Auguste Wampach

Auguste Wampach (born August 6, 1911 in Niederfeulen ; † May 6, 1988 in Luxembourg ) was a Luxembourgish Roman Catholic clergyman who was active in the resistance against National Socialism .

Life

Auguste Wampach was vicar in Remich when the Wehrmacht occupied Luxembourg during World War II . Wampach showed solidarity with the Lëtzebuerger Patriote Liga (LPL), but without becoming a member himself. However, he provided the resistance group with logistics and made his rectory available as a secret base. From the pulpit he made derogatory comments about the occupying power. From October 1942 he was also active as an escape helper and procured forged personal data for refugees. Among other things, he worked with the smuggling groups around Hubert Glesener and Eugéne Leger . With Wampach's help, deserters, war and political refugees in particular managed to travel to the unoccupied part of France.

On December 15, 1943, Wampach was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Villa Seligmann in Esch-Alzette , where he was repeatedly interrogated and tortured. Despite the immense pressure, he withstood the Gestapo interrogations. He was accused of unauthorized border crossing, dismantling of military strength and state and high treason . At first he remained imprisoned in the SS special camp in Hinzert , where he secretly held services.

On August 7, 1944, an odyssey through various concentration camps began, which ended in January 1945 in Mauthausen . Despite the long transport time and the numerous mistreatments, he remained unbroken in his resistance. So he refused to work and remained active in pastoral care. In the invalid's block in Mauthausen he owned a rosary despite the ban , celebrated Holy Mass and comforted dying and sick fellow prisoners. The block elder in the invalid's block saved his life by posing as Wampach as an iron turner . So Wampach came to Linz as a forced laborer in the Reichswerke Hermann Göring . Life in the Linz III subcamp was tough. He only narrowly escaped death.

On May 5, 1945, he was liberated by US troops who used him as an interpreter. He then returned to Luxembourg, where he continued to work as a clergyman. On January 23, 1971, he was awarded the Resistance Medal. After his death he was posthumously awarded the Croix de la Résistance.

literature

• Steve Kayser: Auguste Wampach . In: Irmgard Aschbauer, Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair (eds.): Freedom is in fact alone. Resistance to National Socialism for religious reasons. Biographies and contributions to the 2009 International Symposium . Edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902605-17-7 , p. 201-205 .