Bernhard Schwentner

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Bernhard Schwentner
Memorial plaque at the Neustrelitz cemetery

Bernhard Schwentner (born September 28, 1891 in Schwerin , † October 30, 1944 in Brandenburg-Görden ) was a German priest .

Life

Bernhard Schwentner was born in Schwerin in 1891. After attending grammar school, he studied in Münster from 1910. In 1913 he entered the seminary in Osnabrück and was ordained a priest on March 7, 1914 . Until he was called up, Schwentner was vicar at St.-Marienkirche in Hamburg-St. George . He was used as a military chaplain at the front during World War I. After the war he was in Hamburg St. Ansgar's Church (Little Michel) worked as a vicar and was supported by the University of Muenster in Catholic theology and following from the Pontifical Gregorian University in canon law doctorate .

From 1920 to 1927 he was in the church service in the Friedrichstadt community (today Husum parish) in Schleswig-Holstein. On March 30, 1927 he was appointed pastor of Neustrelitz, part-time he was in charge of the local garrison . The bishop of Osnabrück gave him the duties of dean for Mecklenburg.

The clergyman, particularly respected for his righteousness and sincerity, was disliked by the National Socialists . In 1943 he was reported by a Gestapo spy for allegedly anti-subversive statements and arrested on October 21, 1943. Although Schwentner was very active as a military chaplain and had friends among the officers, no one stood up for him. The efforts of the Bishop of Osnabrück , Hermann Wilhelm Berning , for the release were unsuccessful. From the time of imprisonment and the time up to the execution it is reported that he accepted this calmly and serenely "in the followings of Jesus Christ" and wrote a poem. The trial did not lead to any evidence, nor were exonerating witnesses heard, and the death sentence was probably already fixed at the beginning. On September 15, 1944, Pastor Bernhard Schwentner was sentenced to death by the People's Court for undermining military strength and executed on October 30, 1944 in the Brandenburg-Görden prison. The urn with his ashes was buried first in Brandenburg, then on November 26, 1949 in Neustrelitz.

Appreciations

After the war, several streets were named after him, for example in Hamburg, Schwerin and Neustrelitz, where he was last. In 1965 a bronze monument was erected for him next to the Neustrelitz Catholic Church, which contains the urn with his ashes.

In 1999 the Catholic Church accepted Pastor Bernhard Schwentner into the German martyrology of the 20th century as a witness of faith .

In April 2012, a stumbling block was laid for him in Strelitzer Straße 28a in Neustrelitz .

literature

  • RSHA report, Office IV (October 21, 1943)
  • In memory of Pastor Bernhard Schwentner , Church Messenger of the Diocese of Osnabrück, No. 31, October 1960
  • BM Kempner: Priest before Hitler's tribunal , church messenger of the Diocese of Osnabrück, November 3, 1946
  • U.v. Hehl: Priest under Hitler's terror , Mainz 1984
  • KH Jahnke: Against Hitler: Opponents and victims of the Nazi regime in Mecklenburg 1933-1945.
  • Helmut Moll (publisher on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 327–329.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Website of the Catholic Church Congregation St. Ansgar ( Memento from February 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Kulturportal Mecklenburg-Vorpommern "historical figures, historians / theologians. ( Memento from June 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Website of MVweb GmbH & Co. KG, in cooperation with the Ministry for Education, Science and Culture Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the State Film Center MV. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  3. ↑ Schwentner, Bernhard ( Memento from June 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). BBKL website. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
  4. ↑ Stolpersteine ​​laid in Neustrelitz In: neustrelitz.de , accessed on March 11, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Schwentner, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pastor
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 1944
Place of death Brandenburg-Görden