Albert Riesterer

Albert Wilhelm Riesterer (born March 21, 1898 in Grafenhausen ; † February 20, 1996 in Überlingen ) was a German Roman Catholic pastor and local researcher who was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp from 1941 to 1945 .

Live and act

Albert Riesterer was a Catholic pastor in Mühlhausen im Hegau from 1934 to 1976 and then in Dingelsdorf on Lake Constance until 1984 . Because of his opposition to National Socialism , he was imprisoned from 1941 to 1945 as one of 23 clergymen from the Freiburg archdiocese in the Dachau concentration camp. He was “people's pastor, Dachau priest, guardian of the Poppelegrabes, local researcher, friend of the youth in Hegau and at the lake, honorary citizen of Mühlhausen-Ehingen”, author and clergyman in the archdiocese of Freiburg.

Summons and arrests

With particular love and ability, Riesterer took on the pastoral care of adolescents. This resulted in many difficulties and subpoenas from the Gestapo .

On July 1, 1941, he and the acolytes of his parish in Mühlhausen near Engen went to the “Shrine of the bitter Mother of God” in Schenkenberg to attend the pilgrimage service on the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary . One wanted to spend the night in tents. The Gestapo, instigated by the local teacher, suddenly turned up at 10 a.m. Out of the tent, she dragged the pastor in the car to the police prison in Singen . There he stated that the religious threat at school forced him to continue to keep in close contact with the youth.

The Reich Security Main Office in Berlin justified the detention "because it considers the state education for young people to be a threat to the faith and tries with all means and strength to sabotage it".

After a few weeks, Riesterer was taken to the Konstanz official prison . He was released on October 2, 1941, but expelled from Baden and Hohenzollern . At the state police headquarters in Stuttgart they tried to lure him during an interview: “Come to us, you will immediately get a good job in youth care. Take off your priest's robe and everything will be fine. ”He refused this as an imposition.

On October 26, he was again taken into protective custody in Freudenstadt . The provisional mayor of Mühlhausen, angry about the community's attachment to its pastor, went to Berlin specifically for this purpose.

Riesterer was admitted to Dachau on November 14, 1941 . Requests by the church authorities and his 74-year-old mother for release were unsuccessful. The highest Gestapo authority meant to his mother:

“Your son appeared in his sermons and in his other behavior in an extremely detrimental way. His arrest was therefore necessary in the interests of state security. Especially in the present war time, an unconditional commitment for the National Socialist state must be expected from all German national comrades and everything must be avoided that could somehow weaken the internal resistance of our people. Unfortunately, your son's behavior does not guarantee that he will fulfill these self-evident obligations in the event of his release. "

It was not until the advance of the Allied armies that he was liberated on April 11, 1945 .

Pastor Albert Riesterer Prize

In the community of Mühlhausen-Ehingen it is tradition that the community council honors the winners of the “Pfarrer-Albert-Riesterer-Preis” in its first meeting after the summer break. The name bearer of the award was a friend and sponsor of the youth. The life of Pastor Albert Riesterer, who was imprisoned for several years in the Dachau concentration camp during the Nazi dictatorship, was shaped by the motto “In a happy slalom through life”. The award is also a call to young people to get involved in a life in the community.

Albert-Riesterer-Strasse

In Mühlhausen-Ehingen there is an Albert-Riesterer-Straße.

Works

• "It is the Lord" - God is love , in: Konrad Hofmann, Reinhold Schneider , Erik Wolf (eds.): Winner in fetters. Testimonies of Christ from camps and prisons ( Das christliche Deutschland 1933–1945 , Gemeinschaftliche Reihe, Issue 1) , Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder 1947, pp. 18–25.
• The strongest power. [Roman] , Donauwörth: Cassianeum 1950.
• It's going to take a big fire. Story from life , Konstanz: Merk [1959].
• On the scales of God. Report by Priest Albert Riesterer about his experiences in captivity from 1941 to 1945 , in: Journal of the Church History Association for History, Ecclesiastical Art, Antiquity and Literature of the Archdiocese of Freiburg with consideration of the neighboring dioceses 90 (1970) 198-250 (available online) .
• Dingelsdorf. Land und people , Stockach: Pestalozzi-Druck 1978, 3rd edition 1988.
• Back then in Nazareth. Jesus stories for children , Munich: Don Bosco Verlag 1989.

literature

• Otto Riedmüller: And yet: in a happy slalom through life - Albert Riesterer. Contributions from and about the people's pastor, Dachau priest, guardian of the Poppelegrabes, local researcher, friend of the youth in Hegau and at the lake, honorary citizen of Mühlhausen-Ehingen , Mühlhausen-Ehingen: Parish St. Peter and Paul 1999; Table of contents: (online) .
• Bernhard Gedrat: Albert Riesterer (1898–1996). In happy slalom through life (online)
• Eike Lossin: Catholic clergy in National Socialist concentration camps. Piety between adaptation, command and resistance , Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2011.

Web links

• Literature by and about Albert Riesterer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Information on Popolius Maier (online)
• Awarded the “Pfarrer Albert Riesterer Prize” in 2008 (online) .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who was Popolius Maier, Burgvogt on Hohenkrähen? poppele.de. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
2. ↑ Otto Riedmüller: And anyway ... , 1999, title page.
3. ^ Riesterer: At that time in Nazaret ... , 1989, 4th cover page
4. ↑ Konrad Hofmann, Reinhold Schneider , Erik Wolf (eds.): Sieger in Fesseln. Testimonies of Christ from camps and prisons ( Das christliche Deutschland 1933–1945 , Gemeinschaftliche Reihe, Issue 1) , Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder 1947, p. 17 f.
5. ↑ Albert-Riesterer-Straße in Mühlhausen-Ehingen (online)