Anton Bornefeld

Anton Bornefeld (born July 20, 1898 in Wadersloh in the Westphalian Münsterland ; † March 14, 1980 in Liesborn ) was a priest of the Münster diocese , a pastor and a staunch opponent of National Socialism .

School and study

After his Abitur at the grammar school in Münster , he began studying theology and a seminary . During his studies he learned the Polish language . In 1924 he went on a study trip to Hultschin near Ostrau on the Oder to learn the Czech language . Between 1930 and 1937, further studies to improve language skills followed at the Silesian seminary in Krakow and in Poznan .

Pastoral care

After his ordination on June 10, 1922 in Münster, Anton Bornefeld was chaplain in the parish of St. Josef in Bottrop until 1933 . There he devoted himself in particular to pastoral care for Polish miners in the Ruhr mining industry and their families. In addition, since 1923 he was also responsible for the pastoral care of Catholics from Moravia . From 1933 to 1940 he was chaplain of the parish of St. Johannes in Duisburg -Hamborn, where he continued to devote himself particularly to pastoral care for people from Poland and Moravia. From 1940 until his arrest and delivery to the Dachau concentration camp in September 1943, he worked as a religion teacher at secondary schools in Lüdinghausen , including at the Canisianum pedagogy . From November 1940, the Episcopal Vicariate General in Münster also assigned him the task of a pastoral care worker for Polish civil workers in the deaneries of Lüdinghausen, Werne and Datteln . After his liberation from Dachau concentration camp in May 1945, his health was impaired and he returned to his chaplaincy in Lüdinghausen. From January 15, 1946 to January 1954, he was pastor in Oberhausen -Holten. Then he was pastor in Havixbeck until May 1961 .

Persecution under National Socialism

Kaplan Anton Bornefeld probably belonged to a group of Catholic priests who were particularly suspicious of the rulers after 1933 because of his outstanding interest in the language and culture of the people from Poland and Moravia, a group of people who were “ foreign ” according to National Socialist ideology . Nevertheless, he was initially able to devote himself to his pastoral duties in the parish in Duisburg - unmolested by the NSDAP and Gestapo . Only after he had secretly traveled to the 34th World Eucharistic Congress in Budapest in May 1938 - contrary to a ban on all German nationals from taking part - did the Gestapo search his home for the first time shortly after his return. In January 1939 his home was searched again. On September 5, 1939, shortly after the attack on Poland , another search took place. Anton Bornefeld had been warned and, expecting his arrest, had gone into hiding. In the period that followed, the Polish associations he headed were dissolved by the Gestapo, and the association's treasury and books were confiscated. In mid-September 1939, leading personalities of the Polish clubs were arrested and interrogated for hours. After his transfer as chaplain from Duisburg to Lüdinghausen in 1940, he was questioned by the Gestapo there with regard to his political convictions. On September 16, 1942, he and other teachers and clergymen of the grammar school and the Konviktes “Canisianum” in Lüdinghausen were arrested and initially taken to the police prison in Recklinghausen . On February 6, 1943, Anton Bornefeld was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp . There he found a number of known priests from Poland, the Czech Republic and his home diocese of Munster as fellow prisoners in the so-called pastor's block . After he was initially assigned to the “vegetable growing” work group on the plantation, he was given a lighter job in the prisoners' clothing store from October 1943 through the mediation of his brother Georg Schelling , who was employed as a block clerk. Because of his work in the clothing store, he did not have to participate in the death march . On April 29, 1945, he and the other survivors who remained in the Dachau concentration camp were liberated by American troops. Since the former prisoners were given back their civilian clothes, Anton Bornefeld remained active in his former work detail and was released from the camp by the Americans on May 29, 1945.

Honors

Anton Bornefeld was appointed canonicus honorarius of the Polish diocese Köslin-Kolberg as well as the real archbishop council of the Czech archbishopric of Olomouc because of his services to the reconciliation between Germans, Poles and Czechs .

literature

• Christian Frieling: Anton Bornefeld. In: Priests from the Münster diocese in the concentration camp. Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 1992, ISBN 3-402-05427-2 , pp. 207-210.

Web links

• Dr. Anton Bornefeld. Appendix to the memorial book victims and places of rule, persecution and resistance in Recklinghausen 1933-1945.