiritual exercises with God's help, which I composed years ago according to (or after) the thirty active spiritual exercises, specifically: I wish to see all that befalls me, joyful and painful, uplifting and depressing, in the light of eternity, I wish to be possessed of a soul in my patience, I wish to in no way commit sin in thought, word or deed and to do everything in love and suffer everything out of love. - Courage for life I have, sufficient for twenty more years, but if dear God wishes that I should die today, so His Holy Will should be done. One thousand greetings to my most highly regarded bishop, to the Cathedral Chapter, to the presbytery, to the priests' apartment, to the St. Hedwig's congregation, and to all who have prayed for me, have written to me and thereby have comforted me. May the sweetest and most holy, most just Will of God come to pass, be praised and be highly extolled in eternity, impenetrable in its heights and depths, now and in all eternity. Amen The prisoner Bernhard Lichtenberg, Cathedral Provost68

66 See "Last Letters from Prison" in Walter Adolph, Im Schatten des Galgens. Zum Gedi:ichtnis der Blutzeugen in der nationalsozialistischen Kirchenverfolgung, (Berlin: MornsVerlag, 1953), 64-89.

67 DAB. Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/6b, fol.13-32, b) Krankenhaus des Strafgefangnis Tegel, 24.

68 Klein, Berolinen, 2:305-306 332

Still in the infirmary, Lichtenberg's two-year sentence ended in October

1943. On the morning of October 23, Hans Lichtenberg, the prelate's brother, learned that his brother would be taken from Tegel prison by police wagon.

Bernhard Lichtenberg' s family, friends, and fellow clergymen hoped that the

Nazis would allow the weakened man to return to his parish. Although he was weak, the Nazis realized that they had never truly broken Lichtenberg and that he would persist provoking the regime with his public prayers, so they determined that he should be sent to Dachau. Two years earlier, the prosecutor of Lichtenberg' s case had noted in the final report: "There is strong suspicion if the accused is released, he will use his freedom to repeat the deeds, and because of the severity of the deeds, it would not be tolerable to give him freedom."69

Lichtenberg had sealed his fate with his Tegel admittance document.

Der Heimgang (The Going Home)

Before he boarded the transport for the concentration camp, Lichtenberg was placed in the work camp Wuhlheide, near Berlin. A guard at Wuhlheide later reported what he witnessed regarding Lichtenberg:

It was a Sunday evening (end of October or beginning of November); when I came back with my prisoners from a work detail, I saw a man standing in front of the admissions office, and I noticed that the man was very ill, bent over with the impression of a clergyman. He wore a black coat with a velvet collar, had a long beard, and held a small suitcase in his hand. The lead SS­ man at reception was already dealing with the situation. I heard the SS-man

69 LAB, A Rep. 355(Folder19108), 10. 333

ask the clergyman, "Who are you?" The clergyman responded, "I am a German." The SS-man countered, "A Jew you are, but no German." The SS­ man then screamed to the kapo nearby and murmured something to him. The kapo grasped the clergyman and led him to a cell that lay across from the guardroom. The SS-man opened the door and all three went into the cell, the clergyman being shoved in. I was between the washroom and the open door and I heard a crash in the cell. After about ten minutes, the kapo and SS-man emerged from the cell. They closed the door, leaving the clergyman inside alone. The cell was not properly equipped for prisoners, but more of a storage room for carrots and potatoes although I remember having seen a bed frame in the room. Early Monday, I again went with my prisoners on the work detail. When I came back, I found out that the clergyman had been taken away in a wagon.70

Although Lichtenberg never expressed a strong nationalism (as was seen at the time), he obviously regarded himself as German. Inherent in Lichtenberg's four- word response was the question, "How could one German citizen treat another

German citizen in this manner?" Since the witness recalled no scream,

Lichtenberg was probably too weak at the time for the guard to hear his cries (if

Lichtenberg was even strong enough to cry out) to be heard above the noise created by the SS-men.

On the way to Dachau from Berlin on November 3, the transport stopped at

Hof, a collection point for transporting prisoners to other facilities. The prison in

Hof, a former St. Clare cloister, could not accommodate the number of prisoners.

Lichtenberg, having been near the end of the line, was taken with 23 other prisoners and placed in a cell sized to hold 4-6 inmates. To reduce the threat of typhus, cloth bedding was replaced by a limited number of planks on the floor.

70 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 131-132. Several days after this encounter, the Wuhlheide guard realized that the man he had seen was Bernhard Lichtenberg. 334

The inmates with the ill prelate, realizing the intensity of his illness, allowed

Lichtenberg to use one of the plank beds in the cell. They also told the guard,

FufS, that Lichtenberg was ill. FufS questioned the prelate directly. There was a note in Lichtenberg' s file that said Lichtenberg should be admitted to a hospital when and if needed. Lichtenberg responded that he wanted no exception made for him. The same inmates who had looked out for him then mocked

Lichtenberg as he began to pray. Later in the evening, FufS accompanied officials to check on Lichtenberg. They found he had a high fever (40 grad.) and his cassock was soiled, presumably from vomiting. FufS called the prison doctor about 4:30 a.m. The doctor arrived at 7:00 a.m. and ordered Lichtenberg transported to the city hospital. He was admitted at 10:00 a.m.71

When Dr. Martha Grewer entered the examination room, she saw

Lichtenberg lying on the gurney with four men standing behind him. Wanting to take Lichtenberg back to the prison, the prison officials were simply going through the motions required by Lichtenberg's papers. Dr. Grewer recalled the scene: Lichtenberg's eyes were closed but the expression of his face was telling­ a long dark beard on a tender, waxen face. He was breathing rapidly. As Dr.

Grewer took his pulse, Lichtenberg opened his eyes and repeated several times,

"O you good people."72 Wanting to keep her patient from returning to a prison

71 Ibid., 134.

72 Klein, Berolinen, 3:97. 335

cell, Dr. Grewer sought her superior, Dr Wilhelm Mohr. Dr. Mohr's first impression was "Here lying before me is a very sick man, sunken cheeks, very pale, very emaciated."73 The doctors decided to put Lichtenberg in a private room and informed the four officials of this accommodation. The officials left.

Immediately, a nurse began to remove Lichtenberg's muddy clothing as Dr.

Mohr took the lead in examining him. The medical staff assumed that

Lichtenberg had a lung inflammation with circulatory collapse. During the examination, Lichtenberg regained consciousness and repeated, "O you good people." When possible, he responded to every outstretched hand of the nurses with a gesture of appreciation or an appropriate word of thanks. Lichtenberg mumbled now and again, and Dr. Grewer recalls hearing the words "mercy" and

"forgiven." The doctors tried to communicate with Lichtenberg, but it was not possible to take a case history from him, given his state of going in and out of consciousness. They gave him injections every four hours to try to help his condition. Lichtenberg' s chart shows that his body temperature rose from 38 to

38.6 to 40 from the time of his admittance in the evening to the next morning.

Handwritten notes on his chart read, "Pneumonia, Reason for illness not known,

73 Klein, Berolinen, 3:94. 336

Not ascertainable since Lichtenberg was already dazed and could not speak coherently, From one's observation, the sick man was not fit to be questioned."74

Dr. Grewer called the city's Catholic pastor and reported to him that

Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg was at the hospital and was very ill. Pastor

Gehringer, familiar with Propst Lichtenberg, went immediately to the hospital.75

At the end of the day, Lichtenberg' s condition still had not changed, but by the next morning, his condition was slowly deteriorating. Dr. Grewer had looked in on Lichtenberg between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., and that was the last time she saw him alive. As she opened the door to his room about 6 a.m., the nurse said to her,

"Dompropst Lichtenberg died peacefully."76

Bernhard Lichtenberg died Friday evening, 6:00 p.m., November 5, 1943. He was almost 68 years old. The news of his death spread quickly through the hospital. Pastor Gehringer telephoned Berlin to inform the parish of

Lichtenberg' s death. Once the necessary paperwork was in order, Bishop von

Preysing sent Prelate Piossek and Vicar Schwerdtfeger to Hof to retrieve

Lichtenberg's body. On the morning of November 8, a nurse met them when they arrived at the hospital. She led them to the prayer chapel of the hospital

74 DAB, Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 6c, fol. 33-37. "Pneumonia, Grundkrankheit nicht bekannt, Nicht feststellbar gewesen, da L. bereits stark benommen war, bezw. Verwirrt sprach, Aus eigenen Beobachtungen, da der Kranke nicht vernehmungsfahig."

7s Klein, Berolinen, 3:97-98. Dr. Grewer noted that the pastor asked her if she knew of Bernhard Lichtenberg and she said that she knew nothing about him. The pastor reacted, "You don't know him?"

76 Ibid. 337

where some one had laid out Bernhard Lichtenberg' s body in a dignified manner. The men prayed at the casket for some time, looking at their

Dompropst's face through his full beard, an image they had never experienced.

Piossek and Schwerdtfeger were impressed by the deep respect and admiration with which the non-Catholic nurses spoke of the deceased priest. The nurses reported that they stood by Lichtenberg until his death and observed him with especially deep respect. One of them said that the patient died like a saint, without showing bitterness, despair or other human weaknesses, apart from the physical symptoms of illness.77 The men thanked the nurses for their care of

Lichtenberg and returned to Berlin with the body.

The Catholic reaction to Lichtenberg's death was sadness. On November 11,

1943, the hearse carrying Lichtenberg's body moved past the ruins of St.

Hedwig's enroute to the cemetery. The sisters of St. Hedwig's were the first to greet Lichtenberg's body at the St. Hedwig cemetery mortuary, and they kneeled and prayed at his bier. Three days later, friends and acquaintances gathered at the chapel to view Lichtenberg's corpse. They touched his body with a rosary, medal, or profession cross. It seemed that they already sensed that this man might someday be canonized a saint. Lichtenberg had spoken out against injustices independently from the Church, risking imprisonment and, ultimately,

77 Klein, Berolinen, 3:101-102. 338

his life. There had been concern that the Gestapo might intervene at the chapel, but only a few were authorized to be there.78

The funeral and burial took place five days later amidst thousands of people.

Erb notes, "It became a demonstration of Catholic Berlin in the middle of the persecution of the Church by the National Socialist regime."79 Prayers, intimate discussions, tears, grieving, letters abounded. Bishop Preysing wrote to the

Pope, notifying him of the burial. Several months later, Pope Pius XII responded:

To you personally and to your immediate staff, we express our deepest empathy regarding the loss (in your Episcopal See). From your clerics, Prelate Bernhard Lichtenberg now has entered his eternal rest. We have heard of his last days, with great grief, but also with a feeling of inner peace. Certainly, the prelate Lichtenberg belongs to those, who with St. Peter, supplement in their suffering the suffering of Christ's Body- the Church. The suffering of Prelate Lichtenberg is especially and singularly applicable to your diocese.so

Perhaps the people of Berlin, the German clergy, and the Vatican saw

Lichtenberg' s life more clearly with his death. Perhaps in his death, some came to understand his independent actions. Those who attended his funeral did not fear being seen at the burial of a Nazi enemy. Perhaps some wanted to show

Lichtenberg that they had supported him, although silently. In any case,

Lichtenberg had inspired many people, and they did not forget him. In life and even in death, Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg symbolized Christian teachings.

78 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 136.

79 Ibid., 136.

80 Burkhart Schneider, ed., Die Briefe Pius' XII. an die Deutschen Bischofe, 1939-1944, (Mainz: Matthias-Grunewald-Verlag, 1966), 292. CHAPTER NINE

MEMORY AND BEATIFICATION

One lives in the world's memory only by what he has done in the world's behalf. -Proverb

On September 9, 1945, Bishop von Preysing celebrated Mass in Berlin for those persecuted by the Nazis. In his homily, he spoke about the sacrifices of the men and women and "honoring their memory."1 Of Lichtenberg, he said, "He never wavered in paying homage to the truth-and often and fearlessly-in dangerous circumstances-he demonstrated this to God and the Holy Church."2

In the same month, the Allgemeine Zeitung ran an article, "Bernhard

Lichtenberg-Bild eines Mannes: Der Dompfarrer von St. Hedwig' s."3 Many in

St. Hedwig's had witnessed Lichtenberg's honorable actions, and since 1945, they continue to remember him in a special way, especially on the anniversaries of his birth and death.

1 Klein, Positio, 2:332.

2 "Er hatte sich nie gescheut, der W ahrheit die Ehre zu geben und offen und unerschrocken auch in gefahrlichen Lagen fiir Gott und die heilige Kirche einzutreten." Klein, Positio, 2:332.

3 Allgemeine Zeitung, September 30, 1945, Page 3. "Picture of a Man: The Pastor of St. Hedwig's."

339 340

Memory has grown as a general topic of study for historians in the past two decades, and collected memory of the Nazi genocide looms large in American culture. In addition to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in

Washington D.C., many cities throughout the United States have built museums and monuments to commemorate the genocide of the Jews. Perhaps because of that, Berlin, Warsaw, and other European cities have also built memorials and museums in recent years. Peter Novick has considered why, when, and how we

have remembered the genocide, the rhythm of that memory, and how we have constructed that memory. He maintains that evolving events such as publication

of Anne Frank's diary, the Eichmann Trial, wars in Israel, and the Holocaust mini­ series have determined how Americans have remembered the "Holocaust."

Hochhuth's play, , also shaped memory of the Catholic Church and

the genocide of the Jews. Although Lichtenberg' s memory is tied to these events, he also has a separate memory of his own as seen in remembrance ceremonies and articles on the anniversaries of his birth and death, as well as for

Kristallnacht. His memory began immediately.

The Diocesan Archive in Berlin has few articles from the late 1940s, perhaps

due to post-war rebuilding under the Communists. When the dust settled, St.

Hedwig's lay in Soviet-occupied , less than one mile from the border

of . Throughout the 1950s and later, however, articles appeared almost every year in Church newspapers and pamphlets regarding the memory 341

of Lichtenberg. Despite the occasional banning of Christian publications by the

Communists, German Catholics continued to resist losing their voice.4 There were special pamphlets published in memory of Lichtenberg, and someone composed a song.s It is natural for memory to emerge and continue in a time close to the event of importance.

The Third Reich produced a number of Catholic martyrs. In 1960, Julius

Kardinal Dopfner, the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Berlin, laid the ground stone for the Gedachtniskirche der deutschen Katholiken (Memorial of German

Catholics), Maria Martyrum. It honors the many Catholic martyrs of the

Nazi Reich. The "Crypts," which lie within the church, pay special tribute to three men: The first sarcophagus honors Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg, the second Dr. Erich Klausener, and the third Father Alfred Delp.6 Memorializing

Klausener and Delp has continued through books, in the names of streets and schools, and with postage stamps. Klausener' s highly visible murder and Delp' s

4 "The Catholics disclosed the Russian sector of Berlin has banned distribution of their weekly church paper, the Petrus Blatt, which is the official organ for the 600,000 Catholics in the Berlin Diocese." "Church Crisis Near in ," The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), 27 March 1954, 3.

s "Lichtenberg" in DAB V /26 Causa Lichtenberg Veroffentlichungen iiber Lichtenberg I Medien, Zeitungsausschnitte, Sonderdriicke bis 1980.

6 Maria Regina Martyrum: Gediichtniskirche der deutschen Katholiken zu Ehren der Blutzeugen fti.r Glaubens- und Gewissenfreiheit in den Jahren 1933-1945, (Berlin: Moros-Verlag, 1963), 38, 72-76. Lichtenberg' s body lies in St. Hedwig's; the bodies of .Klausener and Delp were cremated at death. 342

prison letters helped in the emergence of their memory.7 Other martyrs have been forgotten because little information exists about their lives. Some, like

Lichtenberg, were thrust into the public eye.

Bernhard Lichtenberg was the inspiration for one of ' s principal characters in the 1961 publication of The Deputy. The construction of this "memory" emerged following the Eichmann Trial. Hochhuth "cast"

Lichtenberg as Father Riccardo Fontana, S.J., a man who gives voice to the Pope's failings. Margarete Sommer wrote an open letter repudiating the exploitation of

Bernhard Lichtenberg.8 In the play, the Jesuit Fontana speaks to his father,

Count "Fontana":

The Pope chooses to look the other way when his own brother is slain in Germany. Priests there who sacrifice themselves do not do so on orders from the Vatican-rather, they violate its principles of non-intervention. And since Rome has abandoned them, their deaths cannot be counted as atonement for Rome's own guilt. As long as Rome permits her priests to go on praying for Hitler-praying for that man!-just so long .... Oh, Father, Galen's example proves my point. In the very heart of Germany, he raised his voice against the murderers-in summer, '41. Hitler's prestige was at its height, but lo and behold, they let the bishop speak out with impunity. He did not spend a single hour in jail! And his protest stopped the extermination of the sick. Only one bishop had to stand up and Hitler retreated. Why? Because he fears the Pope -the Pope who did not even back up Galen's speeches . . . . Why had Galen not also come forth to defend the Jews? Because the mentally ill were baptized?9

7 See Delp, Alfred Delp, SJ: Prison Writings and Coady, With Bound Hands.

s Email from Gotthard Klein to author, September 11, 2009.

9 Rolf Hochhuth, The Deputy, trans. Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Grove Press, 1964), 99. In German: Der Stell-Vertreter, (Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2002). 343

The portrayal of Riccardo as Lichtenberg would have been detestable to the real Lichtenberg. There is no evidence that Bernhard Lichtenberg ever (openly) questioned the choices made by Pope Pius XII. Even if Lichtenberg silently questioned inaction of the Holy See, he never would have voiced his concerns.

He had a strong respect for both the papacy and the Pope. In addition,

Lichtenberg seemed to understand that each priest, as the Pope said early on, should follow his own conscience.

Hochhuth did not use the real personage of Bernhard Lichtenberg as he did with Pope Pius XII or even with von Galen. Serious readers and viewers of both the 1963 play and the 2003 film Amen, based on the play, know that "Riccardo" represents Bernhard Lichtenberg because of Riccardo's statements and actions and the fact that Hochhuth dedicated his play to the memory of Father

Maximilian Kolbe and Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg. At the end of the story, the character of Riccardo chooses to join a transport of Jews to the East. (During his early imprisonment in 1941-1942, Lichtenberg had requested to go with a transport of Jews to Lodz.) The story of Riccardo tied the memory of Lichtenberg to the papacy, and in many cases, it has remained that way. In 2001, Rolf

Hochhuth again defended his portrayal of Pius XII, noting, "There is not one line in the Vatican Archives, not one protocol of a conversation that indicates that, during the war, a cardinal had discussions about the Jews with one of the two 344

ambassadors of the Holy See."10 This continues to be the focus - what evidence

does the Vatican have to defend its wartime record regarding the genocide of the

Jews?

In his first postwar public statement, Pius XII devoted his entire address to

the relationship of Catholicism to the Third Reich. He recalled the Nazi

oppression of the Church, the suffering of the Catholic clergy, and the torment of

the Catholic faithful. Pius defended the Holy See's action of concluding the

Reich Concordat, that with that agreement, the Church had been able to defend

herself. He praised the millions of Catholics "who had never ceased, even in the

last years of the war, to raise their voices," and to maintain /1 a Catholic way of

life."11 Although Pope Pius XII believed that he acted in the best interest of the

Catholic Church, many scholars and others think that he did not do enough to

protect the Jews. Writing about the complicity of the Catholic Church as regards

the Nazi genocide, German scholars Gerhard Besier and Klaus Wiegrefe

maintain that the Church should not have beatified Eugenio Pacelli since he did

not /1 shed his blood" or through an heroic act of virtue, lay down his life as an

exceptional witness for the Kingdom of Heaven."12

10 Rolf Hochhuth, "Alles iiber Pius XII.: Zur SchliefSung des Vatikan-Archivs fur Historiker," Die Welt, 22 August 2001, 31.

11 Spotts, The Churches and Politics in Germany, 29.

12 Gerhard Besier and Klaus Wiegrefe, "Pakt zwischen Himmel und Holle," Der Speigel, (April 19, 2003), 73. 345

Scholars, Catholic Church officials, human rights activists, and avid readers

of the history of the Nazi era will continue to debate the actions (or inaction) of

Pius XII. It is not a simple issue. What is the Pope's job description? The

Catholic Church accepts the Pope as the successor of Peter and abides by the

Petrine Doctrine (the supremacy of the Pope as the bishop of Rome over all other bishops). The Roman Pontiff has the mission to proclaim revealed doctrine and to promote true faith in Christ throughout the Church. One can say that this is

rather abstract and how does one define the "Church?" Is it an institution or the

people? Does the Pope have a (moral) responsibility to those outside the

Church? Why is there more focus on the Pope's inaction during the Nazi regime

than on the reactions of any other leaders in the world at that time? The Holy

See did not raise a strong voice against the murder of her many Polish priests.

One defense is that the Pope had to protect the institution of the Church. Again,

one could ask, "What constitutes the Church?" I simply suggest that one cannot criticize the Holy See without clear definitions and an understanding of the

Catholic Church and her perceived (or defined) role. Memory of Pius XII and the

Nazi genocide may change as time passes and other events take place, which

offer a different context.

Historians of the Nazi genocide and the Catholic Church use Lichtenberg as

the one example of a German priest putting his life on the line for Jews. Some

refer to him as a hero or a martyr. Guenther Lewy writes that Lichtenberg was 346

"one Catholic churchman in Germany for whom the Christian duty to love one's neighbor amounted to more than a pious formula.13 Like others who have risked or lost their lives while witnessing for truth, Eva Fleischner declares, "Bernhard

Lichtenberg is a shining example," and "his story must serve for many brave individuals."14 Of course, scholars remember him most for his statement following Kristallnacht: "What happened here yesterday, we know; what will happen tomorrow, we do not know; but we are witnesses of what is happening today. Outside, the synagogue is burning, and that too, is a house of God."

In the summer of 1965, ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), a public-service television channel broadcast a docuplay Bernhard Lichtenberg. It was the twentieth anniversary of the end of World War II. Commemorating the resistance efforts of the Berlin clergy, the program turned out to be the ZDF's most frequently aired show about the history of Nazism.15 Wulf Kansteiner, who has studied collective memory within the medium of television, notes, "A

13 Guenter Lewy, "Pius XII, the Jews, and the German Catholic Church," in Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust, ed. Robert P. Ericksen and Susannah Heschel (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 140-141.

14 Eva Fleischner, "The of Pius XII," in Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, ed. Carol Rittner and John K. Roth (New York: Leicester University Press, 2002), 135. Gill, An Honorable Defeat, 60-61.

15 Wulf Kansteiner, "Television Archives and the Making of Collective Memory: Nazism and World War II in Three Television Blockbusters of German Public Television," in Archives, Documentation and Institutions of Social Memory, Essays from the Sawyer Seminar (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2006), 369. ZDF aired the program in 1965, 1966, 1968, 1973, 1978, and in 1996 (during the time of Lichtenberg's beatification). Some other airdates corresponded to anniversaries of Lichtenberg' s death. 347

number of viewers welcomed the television play as an attempt to set the record straight and to document the courageous resistance and suffering of many

German clerics in the Third Reich."16 The ZDF received seventy-nine letters after the first broadcast, and all but one welcomed the program. As time passed, however, critical voices emerged after repeat showings. Kansteiner says of these critics:

They rejected the attempt to use the deeds of a few upright clergy members to rehabilitate an institution that, taken as a whole, had failed to mount any meaningful resistance against the segregation and extermination of the Jews of Europe. Consequently, in their opinion, the ZDF's historical coverage could only be considered objective if it acknowledged that failure to the same extent that it had already documented the integrity of the few upright church officials like Lichtenberg. The same conclusion had already been reached by Walter Jens, a professor of rhetoric at the University of Tiibingen, who was the only [one] among forty reviewers in 1965 who unequivocally stated that "the film ... follows the known facts yet only reveals half of the truth. Not the hatred of the regime but the silence of his superiors turned the Dompropst of St. Hedwig into an outcast."17

The broad scholarship following Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church and their failures always considers the few exceptions of triumph. Should one present the transposition of these two "sides" in the same manner? Must one always consider both "sides" to put the story in context? In a relatively short docuplay, one can incorporate only so much information. Resisting clergymen were not the

16 Ibid., 370.

17 Ibid. 348

rule, but the exception. The other "half of the truth" would have required a

mini-series. The criticism of the film, in practical terms, was unfounded.

The memory of Lichtenberg in film did not fail after the 1960s. In 1978,

Gerald Green based his novel Holocaust on his teleplay for the NBC miniseries.18

The "Holocaust" miniseries (1978) followed the "Roots" miniseries (1977) suggesting to Peter Novick that the two groups (Blacks and Jews) were

competing in the victimization Olympics. Green chose to add one clergyman to

his story: Bernhard Lichtenberg. Since the story follows the lives of a dozen or

so people, Green showed the progression of Lichtenberg' s troubles: his prayers for the Jews, a Nazi agent's discussion with him in the sanctuary, Lichtenberg's

arrest, and his death. Holocaust was a turning point in memory of the Nazi

genocide of the Jews. It is estimated that the miniseries drew approximately 120

million American viewers (one-half of the population). Broadcast in West

Germany in 1979, there were an estimated 20 million viewers. In contrast, over

50 million viewers have seen Bernhard Lichtenberg.19 In the mini-series, Holocaust,

Green portrays Lichtenberg' s death as a kind of triumph for the Nazi regime. A

Nazi official from Germany (Erik Dorf) tells his comrades in Poland that the

Berlin Provost is dead. Dorf had warned Lichtenberg to be "more temperate in

1s Gerald Green, Holocaust, (Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, 1978).

19 Kansteiner, "Television Archives," 370. 349

[his] remarks." Although a film, this may well represent the reaction of the Nazi regime. It had succeeded in silencing a dangerous voice.

Not nearly as many people remember Bernhard Lichtenberg as remember

Dietrich Bonhoeffer or ; however, there are people who remember Bernhard Lichtenberg as both a German victim of the Nazis and a

Christian martyr for the Catholic Church. Curious about the memory of

Bernhard Lichtenberg, I sent questionnaires to over 100 churches, religious communities, and synagogues in Berlin. I received back less than twenty percent, and many of those who responded did so as individuals/ pastors. Part of the reason for this weak response, I believe, is that the receivers (especially non-Catholics) had never heard of Bernhard Lichtenberg and had little to say about German martyrs in general. A few questionnaires that I did receive commented on this fact. The respondents often mentioned and Maximilian Kolbe. Nevertheless, some respondents had much to say about the issue of the memory of Lichtenberg and memory overall.

Respondents who were familiar with Bernhard Lichtenberg remembered the general story-the Dompropst praying for the Jews at St. Hedwig's Cathedral, his imprisonment, and his death en route to Dachau. Priests who responded had an even greater grasp of other martyrs and Lichtenberg's "story." Some had grown up in Berlin, and they were familiar with Lichtenberg from their childhood. Sister Ingetraud Piillwitz from Rostock noted that her mother knew 350

Lichtenberg personally.20 The few respondents from Berlin or Hof had a better opportunity for knowing Lichtenberg, and they were familiar with many of the highlights of Lichtenberg' s life. Responding for the men and women of the community of St. Bernhard in Berlin's Tegel-Sild, Manfred Musielski noted that

Bernhard Lichtenberg is known to them as: 1) a large city pastor; 2) engaged for peace; 3) a paragon for love of neighbor; and 4) a prisoner of the adjacent Tegel

Prison. Musielski maintains, "Lichtenberg had to follow his path, because "He did not want to be silent."21

How should we remember the martyrs of the Nazi ~ra? Some respondents suggested that the martyrs should be introduced to the youth as outstanding individuals. Young people see pictures of these men and women and ask questions. Father Runne suggested that publications about Lichtenberg and other martyrs in other languages would be beneficial, and other German respondents made note that they were pleased that an American was writing about Bernhard Lichtenberg.22

I asked in my questionnaire whether the memory of certain martyrs of the

Nazi era was a Christian memory, a German memory, or a political memory.

Noting an article about Catholicism and the Third Reich, Baptist pastor Bernhard

20 Questionnaire response by Sister Ingetraud Piillwitz, spring 2007

21 Questionnaire response by Manfred Musielski, 9 July 2007.

22 Questionnaire response by Father Burkard Runne, spring 2007. 351

Hamich suggested that the memory of Bernhard Lichtenberg is a Christian memory. For Pastor Hamich, the memory of Lichtenberg is not a political one or a German one, because of the battle between the Nazis and the Catholic Church.

Lichtenberg, like Bishop Clemens von Galen, received attention from the Nazis because he was part of the Church.23 Martin Knochelmann appeared to agree with Pastor Hamich. Chairman of the Kolping Work in Hildesheim,

Knochelmann wrote, "Bernhard Lichtenberg stands alongside of Christians, who lost their lives during the Third Reich, primarily priests like Alfred Delp, Karl

Leisner or, from the evangelical side, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Both these men are

German, but they do not see the memory of Lichtenberg as simply a German memory. Neither do they perceive Lichtenberg's opposition to the Nazis as a political memory."24 Speaking generally, Father Burkard Runne, an 80-year-old priest from Berlin noted, "I hold them as martyrs from their belief. It is possible that their roles and motives were patriotic or political. In the end, however, it was their Church and the truth of their consciences that stood in the background.

And that was enough for the Nazis, to go in total surrender under their world view, which was not possible for a believing Christian."25

23 Questionnaire response by Bernhard Hamich, 21 May 2007.

24 Questionnaire response by Martin Knochelmann, 27 July 2007.

25 Questionnaire response by Father Burkard Runne, spring 2007. 352

Memory exhibits itself in many forms. One questionnaire respondent, perhaps purposely, placed a memorial stamp of Claus Schenk Graf von

Stauffenberg and Helmuth James Graf von Moltke on his return envelope.

Beyond rocks marking the sites of deaths, memory has taken the form of pictures on stamps, naming of streets and buildings, and songs.26 The Pax-Christi Church in lists the names of martyrs on blocks on the floor. Berlin has named several streets for Bernhard Lichtenberg as well as a school. At least two men have dedicated their books to the memory of Bernhard Lichtenberg-Raul

Hilberg's Tater, Opfer, Zuschauer. Die Vernichtung der Juden 1933-1945 (Hilberg dedicated his initial German book, not the English translation) and Kevin

Spicer' s edited book Anti-Semitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust.

Hochhuth' s play in the 1960s brought some attention to Bernhard

Lichtenberg, perhaps encouraging a greater memory of him. In addition, Berlin was struggling with its newfound confinement by the . The Catholic

Church in Berlin was split and the Cathedral of St. Hedwig's lay in the East. In

April 1965, Cardinal Bengsch of Berlin announced the opening of the preliminary proceedings for the beatification of Bernhard Lichtenberg. In his official announcement, he noted that he 11 gladly" opened his disposition, 11 on the request of the Domkapitel of Saint Hedwig's (who wrote to him specifically on this issue

26 For a detailed list of "Catholic" street names in Berlin, see Matthias Briihe and Dieter Hanky, Katholische Straflennamen im Erzbistum Berlin: Spuren katholischer Vergangenheit und Gegen wart in den Straflennamen in Stadt und Land (Berlin: Henninsgdorf, 2003). 353

in 1964) and countless priests and believers-particularly the strong authority of the Holy Rites Congregation ...." 27 Perhaps hearing about Bengsch' s announcement, a man who saw Lichtenberg in prison wrote a letter the following month to the president of the Berlin prison system. "Thirion" wrote,

''Herr Dompropst! Lichtenberg remained still very well in my memory through his humble, very hopeful and quiet manner."28

Later in 1965, officials in the diocese explained the systematic process of beatification and answered questions that parishioners had been asking. In a

(Berlin) diocesan publication for Advent, they answered questions regarding the length of the process, the difference between beatification and canonization, and the "status" of others, like Cardinal von Galen and Rupert Mayer.29 Still others responded with their own memories of Lichtenberg:

For an entire year, I participated in Dompropst Lichtenberg' s evening prayer in Saint Hedwig's Cathedral. What remains most especially in my memory from the evening prayer is the mention of the name "Sara," which each Jewish woman had to carry by command of the Nazis. [Lichtenberg] consoled the women with the dictum: "Don't cry, don't cry, don't be sad! Sara was a queen, a ruler! Let us pray for the persecuted Jews."30

27 Klein, Positio, 2:350. The Church beatified Lichtenberg as a martyr, and so no proof of a miracle was necessary. E-mail from Dr. Gotthard Klein to author, July 7, 2009.

28 Klein, Positio, 2:351.

29 Quatember-Ruf, Advent 1965 in DAB V /26 Causa Lichtenberg Veroffentlichungen iiber Lichtenberg I Medien, Zeitungsausschnitte, Sonderdriicke bis 1980.

30 Klein, Positio, 2:353. 354

By the late 1960s, those working on Lichtenberg' s beatification organized a list of individuals who knew Bernhard Lichtenberg. Interviews took place between November 1967 and February 1972. The thirty-one testimonies, 21 from

West Berlin and 10 from East Berlin came from men and women who worked with Lichtenberg in his parishes (both Religious and laypeople), Pfarrkinder

(Lichtenberg had been their pastor when they were children), and others, whose paths had crossed Lichtenberg' s path. The questions posed focused on

Lichtenberg' s priestly life, virtues, and actions he took. I included a number of these recollections in earlier chapters.

The greatest remembrance bestowed on Bernhard Lichtenberg came with his beatification in summer 1996.31 Over thirty years of effort by many individuals culminated in this celebration. Between 90,000 and 100,000 worshippers joined

Pope John Paul II in celebration of Mass at Berlin's Olympic Stadium (built under

Hitler and used for the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936) on June 23, 1996 for the beatification of both Bernhard Lichtenberg and Karl Leisner. Pope John Paul II offered a thoughtful homily: "They witnessed to life in a culture of death."

Drawing from the Gospel of Matthew and remembering the two martyrs, John

31 E.N.I., "Berlin greets Pope with protest, applause," Christian Century 113, no. 22, Guly 17, 1996), 714. For many Germans, however, they looked for more than a special service from Pope John Paul II' s visit. Memory of the great German Reformer coincided with the Pope's visit. Nineteen hundred ninety-six was the 450th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther, and many Germans hoped that the Pope would use his visit to "make an historic gesture toward the Protestant churches." 355

Paul began, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul."32

From the many documents of the Nazi regime regarding Lichtenberg, we never see evidence of the pastor's fear of losing his life. Rather, as John Paul noted,

At a time in which 'sin' set itself up as master through the system of absolute brutality and horror, these two witnesses of Christ, who drew the strength for their victory from his grace, acquire a special significance. Today's beatification is a sign of that. It is an expression of the Church's 'memory': Do 'not forget the deeds of God' (Ps 77 [78]:7). With God's help, then, we will be able to say to the coming generations, like Bernhard Lichtenberg and the Apostle Paul: 'to them we did not yield submission even for a moment, that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you' (Gal 2:5)."33

In 1995, to coincide with the forthcoming beatification, the archbishop

Ordinariat in Berlin published a catechism supplement on the life of Bernhard

Lichtenberg. Each chapter offers text and questions for reflection as well as pictures and prayers. Respondents to my questionnaire believed that it is important for young people to learn about the Christian martyrs.34

Not many people outside of Berlin or some Catholic parishes in Germany are familiar with the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg. More came to hear his name within the Catholic Church in 1996 with his beatification. Dr. Gotthard Klein, chief archivist at the Diocesan Archive in Berlin, helped organize (and later

32 See the following website for a complete copy of Pope John Paul II' s homily in English: http://www.ewtn.com/library/ papaldoc/jp960623.htm

33 http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp960623.htm For a detailed script of the celebration of the Mass, see, Jutkowiak Michael, ed., Das Volk Gottes feiert Eucharistie mit Papst Johannes Paul II. Und Bischofen und Priestern aus der Orts- und Weltkirche: In der Feier erfolgt die Seligsprechung van Bernhard Lichtenberg und Karl Leisner, (Berlin: Erzbistum, 1996).

34 Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg: Bausteine for Gespriiche in Gemeinde und Schule (Berlin: Erzbischoflichen Ordinariat Berlin, 1995). 356

published) the necessary documents in securing Lichtenberg' s beatification.

Klein was also instrumental in Yad Vashem' s naming Lichtenberg among the

Righteous Gentiles in 2004. However, remembering Lichtenberg each year on special anniversaries began immediately in Berlin, and now the memory of

Lichtenberg has slowly begun to grow outside of Berlin and outside of Germany.

The press coverage on the Pope's visit to Berlin in 1996 for the beatification of

Lichtenberg and Leisner was broad. Yet, with that coverage and a few good biographies of Lichtenberg available to German readers, there are still Catholics in Germany who are not familiar with the story of Bernhard Lichtenberg.

How should we remember Dompropst Bernhard Lichtenberg? Alfons Erb published his biography of Lichtenberg in 1946 and recounted the many titles

Lichtenberg held in his life. Erb writes that, following Lichtenberg' s death, the

Dompropst' s community remembered him as "a minister, a pastor, for whom souls were the first and last concern."35 Hochhuth wanted us to remember

Lichtenberg as a voice trying to make itself heard over impotent papal pronouncements. Writing fifty years later, Michael Phayer declares, "In the absence of Vatican leadership, no European bishop had the courage to follow the example of Berlin priest Bernhard Lichtenberg and protest publicly."36 Pope

35 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 37. ("Ein Seelsorger, ein Pfarrer, fiir den die Seelen die erste und letzte, die innerste Sorge des Lebens waren.")

36 Phayer, The Catholic Church, 224. 357

John Paul asked the audience at Lichtenberg's beautification to see the "Blessed" as an "example" for the Church.

Does Lichtenberg have a memory of his own or is he simply an example within the memory of the Catholic Church and Nazi genocide? While scholars may associate Lichtenberg' s memory exclusively with the Roman Church in her struggle with the Nazi state, lay people remember Lichtenberg simply as a brave person with a sensitive conscience:

I have heard of Father Bernhard Lichtenberg. I know that he died because of his beliefs and that he was against Hitler.... One should learn about [these martyrs] in school, in religious education, ... through films on TV or in the movies.37

I admire [Lichtenberg' s] uncompromising principles and his confessing courage.38

Lichtenberg championed human rights. He prayed often for the Jews and those persecuted. He protested against euthanasia and conditions in Esterwegen; he took responsibility for his pulpit address against the anti­ Semitic flyer; he had to take this path because "he would not be silent about the truth.39

Propst Lichtenberg is the best witness for justice, in that his life's testimony and the other innumerable sacrifices he made from vital Christian belief arose out of a deep faith and shaped his political integrity, not just for Catholic Christianity, but also for mankind.40

37 Questionnaire response by Edgar Albert (age 15), St. Marien Catholic community from Hof, 6 July, 2007.

38 Questionnaire response by Karl Bruckner (age 65), St. Marien Catholic community from Hof, 6 July, 2007.

39 Questionnaire response by Manfred Musielski, speaking for Bernhard-Treffs of the community of St. Bernhard's in Berlin Tegel-Siid, 9 July, 2007

40 Questionnaire response by Alfred Gahlmann, OStD i.R., 5 July, 2007 358

Alfons Erb, the first biographer of Bernhard Lichtenberg in 1947, summarized Lichtenberg' s struggle and strength: "The Church found in him the secure foundation, a reflection of her own fundament - an unmovable rock:

'Dwarfs attempt to fetter a giant' was the simile under which Lichtenberg regarded the Church struggle."41 Lichtenberg's faith gave him strength to stand up against the Nazis. While the Episcopal hierarchy pursued a course of diplomatic caution, it left bold confrontation to the martyrs. Along with

Maximilian Kolbe, Paul Schneider, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and other Christian martyrs, Bernhard Lichtenberg stands as the epitome of a Christian leader who, though never leaving the side of his Church, directed his own course.

41 Erb, Bernhard Lichtenberg, 62. CONCLUSION

What we know today, Lichtenberg knew in 1933-The "Positive

Christianity" of the Nazi party program had nothing to do with real Christianity.

To Lichtenberg, this was never in doubt. National Socialism was not a blank page for him as he had experienced the Nazis in word and deed. Lichtenberg's worldview was a polar opposite from that of the Third Reich - his was free of

Nazism and theirs was free of Christianity

What made Bernhard Lichtenberg different from other German Catholic clergymen? Several things differentiated him from other priests - influences, turning points, and defining moments. There were several noteworthy influences and a few turning points in Lichtenberg' s life, but the defining moment came when he was assigned to Berlin.

Location, location, location! Had the Church hierarchy assigned Bernhard

Lichtenberg to any other location besides Berlin, he may have been completely unknown today. This was the most important crossroad in Lichtenberg's life - his assignment to Berlin. It gave him an opportunity to help the Catholic Church develop in a predominantly Protestant region. Lichtenberg faced adversity right from the start, causing him to become more determined to see Catholicism flourish.

359 360

Had Lichtenberg been assigned to a parish in a region of Germany that needed no Catholic development, he would not have had the opportunity to shine and thus climb the ecclesial ladder. Had he lived in a region that was predominantly Catholic, with few Jews, he may not have been so affected by

Kristallnacht. Had he served outside of Berlin, he may never have hit the Nazi radar so quickly and in such a strapping manner. On the other hand,

Lichtenberg may have spoken out against the Nazi regime's persecution in general, and without the protection of a high level position, he may have been sent to Dachau early on and died well before 1943, as a number of German priests did in the concentration camps. When Cardinal Kopp assigned Bernhard

Lichtenberg to Berlin in 1900, it was the single most important turning point in

Lichtenberg' s life. It set him on the path toward a notable martyrdom.

Lichtenberg could not have become the man he did without the early emphasis of Christianity in his life. What one learns from a young age can have such an impact on one's entire life. In his early life, Lichtenberg became Catholic

Christian through and through, and he came to have a great reverence for the

Church and her leaders. Without his strong Catholic family upbringing,

Lichtenberg would not have had the strength to follow the course he chose. His parents also remained devoted to him as he did to them. Lichtenberg had a clear religious and family continuity throughout his life. 361

Lichtenberg' s "free spirit" desire to travel abroad gave him insights to the world that he would never have had had he remained in Germany his entire life.

He witnessed the lives of people in several nations, but perhaps even more importantly, he experienced religious faiths other than Christianity as he traveled abroad. He became a cosmopolitan man, and from that, he could see the dangers in a strong nationalism. It allowed him to have a greater empathy for non-Germans and non-Catholics.

The assigning of Count von Preysing to Berlin as Bishop also had a great effect on Lichtenberg' s life. Any other bishop may have not only discouraged

Lichtenberg, but may have transferred him out of Berlin. When Lichtenberg told

Preysing in 1939 that he was too ill and wanted to go to a monastery to prepare for death, Preysing told him, "No, I need you." The two worked well as a team and surely the Vatican saw them as ground troops for the Church in Berlin. The

Vatican supported Preysing and Lichtenberg by keeping them in the heart of the

Church/State battle.

A particular turning point in Lichtenberg' s life was becoming a member of the city councils. It was there that he stepped beyond prayer, beyond the pulpit, beyond the parish, and strode into a new realm. To benefit the youth in education and the Catholics of Berlin, Lichtenberg had to interact more directly in the secular world. It was the interaction with his colleagues that allowed him to grow beyond a church pastor. With that experience, he learned how to be 362

more clever and resolute in word and deed. Had he simply continued as a simple pastor at Herz Jesu, the bishop may never have assigned him to the cathedral. Once Lichtenberg became a council member and therefore much more active in the community, the Church began to name him to special Church positions and councils. Lichtenberg eventually was called upon to sit in for higher church officials. Council work not only gave him greater confidence in his "political" voice, but also allowed him to become more visible and to take on more responsibilities. From 1938, as Dompropst, he was second only to the bishop in Berlin.

Times of crises for the Catholic Church in Germany also affected

Lichtenberg. The 1934 murders of Catholic officials in Berlin, particularly Erich

Klausener, changed Lichtenberg. From that point on, he began to take greater notice of the "political" events that affected the Church, and he realized that he needed to use his voice to protect Christianity as best he could. As persecution of the Church hit a high point in 1936, and Pope Pius XI wrote his encyclical, Mit

Brennender Sorge, Lichtenberg realized that his Church was encouraging him to do more in protecting Christianity in Berlin.

Kristallnacht - those who know anything about Lichtenberg know this - he prayed for the Jews. This is his greatest legacy. No other priest or clergyman, prayed daily for three years for the persecuted Jews. Lichtenberg stands out in this regard. But why did he believe that it was so important to offer these 363

prayers? First, it was something that he could do and, as a priest, he believed in the power of prayer. He could not stop the persecution of the Jews, but he could draw attention to their plight in his parish. Secondly, Lichtenberg saw the Jews as his brothers - both converted and "non-Aryan" Jews. He did what he could to help them through the Relief Agency, as much as he had helped the people in his parishes for over forty years. The history of acculturated and assimilated Jews in

Western Europe had less meaning to Lichtenberg because he had interacted with

Jews in other countries. He perhaps saw the Jewish people through a different lens than many of his compatriots.

Why has no one yet published an English-written monograph about the life of Bernhard Lichtenberg? A few historians told me that there was not enough information to write a dissertation about Lichtenberg, but a few others encouraged me to work on the topic. Although there are gaps in the story of

Lichtenberg' s life, there is enough information to offer a picture of who this man was, why he did what he did throughout his life, and why he chose to risk his life for his Christian principles. Where the German biographers of Lichtenberg wrote about him in the light of martyrdom, I have conveyed more information by considering his life in the context of his times.

The German presentations of Lichtenberg are well done. I have taken their stories just one step further by considering Lichtenberg' s personal biography amidst the life of the Church/State relationship in the nineteenth and twentieth 364

centuries. I hope that my dissertation can be seen as a link between the German scholarship and the English historiography, so that those interested can have a more detailed understanding of how Father Bernhard Lichtenberg fits into the history of the Second Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich. I want my work also to correct misinformation and misconceptions in some of the

English and German tomes.

Contrary to the suggestion by some authors, Lichtenberg did have support from his Church. Yes, it was subtle, but he sensed it. He never indicated that he felt abandoned by the Church. No one else prayed for the Jews like Lichtenberg did, but given that the Church did not reassign him, she was giving her support indirectly for him to follow his conscience.

Lichtenberg lived through three distinct German governments during his life and there is no indication that the changes affected him greatly. He simply adjusted to the new leaders, to the new Caesars. Lichtenberg became a parish priest during the Second Empire and he was quite successful in helping to develop Catholicism in Berlin. Through his begging missions all over Germany, he raised enough money to build churches, schools, and housing. At this time, he acted not only as a pastor, but a sort of businessman. As he guided his congregation through the First World War, he realized his pacifism. He took those values into the Weimar Republic. During the Weimar era, he added

"nominal politician" to his duties of pastor and businessman. This helped to 365

prepare him for the politics of the Third Reich. Having read Hitler's Mein Kampf,

Lichtenberg had early hints of what direction the Nazis might set. Lichtenberg dealt with each type of government from the standpoint of, "What do I have to do to be a good Catholic pastor, a good Christian, and a good neighbor." He simply adjusted to the changes, but never changed his values, or his path.

How did Lichtenberg view the leadership of the German bishops and the

Vatican? Every shred of a document that links Lichtenberg with the Church leadership shows the he had great respect and devotion to the popes, the cardinals, and the bishops. He held them in such high regard that he may never have even questioned whether they were doing enough to care for all God's children - Christians and Jews. When Lichtenberg was in Rome in 1935, his reaction to Cardinal Pacelli and the Pope mirrored a current day fan's reaction to rock stars. When Cardinal Bertram visited Lichtenberg's brother in Silesia in

1942, in Tegel Prison, Lichtenberg cried tears of joy that the cardinal would take time to do that. Perhaps Bernhard Lichtenberg never lost his childlike hero worship from the days, as young boy, when he dreamed of becoming a priest.

He may have idolized these men, but he remained steadfast in allowing his

Christian spirit to direct his own course.

Never did Bernhard Lichtenberg separate himself from the Catholic Church in any way. As early as 1932, the Vatican leaders indicated that German priests were free to follow their own consciences. Lichtenberg remained tethered to the 366

Church as he made his own path through Nazi Germany. The best way I see to characterize Lichtenberg' s life is to paraphrase Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and Lichtenberg took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference." APPENDIX A

HEIMTUCKGESETZ (December 20, 1934)

Law against malicious attacks on the state and party and for the protection of the party uniform. (RGBI. I S. 1269)

1. Whoever deliberately sets up or prepares an untrue or grossly distorted claim of a real, actual kind, which is suitable to seriously damage the well-being of the Reich or the reputation of the National Socialist German Workers' Party or its membership, will be punished with imprisonment of up to two years, and if he makes the claim publicly not less than 3 months, as long as there is not a more severe penalty threatened in other laws.

Whoever commits an act of culpable negligence will be punished with imprisonment for up to three months or with a monetary fine.

If the act is directed exclusively at the reputation of the Nazi Party or its membership, then it will be pursued only with agreement of the deputy of the Fuehrer or someone determined by him.

2. Whoever publicly makes spiteful, rabble-rousing statements or statements which generate low (base) attitudes about the leading personalities of the state or the Nazi Party, about their orders or the institutions set up by them, which (the statements) are suitable to undermine the trust of the people in the political leadership will be punished with imprisonment.

Non-public malicious statements are not the same as public statements, if the perpetrator reckons with or must reckon with the possibility that the statement may leak out.

The act is pursued only by order of the Imperial Minister of Justice; The Imperial Minister of Justice gives the order in agreement with the deputy of the Fuehrer. The Imperial Minister of Justice determines in agreement with the deputy of the Fuehrer the circle of leading personalities according to paragraph I.

367 APPENDIXB

MAP

Reinickendorf

Treptow - Kopenick

Figure 1. Districts of Berlin

368 APPENDIXC

LICHTENBERG CHRONOLOGY

3 December 1875 Birth of Bernhard Lichtenberg in Ohlau

27 December 1875 Baptism of Lichtenberg in the Ohlau parish church of Sts. Peter and Paul

[12 Aprill 1887 First Holy Communion of Lichtenberg in the Ohlau parish church of Sts. Peter and Paul

12 March 1895 Lichtenberg' s final gymnasium exam needed to qualify for university entrance

July-April 1895 Lichtenberg's summer studies at the theological faculty of the Leopold-Franz­ University at Innsbruck

October 1895 - October 1898 Lichtenberg' s studies at the Catholic Theological faculty of the University of Breslau

October 1898 - June 1899 Lichtenberg at the Prince Bishop Boarding School

17December1898 Lichtenberg received his first tonsure and the four lower orders

18 March 1899 Lichtenberg' s ordination as a subdeacon

25March1899 Lichtenberg' s ordination as a deacon

369 370

21June1899 Lichtenberg ordained a priest in Breslau by Cardinal Kopp

22June1899 Lichtenberg celebrates his first mass at Sts. Peter and Paul in Ohlau

June-July 1899 Lichtenberg replaces Pastor Kramer in Schonwalde

28July1899 Lichtenberg named third chaplain at St. Jacob's in Neisse

13 August 1900 Lichtenberg named chaplain at St. Mauritius in Friedrichsberg-Lichtenberg, Berlin

October 1901 - July 1902 Lichtenberg audits class in National Economy at Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin

28 November 1901 Lichtenberg receives an imprimatur for his work, "Religion is a private thing: An error in the Social Democratic Program, corrected by Dr. Eugen Losinsky, light through darkness"

5[November]1902 Lichtenberg named second chaplain at Herz Jesu in Charlottenberg, Berlin

17October1903 Lichtenberg named chaplain at St. Michael's in Berlin

30 September 1905 Lichtenberg named Curate in Friedrichsfelde-Karlshorst

February 1907 Lichtenberg' s parents move from Ohlau to Friedrichsfelde

9-13September1908 Lichtenberg participates in the Nineteenth International Eucharistic Congress in London 371

10 November 1910 Lichtenberg named Curate in Berlin-Pankow

12-15November1912 Lichtenberg participates in the Twenty-Third International Congress in Vienna

3March1913 Lichtenberg named pastor of Herz-Jesu in Berlin-Charlottenburg and remains there until 1931

1913-[1918?] Lichtenberg commissioned as military chaplain for Berlin-Charlottenburg

1916 Lichtenberg makes collection trip through Silesia

1917 Lichtenberg participates in an information trip with the war press to the Eastern Front; Lichtenberg receives the service medal of the Red Cross; Lichtenberg makes collection trip through Silesia

October-November 1918 Lichtenberg makes collection trip through Silesia

February 1919-September 1931 Member of the Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg and Berlin-Charlottenburg) City Council

October 1920 - November 1921 AND August - November 1925 Member of the Berlin City Council

October -November 1920 Lichtenberg collection trip to the archdiocese of Cologne

October 1921 Lichtenberg collection trip to the archdiocese of Cologne

1 September - 30 Lichtenberg collection trip to the diocese of Munster 372

1July1924 Lichtenberg named to Actuarius circuli of the arch presbytery of Berlin­ Charlottenburg

4-25October1924 Lichtenberg collection trip to the diocese of Basel

14October1925 Lichtenberg named to diocesan synod of the diocese of Breslau as synodal examiner

16 October - 17 December 1925 Lichtenberg collection trip to the archdiocese of Freiburg

26 March 1926 Lichtenberg named to the Cubicularius intimus seu secretus

20-24June1926 Lichtenberg participates in the 28th International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago on behalf of the archbishop's delegation

7August1926 Imprimatur for the text of Lichtenberg' s "American letters from the 28th international Eucharistic Congress in Chicago 1926"

September - October 1926 Lichtenberg collection trip to the diocese of Rottenburg

October 1927 Lichtenberg collection trip through the apostolic administrator Schneidemilhl

11May1928 Lichtenberg protests (to envoy in Berlin) church persecution in Mexico

5 October- 28November1928 Lichtenberg collection trip through Silesia

23October1929 Parliamentary inquiry to the Charlottenburg council concerning agitation of the Peace Association 373

13November1929 Protest letter to President Hindenburg against the "new pagan" agitation of the Tannenberg Association

18December1929 Introduction of Lichtenberg as the diocese chairman of the Kreuzbund

13 August 1930 Founding of the Diocese of Berlin through the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XI (Pastoralis officii)

September - October 1930 Lecture of Lichtenberg in the framework of the religious weekend of the Canisius work in Vienna; residence in the House of Charity in Vienna

1January1931 Lichtenberg named Canon at St. Hedwig's Cathedral

2 February 1931 Lichtenberg named to the Ordinariate Council

26June1931 Slander of Lichtenberg through the Nazi newspaper, "Der Angriff," in which at the example of the film" All Quiet on the Western Front" the collaboration of Lichtenberg in the Peace Association of German Catholics was defamed

9July1931 Lichtenberg named to Iudex prosynodalis (a judge... )

11 September 1931 Response letter of Lichtenberg on the order of the Bishop's Ordinariate of Berlin to Dr. Brautigam: Catholics are not allowed membership to the NSDAP for ideological reasons. The correspondence was published by the Nazi organ "Volkischer Beobachter."

19-31October1931 Lecture of Lichtenberg in the framework of the religious weekend of the Canisius work in Vienna; residence in the House of Charity in Vienna

December 1931 Naming of Lichtenberg as diocesan chairman of the Winfriedbundes 374

11 December 1931 Assignation of Lichtenberg with the Visitation of the Women's Order cooperative in the diocese of Berlin

16December1931 Death of Lichtenberg' s father in Berlin

26 February 1932 The main hearing in front of the court Berlin-Mitte (court presided over by a professional judge and two lay judges) against the slander from 26June1931

7 May (or 9June)1932 Lichtenberg named administrator of the cathedral

11June1932 Appeal negotiations before the state court of Berlin against the slander of Lichtenberg (26June1931)

13June1932 Beginning of the daily evening worship at St. Hedwig's Cathedral

October 1932 Residence in the House of Charity in Vienna

27 December 1932 Lichtenberg named pastor of St. Hedwig's Cathedral

31March1933 Lichtenberg recommends to Cardinal Bertram a bishop's intervention to the Jewish boycott of April 1, 1933.

5July1933 (Self) dissolution of the German Center Party

Summer1933 House search, interrogation, and warning by Gestapo

20July1933 Initialing of the Reich Concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich 375

6 September 1933 Petition of Lichtenberg and Pater Vetter to the German Episcopate for the favor of incarcerated Pater Stratmann

13January1934 Hearings of Lichtenberg on behalf of Cardinal Bertram with Minister Advisor Conrad about the pulpit word to the sterilization question

1March1934 Sacrilege in St. Hedwig's Cathedral

3March1934 Hearing before the (quick) court against the sacrilege(r) Festag (from March 1, 1934)

April 1934 Founding of Caritas in Berlin to take care of Catholics persecuted by the Nazi regime

4May1934 Appeal negotiations before the state court against Festag (from March 1, 1934)

30June1934 Murder of Dr. Erich Klausener and "Night of the Long Knives"

8 September 1934 Through Lichtenberg, celebration of the first priest-Saturdays in St. Hedwig's Cathedral

18November1934 Death of Lichtenberg' s mother in Berlin

1935 Study trip of Lichtenberg over Vienna, Rome, Monte Cassino, Palermo, and Syracuse to Malta

12 March 1935 Official protest letter to the Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, against the threat of prohibiting the Catholic weekend newspaper "Junge Front" 376

28 March 1935 Official decree of Lichtenberg to pray against 'the power of darkness' in all churches of the diocese from 31 March to 12 April 1935

May 1935 Begin the foreign process against those belonging to an order (almost without exception) before the 4 great criminal divisions (special court) of the state courts of Berlin

18 May1935 Lichtenberg celebrates a requiem for Marshall Pilsudski in St. Hedwig's Cathedral with Hitler in attendance

18July1935 Protest to the Prussian State Ministerium against human rights violations at the concentration camp Esterwegen

24July1935 Request of the Prussian Gestapo to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, reporting Lichtenberg' s offenses - traitor, misuse of the pulpit, and violation of the Heimttickegesetz

3August1935 Protest letter of Lichtenberg in the instructions of the Berlin Bishop Ordinariate to the Rich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick against the broadcasting of the "Devisenschieberliedes," a political smear song, in which members of religious orders were openly defamed against alleged smuggling in instructions of the Church. For the reason of the protest, open lecture and further broadcasting was forbidden in October 1935

27 September 1935 Communication of the Gestapo to the Prussian State Minister about the request of inspectors of the concentration camp, Eicke, to take Lichtenberg in preventive detention

15October1935-15March1937 Representative of authorized impeded and imprisoned of Bishop Legge of Mei1Sen by Bishop Preysing of Berlin as apostolic administrator 377

14-23November1935 Process against Bishop Legg of Mensen before the 4 great criminal divisions (special court) of the state courts of Berlin because of "Devisenvergehens" (Breach of exchange control regulations)

22November1935 Arrest of the leader of the "Church Information Place of the Bishop's authorities of Germany in Berlin," Cathedral Canon Dr. Banasch (until 6March1936), and his secretary Bosel; house search in the Bishop's Ordinariate Berlin

10 December 1935 Lichtenberg' s protest letter to Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler against the continuing widening of the book 'Der Pfaffenspiegel'

24December1935 Visit of Lichtenberg by instructions of the Bishop of Berlin to prisoners under house arrest by Gestapo at Prinz-Albrecht-StrafSe 8

16 August 1936 Collections and payment orders of Lichtenberg in St. Hedwig's Cathedral 'for severely impoverished non-Aryan Catholics

1936 Pilgrimage over Vienna, Sofia, Istanbul, and Haifa to the Holy Land

30 January- 2February1937 Resignation of the Reich Traffic and Post Minister Baron Eltz-Riibenach, member of St. Hedwig's, because of protest against the church enemy repression course of theNSDAP

21 March 1937 Pulpit reading of Pius Xi's encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" against the "more or less authorized violation" through the NS concordat partner.

6 April 1937 Ruling of Hitler to establish again the campaign of "Sittlichkeitsprozesse" (morality process) against priests and members of religious orders

7-29 April 1937 "Catholic process" against Chaplain Dr. Rossaint before the people's court in Berlin 378

29 April 1937 Official order/ decree of Lichtenberg to pray at May devotions in all churches of the diocese "for the religious petitions of our Fatherland in the opinion of the Holy Father"

28May1937 Speech by Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, in the Berlin Deutschlandhalle, with mass attacks against the Catholic Church and her religious orders

18June1937 Lichtenberg sends a letter of protest to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, Kerrl, regarding the hereditary health court

September 1937 Lichtenberg' s pilgrimage to Rome

October 1937 Denunciation of Lichtenberg through Graf von Kageneck, a former Trappist Monk, who as a publishing advocate for business, reported a conversation he had with Lichtenberg to the Gestapo

16November1937 Lichtenberg chosen as Dompropst of St. Hedwig's

18January1938 Lichtenberg named Dompropst (Canon at St. Hedwig's) by a brief of Pope Pius XI

2February1938 Bishop Preysing installs Lichtenberg as Canon at St. Hedwig's

April 1938 Lichtenberg named chairman of the diocesan committee of the Boniface Association

June-July 1938 Lichtenberg admitted to St. Joseph Hospital II in Berlin 379

August 1938 Official Church founding of the "Hilfswerks beim Bischoflichen Ordinariat Berlin" by Bishop Preysing of Berlin, a continuation of Caritas and its help for non-Aryan Catholics.

1 September 1938 Seizure of the pastoral letter of the German Episcopate of August 19, 1938, seizure of a typewriter and one of the printing apparatus in the Bishop's Ordinariate of Berlin by the Gestapo

10September1938 Final ban of the Catholic Church papers for the diocese of Berlin

9-11 November 1938 Kristallnacht; evening prayer in St. Hedwig's Cathedral for the greatly distressed non-Aryan Christians and the Jews

17 March 1939 Seizure of the files of the Catholic Young Men's Association of St. Hedwig's in Berlin by the Gestapo

3 April 1939 Seizure of the film of the 34th International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest from St. Hedwig's rectory by the Gestapo

29 April 1939 Lichtenberg named to the Protonotarius apostolicus a.i.p.

18 July-13September1939 Lichtenberg admitted to St. Joseph Hospital II in Berlin

14 September- 27October1939 Kneipp cure in Bad Worishofen for Lichtenberg

28 October-15November1939 Lichtenberg' s relaxation vacation in the seaside health resort Heringsdorf

10December1939 TU.bingen Professor Karl Adam's speech about "the spiritual situation of German Catholicism" in 380

5 February 1940 Summons of the General Vicar of the Bishop of Berlin, Dr. Prange, by the Gestapo, in order to receive the announcement of one of an intensified repression course against bishops and clergymen

10-13February1940 Deportation of the non-Aryans of Pommerns to Lublin

10March1940 Death of Lichtenberg' s brother, Alfred August Lichtenberg, in Frankfurt am Main

9 September -17October1940 Kneipp cure in Bad Worishofen for Lichtenberg

23 September 1940 Outline of a letter to the Berlin air raid leader with the demand to preserve segregation in the air raid cellars

4 and 30 November 1940 Lichtenberg writes to Professor Karl Adam with criticism about Adam's Aachen speech (from December 10, 1939)

17 March 1941 Exequies (funeral rites) offered by Lichtenberg in Berlin- for expelled Canon Alexander Kupczynski (from Tczew/ aka Dirschau)

5May1941 Seizure by the Gestapo of the Christ the King houses, one of the Priest hospices in the Petersburger StrafSe in Berlin

17June1941 Seizure of the buildings by the Gestapo of the buildings of the Curate of St. Clemens

June, [20] 1941 Protest letter of Lichtenberg to Himmler (Reichsfuhrer-SS and head of the German police), against the seizure of his own church property of the rectory of St. Hedwig's

25June1941 Dissolution and ban of St. Raphael's Association in Hamburg 381

31July1941 Lichtenberg sends Bishop von Galen of Munster a thank you note for his pulpit protest against the "Klostersturm"

1August1941 Seizure by the Gestapo of the seminary of St. Peter's in Berlin-Grunau

3August1941 "Fire homily" of Graf von Galen against Euthanasia murder

[Before 20 August] 1941 Outline of a protest letter to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs, Kerri, against the NS church policies

26 August 1941 Protest letter by Lichtenberg to Reich-Arztefuhrer Dr. Conti against Euthanasia

27August1941 Confidential decree of Himmler to lead "all the inflammatory Holy Joes" and state enemy elements to a concentration camp for a long time

4 September 1941 Report of an unfamiliar (by name) SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer because of 'Bolshevistic propaganda" in Lichtenberg's evening prayer at St. Hedwig's Cathedral on August 29, 1941

9 September - 6October1941 Kneipp cure in Bad Worishofen for Lichtenberg

22-23September1941 Conference of church specialists at the state police main station in the Reich security office in Berlin

29September1941 Questioning of female witness Schmactenberg by the Gestapo (from September 4, 1941)

6October1941 Questioning of female witness Herbell by the Gestapo (from September 4, 1941)

18 October 1941 Beginning of the deportation of Berlin non-Aryans 382

23October1941 Decree of the Reich Security main office, "that the emigration of Jews with immediate work is forbidden." Summons and arrest of Lichtenberg by the Gestapo; Lichtenberg admitted to the prison at Plotzensee, House IV (Cell 48); house search of the Dompropstei

24October1941 Decree of the Reich Security main office to all police stations about the "handling of the confessional opponent." Request of the bishop of Berlin, Preysing, at the police station in Berlin for a suspended sentence for Lichtenberg

25October1941 Communication of Preysing to Pope Pius XII about the imprisonment of Lichtenberg; Lichtenberg interrogated by the Gestapo: Lichtenberg makes it known that he wants to accompany the Jews to the Lodz Ghetto; his request is later denied

27 October 1941 Lichtenberg interrogated by the Gestapo

30October1941 Lichtenberg interrogated by the Gestapo

31 October 1941 Secret inquiry by the Reich Minister for Church Affairs regarding the reason of Lichtenberg' s arrest

2November1941 Homily by Bishop Preysing in St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin with a prayer request for the imprisoned Lichtenberg

3November1941 Final report of the Gestapo regarding the interrogation of Lichtenberg; transfer of Lichtenberg to the interrogation judge; interrogation of Lichtenberg; warrant by the district court against Lichtenberg; complaint by Lichtenberg against imprisonment; Lichtenberg committed to prison at Alt-Moabit in Berlin (cell CI 367)

4November1941 Additional writing of Bishop Preysing to the State Police in Berlin for the proposed reprieve of Lichtenberg given the doctor's attestation from October 24, 1941 383

8 November 1941 Bishop Preysing request denied by the District Court of Berlin; Report of Lichtenberg' s imprisonment by the Associated Press

11November1941 Recording of the Vatican referendum in the State Department Dr. Haidlen for the state secretary in the in the State Department Mr. von Weizsacker about the imprisonment of Lichtenberg

12November1941 Report of the Apostolic Nuncio in Berlin, Orsenigo, to the Cardinal Secretary Maglione about the imprisonment of Lichtenberg

24November1941 Certification of the capacity for imprisonment of Lichtenberg through the Institute doctor; Note by the head of the security police and SD to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs regarding the reason for Lichtenberg' s imprisonment

26November1941 Lichtenberg interrogated by the general prosecutor at the District Court

2December1941 Report of the general prosecutor at the District Court Berlin to the Reich Minister of Justice regarding the preliminary proceedings against Lichtenberg

9 December 1941 - [29 May 1942] In-patient treatment of Lichtenberg at prison hospital in Alt-Moabit, cell 34

19December1941 Bishop Preysing visits Lichtenberg in prison

5January1942 Appendix to the preliminary report of the general prosecutor at the District Court in Berlin to the Reich Minister of Justice

17February1942 Vain petition by Bishop Preysing to the general prosecutor at the District Court in Berlin to allow him to bring Holy Communion to Lichtenberg daily while he is in the prison hospital. 384

26February1942 Lichtenberg suffers a heart attack

3March1942 Disposal of the prosecution of Lichtenberg by the Reich Minister of Justice

10March1942 Vorsprache of the Apostolic Nuncio in Berlin, Orsenigo, at the State Secretary in the Foreign Agency Mr. von Weizsacker because of the imprisoned Lichtenberg

21 March 1942 Filing of the action against Lichtenberg by the general prosecutor at the District Court in Berlin

2 April 1942 Request by public defender Dr. Stenig to the special court I at the District Court in Berlin, to reschedule the April 10, 1942 appointment for Lichtenberg's main trial for four weeks

4May1942 Bishop Preysing visits Lichtenberg in Prison

8May1942 Request by public defender Dr. Stenig to the special court I at the District Court in Berlin, to accelerate the proceedings against Lichtenberg, whose "medical condition had become significant beeintrachtigt

22May1942 Lichtenberg sentenced to two years in prison by the special court I at the District Court in Berlin for "misuse of the pulpit" and violating the "Malice Law"

29May1942 Lichtenberg committed to Tegel Prison, cell VI 232

1-19June1942 Lichtenberg' s entrance examination on June 1 and admitted for in-patient treatment in the prison hospital, cell 27

3July1942 Bishop Preysing transmits the court's decision regarding Lichtenberg to Pope Pius XII 385

17 August 1942 Decree of the Reich Minister for Church Affairs to the Prussian Finance minister, to set the payment of the state's endowments to Lichtenberg

2 November 1942 Bishop Preysing visit Lichtenberg in prison

13March1943 Lichtenberg faints in his cell

19 March - 29 April 1943 Lichtenberg admitted to the prison hospital for in-patient treatment

20 March 1943 Official notification of Lichtenberg' s relatives regarding his serious health condition

21 March 1943 Bishop Preysing visits Lichtenberg in prison

22 March 1943 Vain petition by Bishop Preysing to the general prosecutor at the District Court in Berlin granting additional costs for Lichtenberg

30 April 1943 Pope Pius XII writes to Bishop Presying with words of "fatherly tribute of sincere compassion" for Lichtenberg

17 September - 23 October 1943 Lichtenberg admitted to the prison hospital for in-patient treatment

20 September 1943 Official notification of Lichtenberg' s relatives regarding his serious health condition

27 September 1943 Lichtenberg' s last surviving letter to Sister Stephana Ostendorf

29 September 1943 Bishop Preysing visits Lichtenberg in prison 386

13 October 1943 Request of the State Police Headquarters to the general prosecutor at the District Court in Berlin, to arrange Lichtenberg' s detention

21October1943 Attestation of the institute' s doctor regarding Lichtenberg' s physical condition

23 October 1943 Lichtenberg released from Tegel Prison in Berlin and admitted to the work camp Wuhlheide

28October1943 Order of the Reich Security Central Office to admit Lichtenberg to the concentration camp Dachau

3 November 1943 Stopover of the Transport in Hof; internment of the group of prisoners in the Hof prison

4 November 1943 Prison doctor transferal of Lichtenberg to the city hospital in Hof; Lichtenberg received last rites

5 November 1943 Bernhard Lichtenberg dies at 6 p.m.

9-11 November 1943 Lichtenberg' s corpse taken back to Berlin

16November1943 Pontifical requiem Mass in St. Sebastian's Church in Berlin; Burial at Berlin's St. Hedwig's cemetery on LiesenstraBe (old cemetery of St. Hedwig's)

17November1943 Bishop Preysing send communique to Pope Pius XI regarding Lichtenberg' s burial

21 March 1944 Pope Pius XII writes to Bishop Preysing noting his appreciation of Lichtenberg 387

9 September 1945 Pontifical requiem Mass in St. Clara's Church in Berlin-Neukolln for the fallen priests and believers of the diocese of Berlin for the sacrifice of their conviction under the reign of the Nazis, with a remembrance homily for Lichtenberg

4 November 1950 Dedication of the gravesite of Lichtenberg at Berlin's St. Hedwig's cemetery on LiesenstrafSe (old cemetery of St. Hedwig's)

27 March 1960 of St. Bernhard's Church in Berlin-Tegel by the Bishop of Berlin, Cardinal Dopfner; the church is dedicated to Holy Bernhard of Clairvaux and should bear in remembrance the memory of Lichtenberg

1962 Refusal of the permission through the East Berlin authorities to transfer Lichtenberg's mortal remains to the "Gedachtniskirche der deutschen Katholiken Maria Regina Martyrum zu Ehren der Blutzeugen fur Glaubens- und Gewissensfreiheit in den Jahren 1933 bis 1945."

18 April 1965 Opening of the preliminary proceedings of the beatification process of Bernhard Lichtenberg by the Bishop of Berlin, Archbishop Bengsch

26 August 1965 Exhumation of Lichtenberg' s remains and moved from Berlin's St. Hedwig's cemetery on LiesenstrafSe (old cemetery of St. Hedwig's) to the crypt in St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin

26November1967 Opening of the information process super fama martyrii of Lichtenberg in West Berlin

13September1968 Opening of the information process super fama martyrii of Lichtenberg in East Berlin

26November1969 Opening of the information process super scriptus of Lichtenberg

16 December 1969 Opening of the information process super non cultu of Lichtenberg 388

23February1972 Closing of the information process super fama martyrii of Lichtenberg

16November1973 Closing of the information process super scriptis und super non cultu of Lichtenberg

20 February 1976 Decretum super revisione scriptorum

16Tune1980 "Litterae postulatoriae" of the Berlin Bishops' Conference

3June1983 "Litterae postulatoriae" of Bishop of Berlin, Cardinal Meisner

23 June 3, 1996 Lichtenberg beatified by Pope John Paul II in Berlin BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHIV AL SOURCES

Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB) File DO/ 4 - 1332 File D0/4-1945 File R/5101 - 21806 (Preysing File) File R/5101 - 23335 (Lichtenberg File) File R58 / 5361 File R58 / 5558 File R58 / 5680 File R58 / 5696 File R58 / 5793, Akte 1 File R58 / 5839, Akte 1 File R58 / 5843, Akte 1 File R58 / 5843, Akte 2 File R58 / 5853, Akte 1 File R58 / 5862, Akte 2 File R58 / 5886, Akte 2 File R58 / 5890, Akte 1

Diozesanarchiv Berlin (DAB) File DAB BN 1076 File DAB V /26 Proc. Doc. Varia H 1,1. File DAB V /26 Proc. Doc. Varia H 1,2. File DAB V /26 Proc. Doc. Varia H 1,3. File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book I File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book II File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book III File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book IV File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book V File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book VI File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book VII File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book VIII File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book IX

389 390

File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book X File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book XI File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book XII File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book XIII File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book XIV File DAB V /26 Scripta S.D., Book XV File DAB V /26 Proc. Doc. Varia Hl File DAB V /26 Bernhard Lichtenberg: I Personenakte Strafgefangnis File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. I, fasc. doc. II/2, fol. 1-155 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf. B. Occident., vol. I, inter fol. 156 et 157, fasc. doc. II/3, fol. 1-49 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 4, fol. 1-139 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/5, fol. 1-41 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 6a, fol. 1-12 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 6b, fol. 13-32 File Trans. Proc. Ord. Inf., vol. II, fasc. doc. II/ 6c, fol. 33-37 File DAB V /26 Causa Lichtenberg: Veroffentlichungen iiber Lichtenberg I, Medien, Zeitungsausschnitte, Sonderdrucke bis 1980 File DAB V /26 Causa Lichtenberg: Veroffentlichungen iiber Lichtenberg II, Medien, Zeitungsausschnitte, Sonderdrucke 1981 - 1995 File DAB V /26 Causa Lichtenberg: Veroffentlichungen iiber Lichtenberg II, Medien, Zeitungsausschnitte, Sonderdrucke 1996 ff. -

Landesarchiv Berlin (LAB) File A Rep. 355(Folder19106) File A Rep. 355 (Folder 19107) File A Rep. 355(Folder19108) File A Rep. 355(Folder19109) File A Rep. 355(Folder19110) File A Rep. 355(Folder19111)

Center for Berlin Studies - Zentral - und Landesbibliothek Berlin (CBS) Amtlicher Stenographischer Bericht iiber die Sitzung der Berliner Stadtverordnetensammlung Microfilm B758 StVV 7a

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