Anton Kutej

Memorial plaque for Anton Kutej, St. Michael near Bleiburg

Anton Kutej (born July 13, 1909 in Klagenfurt ; † February 16, 1941 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was an Austrian priest who died in the Dachau concentration camp because of his attitude towards National Socialism .

Life

Kutej lived with his mother in Klagenfurt until he was nine, then they both moved to Globasnitz . With the support of the pastor Jernej Pšeničnik, Kutej was able to attend the Klagenfurt grammar school from 1923 to 1931. After graduating from high school, he entered the Klagenfurt seminary and began studying theology. He was a member of the “Community of Slovene Theologians in the Seminary”. In March 1937 he received the subdiaconate and diaconate ordination, on June 27, 1937 he was ordained a priest and celebrated on July 4th. J. in the church Maria Dorn in Eisenkappel his first session .

priest

Kutej worked as a priest until the end of April 1938 in Eisenkappel, then in Neuhaus in Carinthia and in Maria Elend and from January 1, 1939 until his arrest on March 26, 1940, as a chaplain in St. Michael near Bleiburg . Kutej was arrested by the Gestapo after the service in the Wackendorf branch church .

Nazi persecution

He received the military pass , which he wanted to deposit at the municipal office in order to seek advice from the ordinariate. The community secretary, however, was a national socialist loyal to the line, who had hoped for a career as a legionnaire in Germany after the July coup and, full of anger, immediately brought Kutej's refusal to sign the military ID card to the attention of several higher-level agencies and the Gestapo branch. After two days, Kutej was arrested by the Gestapo, and there was never a trial; the chaplain was simply transferred to the concentration camp by the Gestapo. The ordinariate then received the verbal notification that he had refused to sign the military pass and had indicated German as a foreign language. Kutej and his brother Štefej Messner made no secret of their anti-fascist attitude. Kutej first came to Dachau because of "refusal to sign in the military passport", then to Mauthausen concentration camp (prisoner no. 2863) and finally back to Dachau on December 7, 1940, where he was housed in Block 17 with the Carinthian priests Marzell Leeb and Nikolaus L'Hoste was and eventually died.

On March 3, 1941, Kutej's urn was buried on the south side of the presbytery of the Church of St. Kanzian .

Recognitions

• Memorial plaque on the parish church in Sankt Kanzian am Klopeiner See
• 1994: Memorial plaque at the branch church in Wackendorf in Globasnitz
• 1994: Memorial plaque on the parish church in St. Michael near Bleiburg

literature

• August Walzl: Against National Socialism. Resistance to Nazi rule in Carinthia, Slovenia and Friuli. Carinthia publishing house, Klagenfurt 1994, ISBN 3-85378-410-0 .
• Janko Markač: Anton Kutej , in: Martyrs of the Faith. Martyrology of the 20th Century, Vol. 3. Feldkirch, Innsbruck, Gurk, Salzburg, Vienna 2000, pp. 155 ff, ISBN 3-85351-163-5 .
• Janko Messner: Anton Kutej - the nameless Slovenian hunter from Carinthia. in: Kritisches Christianentum 322/323 2008, S. 14 ff.
• Jan Mikrut: The Christian Martyrs of National Socialism and Totalitarianism in Central Europe 1938-1945. Dom-Verlag, Vienna 2005, p. 324, ISBN 3-85351-191-0 .
• Wilhelm Baum, Peter Gstettner , Hans Haider, Vinzenz Jobst, Peter Pirker (Hrsg.): The book of names. kitab, Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-902585-53-0 .
• Wilhelm Baum:  KUTEJ, Anton. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 32, Bautz, Nordhausen 2011, ISBN 978-3-88309-615-5 , Sp. 845-848.