Ernst Kasenzer

Ernst Kasenzer (born June 19, 1891 in Skungirren ; † February 1, 1943 in Dachau ) was a German businessman , Protestant people's missionary , member of the Confessing Church , resistance fighter against National Socialism , prisoner in Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps .

Life

Kasenzer visited after the completion of primary school , the school of Insterburg . He then learned the trade of a businessman - a profession that apparently did not fulfill him. As a Protestant Christian, he wanted to tell other people about his faith. He became a people's missionary and came to Thuringia while serving in various regional churches . He found his wife in Hanna Müller, the daughter of the pastor von Wenigensommern , whom he married on October 1, 1939. They became the parents of two daughters. During his evangelism appearances, he aroused the displeasure of Nazi agencies with his frank critical remarks on the adoration of Hitler . When he refused to salute Hitler , he gave the Gestapo the opportunity to arrest him. On March 5, 1942, he was taken to the Weimar police prison , where he spent four weeks and his wife asked in vain for his release. He then became the Buchenwald concentration camp deported . After three months he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp because as a people's missionary he was thought to be a pastor. He was given the prisoner number 30640 and was assigned to the pastor's block. The Bible , the most important book for him, was taken from him.

Kasenzer died of exhaustion at the age of 52. His wife was fobbed off with the lie that her husband had died of " pneumonia ".

literature

• Harald Schultze , Andreas Kurschat : "Your end looks at ...": Protestant martyrs of the 20th century . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-374-02370-7
• Werner Oehme : Martyrs of Protestant Christianity 1933–1945. Twenty-nine life pictures . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1979, DNB 800224825 , p. 117