Alois Theissen

Alois Augustinus Remigius Theissen (born December 13, 1899 in Viersen , † September 9, 1961 in Duisburg ) was a Catholic clergyman and prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp .

Life

Training and first employment

After graduating from high school, Theissen entered the Collegium Albertinum , studied at the University of Bonn and then in the seminary in Bensberg , today's Cardinal-Schulte-Haus , Catholic theology and received on March 7, 1924 together with 55 other seminarians in the High Cathedral in Cologne the ordination of Archbishop Karl Joseph Cardinal Schulte . His first job was on April 23, 1924, as a chaplain at St. Lambertus in Düsseldorf . On February 1, 1927, Theissen moved to Essen , initially as a chaplain at St. Michael and from October 7, 1929 as a spiritual religion teacher at the municipal secondary school for boys. With effect from October 14, 1933 he was appointed religion teacher at the grammar school in Essen- Steele , but on March 9, 1934 he was transferred to St. Joseph in Cologne - Braunsfeld as a chaplain . At this early point in time, Theissen was obviously a thorn in the side of the National Socialists, who were now also ruling in Essen . In order to bring him to safety, Archbishop Schulte sent him a good two years later with the appointment of May 18, 1936 as a German chaplain to the Netherlands in Haarlem .

Arrest and deportation to Dachau

After the invasion of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht in May 1940, Theissen was arrested by the Gestapo in September 1940 . The occupation authorities accused him of his contacts with the Dutch Catholic press and of allegedly writing “anti-subversive” letters, but without a trial. Rather, Theissen was taken to the pastors' block of Dachau concentration camp on June 20, 1941 , from which he was only released shortly before its dissolution on April 10, 1945 without giving any reason.

Return and further service

Despite the past hardships, Theissen took over the parish of St. Peter in Rommerskirchen as pastor on June 12, 1945 after his return home at the request of Archbishop Joseph Frings and was also appointed definitor of the Grevenbroich deanery on September 28, 1951 . He then took up his last position on October 15, 1953 as pastor of St. Judas Thaddäus in Duisburg - Buchholz , where he was also appointed dean of the Duisburg- Huckingen dean 's office on December 30 of the same year . The damage to health suffered during the Nazi persecution and the extraordinary stresses and strains of the post-war period meant that Theissen died less than eight years later at the age of only 61.

literature

• Handbook of the Archdiocese of Cologne, 23rd edition 1933, Cologne 1933, p. 830.
• Handbook of the Archdiocese of Cologne, 24th edition 1954, ed. from the Archbishop's General Vicariate, Cologne 1954, pp. 1000 and 1023.
• Handbook of the Diocese of Essen, 1st edition 1960, Ludgerus-Verlag, Essen 1960, p. 430.
• Ecclesiastical gazette for the diocese of Essen from September 21, 1961, 4th year, item 18, p. 116.
• Ulrich von Hehl (Ed.): Priest under Hitler's terror. A biographical and statistical survey. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh Paderborn 1996³, Vol. I, p. 799, ISBN 3-506-79839-1 .

Web links

• Website of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site