Angela Maria Ouch

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Sr. Angela Maria Autsch, photo from March 26, 1942, day of arrival in Auschwitz

Angela Maria Autsch , born as Maria Cäcila Autsch , religious name Angela Maria of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (born March 26, 1900 in Röllecken near Attendorn , †  December 23, 1944 in Auschwitz-Birkenau ) was a German nun of the Trinitarian order . She was imprisoned as a political prisoner during the Nazi era . Because of her helpfulness and deep religiosity, fellow prisoners also referred to her as the Angel of Auschwitz .

Youth and entry into the order

The daughter of the quarry worker August Autsch and his wife Amalie, born as the fifth of seven children, grew up in Bamenohl and learned the trade of saleswoman in Finnentrop in 1915 . She then worked in a textile company. After her fiancé hanged herself in 1930, she had to leave the village and moved to Heinsberg , where she came into contact with the Trinitarian order and asked to be admitted to the Trinitarian women. In 1933 her postulate began in the Tyrolean monastery of the Mötz order , a subsidiary of the Trinitarians of Valencia. On July 4th, 1934 Angela Ouch was dressed and was given the religious name Angela Maria of the Sacred Heart of Jesus . In 1938 she made her perpetual vows .

Resistance and imprisonment in Ravensbrück

After they came to power in Austria, the National Socialists tried to confiscate the Mötzer monastery. Angela Ouch saved the monastery by arguing legally that the Tyrolean monastery was Spanish property. She contacted the Spanish consul in Vienna, which ultimately led to the National Socialists refraining from expropriating the convention .

These activities drew the Gestapo's attention to Angela Ouch; the immediate reason for their arrest were then critical remarks about Hitler . Among other things, she described Hitler as a disaster for Europe and called him a “scourge of Europe” in her diary. Due to an anonymous denunciation, Sr. Angela was reported by the Mötz local group leader . She was arrested by the Gestapo on August 12, 1940 for "insulting the Führer and undermining military strength " and taken to the Innsbruck prison. After reading her diary, she was transferred to Rosenheim and deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp on August 29, 1940 without a trial . She was given the prisoner number 4651 and had to wear the political prisoner's red triangle . First she had to do heavy physical construction work, after a few weeks she was transferred to the infirmary, where she was employed in the care of women who had recently given birth , in the laundry room and as a cook. She also used this to secretly pass on medicines and soap to fellow prisoners.

Relocation to Auschwitz

On March 26, 1942, Sister Angela was transferred to Auschwitz together with a transport of about a thousand prisoners who were intended to set up a women's camp. She was given prisoner number 512. On August 16, 1942, she came to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was assigned to the sick department. In October she fell ill with typhus , from which she did not fully recover. On May 15, 1943, she was finally transferred to the camp's SS hospital. After more than four years in camp, she died on December 23, 1944 after an Allied bombing raid of shrapnel that hit her in the lungs.

Beatification process

The story of the nun and her self-sacrificing willingness to help other prisoners was passed down in particular by the Jewish-Slovak doctor Margita Schwalbová and by other prisoners who survived Auschwitz. The approximately 100 letters in which Sister Angela testified to her deep faith during her imprisonment have been preserved. Together with the statements of their fellow prisoners, these letters were the reason for the Archdiocese of Vienna to initiate the beatification process on March 8, 1990 . The diocesan process was completed in 1996 and the documents submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints . On May 19, 2018, Pope Francis awarded her heroic degree of virtue .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.univie.ac.at/biografiA/daten/text/bio/autsch.htm
  2. ^ Promulgazione di Decreti della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , May 21, 2018, accessed May 25, 2018 (Italian).

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Ouch, Angela Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Angela Maria of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; Ouch, Maria Cecilia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German nun
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Attendorn
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1944
Place of death Auschwitz concentration camp