European meeting place Franz Stock
The European meeting place Franz Stock is located in Le Coudray near Chartres , in the Eure-et-Loir department in France .
Abbé Franz Stock was a Catholic priest and during the German occupation in World War II pastor of the prisons of Paris and the place of execution on Mont Valérien . After the end of the Second World War, he headed the so-called barbed wire seminar of Chartres as rector . He is considered to be a pioneer of German-French friendship . Pope John Paul II named him in 1980 in a series of great figures in German history. On November 14, 2009, Hans-Josef Becker , the Archbishop of Paderborn , opened the beatification process for Franz Stock.
aims
The meeting place was created in the former building complex of the barbed wire seminar in Chartres. This is one of the rare places that embodies Franco-German reconciliation. The aim was to set up a religious-cultural meeting place in accordance with the Franco-German friendship treaty . It is intended to help Europe grow together spiritually in the service of a civilization of peace, just as the important founding personalities of the seminary , the then Apostolic Nuncio in France and later Pope John XXIII, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , the later French Minister Edmond Michelet and naturally Franz Stock wanted.
The building has retained its essential structure and is intended to represent the history of the camp / seminar. Work to restore the camp chapel, the heart of the project, was completed in 2011. It was previously the urgent task to restore and secure the original frescoes created by Franz Stock. The Stations of the Cross by Lothar Zenetti that were still in existence were also secured. A comprehensive permanent exhibition is to be created in the medium term.
As an event location for theater performances, exhibitions, concerts and congresses, as a contact point for pilgrimages and by being integrated into the tourist program of the city of Chartres, the meeting place will not only allow many people to deal with Franz Stock and current issues.
History of the building complex
The buildings that make up the "Coudray military camp" near Chartres were built around 1885 and were converted into a material depot by the French army in 1918/1920. Before the Second World War, they were used to store aircraft defense material. During the Second World War, the German occupation authorities used the complex as a transit camp for North African prisoners and for political prisoners.
From summer 1945 to summer 1947, on the initiative of the French government and with the support of the Apostolic Nuncio in France, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who later became Pope John XXIII. , part of the camp (which housed up to 38,500 prisoners) was separated for a seminary.
While maintaining the status and functioning of a prisoner-of-war camp, all priests and seminarians held in French captivity were amalgamated there. In this way they could continue or begin their studies. There was a high school graduation course for the youngest . The University of Freiburg im Breisgau took over the sponsorship of this seminar. The seminary, unique of its kind in Church history, lasted for two years. It was the largest seminary to date, a "seminar behind barbed wire" (Séminaire des barbelés). A total of 949 lecturers, priests, brothers and seminarians from Germany and Austria worked there from 1945 to 1947. The highest occupancy was in May 1946 with 506 people. The aim was to give young people who were called to take on practical and moral responsibility with a view to the moral reconstruction of Germany, a spiritual training in order to counteract the indoctrination to which they had been exposed during the Nazi era.
Nuncio Roncalli attended the seminar several times. On the Sunday after Christmas 1946, the papal nuncio appeared to deliver the Pope's wishes for blessings. During this visit he emphasized: “ The Chartres seminar is glorious in both France and Germany. It is very well suited to become a sign of understanding and reconciliation. “The barbed wire seminar existed until June 5, 1947. The last 369 seminarians left the prison camp.
In this way, what has gone down in history as the "barbed wire seminar" was created.
After the camp (and the seminar) closed in the summer of 1947, the Coudray camp was put to its original use. The pioneers were entrusted with the administration before it became the "Center Mobilisateur 101", in which no military activities have been carried out since the early 1990s.
Block 01, which had housed the "seminar", was added to the list of additional monuments in 1995, primarily because of the frescoes painted by Franz Stock himself in the seminar chapel.
Several years ago the French government decided to sell the entire site (today it covers 6.5 hectares), which is located in the municipality of Le Coudray.
Sponsoring association
For the establishment of the “European meeting place Franz Stock” in Chartres, the Franz Stock associations from Germany and France founded a joint sponsoring association “CERFS - Center Européen de Rencontre Franz Stock”. This has now merged with the French Franz Stock Association, the Les Amis de Franz Stock.
literature
- Karl-Heinz Kloidt: Chartres 1945. Seminar behind barbed wire; a documentation . Herder, Freiburg / B. 1988, ISBN 3-451-21198-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sermon of John Paul II, Fulda, November 18, 1980 , last accessed on February 26, 2019.
- ↑ Press release Archdiocese of Paderborn, October 8th, 2009: The beatification process for Abbé Franz Stock opens . Last accessed on February 26, 2019.
Coordinates: 48 ° 25 ′ 5.7 ″ N , 1 ° 29 ′ 24.1 ″ E