Alexander Heinrich Alef

Alexander Heinrich Alef (born February 2, 1885 in Cologne , † February 16, 1945 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German Catholic priest .

Life and work

His parents were Anton Alef, director of the Ludwig Wessel wall panel factory in Bonn, and Anna Alef, née. Romans. Alef was born in Cologne, but grew up in Bonn . On August 1, 1909 he was Cardinal Fischer in the chapel of the Archbishop's Seminary in Cologne for priests ordained .

Some of his offices were on October 15, 1909, as a house chaplain in Fliesteden , then from February 21, 1910 as rector at the Sankt-Antonius-Hospital in Bayenthal . From October 14, 1910 he was vicar in Gerderath and from September 2, 1914 as rector in Delhoven . In 1915 he became so ill that he was released from his position. In 1920 he was resumed as a chaplain in the Sankt Josephskloster in Zündorf and three years later, on May 8, 1923, he became rector of Holtorf . But on November 12, 1925, he was given temporary retirement due to health problems. On October 20, 1930, he was appointed pastor in Sievernich on the basis of an Apostolic Power of Attorney from the Archbishop of Cologne .

Persecution and death

From 1933 he began to face difficulties with the new Nazi regime in Sievernich, which at that time had 368 inhabitants . Alef stubbornly refused to attend rallies at the Fallen Memorial. In the fall of 1934, Alef had given Dr. Ferdinand Keill, then Mayor of Vettweiß , slapped the face because he had not come to the service because of an " oath " of the Hitler Youth . He was repeatedly denounced to the local NSDAP and charged by the authorities, but was never convicted. Finally, on October 17, 1934, the district president wrote a letter to Alef's superiors:

“ The general behavior of the pastor shows such a strong aversion to the new political leadership, combined with a deep mental depression, that I ask your Excellency to consider that Pastor Alef will change his place of work and be replaced by a personality, which will also be due to the state religious instruction could be entrusted safely "

On November 23, 1935, his admission to religious instruction was withdrawn and from then on he held back publicly. In September 1943, Alef gave a Sunday sermon urging the children to come to the HJ meeting for religious education. Two days later the Gestapo appeared , interrogated the children, and searched the parish. Two more days later, Alef was banned from working and was expelled from the diocese of Aachen . He found shelter in Marienstatt Abbey , but had to report to the police regularly. In December 1943 he had to leave the abbey and came to the Cellitinnenkloster in Niederau near Düren , where he also had to report to the local police. The treating chief physician of the hospital in Birkesdorf wrote him several times incapacitated and even offered Alef shelter with his mother in a nearby foreign country, but Alef refused all help. In February 1944, Alef was finally picked up by the Gestapo and taken to the Aachen prison. From there he came to the Cologne exhibition center at the beginning of September . From there he was deported together with other internees such as Josef Baumhoff , Otto Gerig , Joseph Roth and Peter Schlack to the Buchenwald concentration camp on September 16, 1944 and received the prisoner number 81347. There he prayed a novena daily with these and other politicians .

Pastor Alef was in the infirmary of the concentration camp from October 3, 1944 because of diarrhea, body weight 48 kg. There he was met on October 30, 1944 by SS-Hauptsturmführer Dr. Gerhard Schiedlausky operates ( resection of 6 cm rectum ) with local anesthesia. Pastor Alef was in the Buchenwald infirmary until December 29, 1944, from where he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp to die.

On January 6, 1945, he and 46 other priests arrived at the Dachau concentration camp , where he received the prisoner number 137 367 and the postal address: 136 Dachau 3. K Block 17/4. He finally died on February 16, 1945 and was burned in the concentration camp's own crematorium.

Honors

• On October 21, 1960, the community council of Sievernich renamed Kirchstrasse by the rectory to Pfarrer-Alef-Strasse .
• In 1999 the Catholic Church accepted Pastor Alef as a witness to the German martyrology of the 20th century .

literature

• Archive of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial
• Konrad-Adenauer Foundation Sankt Augustin, Gerig estate and biography of Joseph Roth
• Helmut Moll (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century , Paderborn a. a. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 1–4.

Web links

• Biography of Pastor Alexander Heinrich Alef on the website of the Friends of the Sievernich e. V.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tonindustrie-Zeitung and Keramische Rundschau, Volume 46, Part 1, 1922, p. 189.
2. ↑ Helmut Moll: Witnesses for Christ. 2000, ISBN 3-506-75778-4 , p. 1.
3. ↑ Episcopal Diocesan Archive Aachen: Personal files Alexander Alef
4. ↑ Klaus Fettweis: Between Herr und Herrlichkeit: On the mentality question in the Third Reich using examples from the Rhine Province, Einhard Verlag 1989, ISBN 3-920284-48-8 , p. 172
5. ^ Horst Wallraff: National Socialism in the Düren and Jülich Districts, Publisher: Hahne & Schloemer, 2000, ISBN 3-927312-30-4 , p. 334
6. ↑ Helmut Moll: Witnesses for Christ. 2000, ISBN 3-506-75778-4 , pp. 2-3.
7. ↑ Personalities of the past centuries. Pastor Alexander Heinrich Alef. ( Memento of the original from April 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 31, 2012. 
8. ^ Archive of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial, NARA Washington RG 242, Film 4
9. ^ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, ACDP, Gerig estate, 01-087-002 / 1
10. ↑ References: digital archive ITS Bad Arolsen: partial inventory: 1.1.5.3, document ID: 5420853 - individual documents men Buchenwald.
11. ^ Archive of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial