Franz Dittert

Franz Dittert (born December 10, 1857 in Wölfelsdorf , Habelschwerdt district , Silesia , † December 18, 1937 in Mittelwalde ) was a German theologian and pastor of Mittelwalde from 1899. From 1921 to 1937 he was United dean and vicar of up to 1972 Archdiocese of Prague belonging Glatz and canon of Wroclaw .

Life

Franz Dittert was the son of a farmer. After attending the Royal High School in Glatz , he studied Catholic theology at the Universities of Breslau , Munich and Würzburg . He then returned to his homeland and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Prague on July 29, 1883 by the Wroclaw Bishop Robert Herzog . He then worked as a chaplain in Rosenthal for more than two years . From 1886 he was a localist in Stuhlseifen , a few months later he returned to Rosenthal, where he was appointed pastor. On August 15, 1899 he was appointed pastor of Mittelwalde. There he built a toddler and household school as well as a higher family school in 1912. He transferred the management to the Hedwig Sisters in Breslau , to whom he transferred the house in 1936. Since the parish church "Corpus Christi" had become too small due to the population growth, he planned a new building. This project could not be realized because of the First World War and the subsequent inflation. Politically, he was chairman of the Center Party for the Habelschwerdt district.

After the death of the great dean Edmund Scholz , Franz Dittert was appointed as his successor by the Archbishop of Prague František Kordač on February 7, 1921 . At the same time he was appointed to the Fulda Bishops' Conference as the Archbishop's deputy . On April 27, 1921, he was made honorary capitular at the Breslau Cathedral . In the same year Pope Benedict XV awarded him . the prelate of apostolic protonotary . As vicar general he was responsible for 160,000 Catholics in 63 parishes and 114 priests, an office with a chaplain who acted as spiritual secretary was set up in the Mittelwald rectory. It was headed by the later canonical visitor Prelate Leo Christoph .

As part of an action that was supposed to lead to the ban on the Catholic Young Men’s Association (KJMV), the Gestapo searched the offices of the great dean Dittert in Mittelwalde on November 23, 1935. The chief officer Carl Taube von Neuwaltersdorf had found out about it and warned some clergy in advance. Secretary Leo Christoph had transcribed the Secret Order on a typewriter and presented it to his superior Dittert. He had forwarded them to the Episcopal Information Center in Berlin. The copy was found there during a search of the house and an immediate search of the rectory in Mittelwalde was initiated. Although a search of the office premises and the seizure of the files did not produce any evidence, Dittert was to be arrested. A family doctor who happened to be present and pointed out the poor health of the 78-year-old prevented his arrest. However, instead of him, the secretary Leo Christoph, the pastor Georg Charfreitag von Neuwaltersdorf and the local chief Carl Taube as well as the pastor Petrus Tautz von Konradswalde were arrested. On November 27, 1935, Leo Christoph, Georg Charfreitag and Carl Taube were transferred from the Breslau police prison to the Columbia concentration camp in Berlin without any proceedings having been initiated . Pastor Tautz, who was also imprisoned, was allowed to return to Konradswalde at that time. Leo Christoph, Georg Charfreitag and Carl Taube were only released from the Columbia concentration camp on March 6, 1936 without explanation.

Franz Dittert died on December 18, 1937 in Mittelwalde. After a pontifical request , he was buried by the Prague Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Nepomuk Remiger at the St. Barbara cemetery church. The tombstone with a relief of the risen Christ was created by the Glatzer sculptor Franz Wagner.

literature

• Michael Hirschfeld: Grafschaft Glatzer priest in conflict with the Nazi regime . In: The County of Glatz between 1918 and 1946 . Edited by Horst-Alfons Meißner and Michael Hirschfeld. Aschendorff-Verlag Münster, ISBN 978-3-402-12896-1 , pp. 355-369
• Grand Dean Prelate Franz Dittert, the current Vicar General and Grand Dean of the County of Glatz, pastor in Mittelwalde. In: Arnestuskalender 1933, Arnestus-Druckerei Glatz, p. 27
• Arno Herzig , Małgorzata Ruchniewicz : History of the Glatzer Land. DOBU-Verlag et al., Hamburg et al. 2006, ISBN 3-934632-12-2 , pp. 266, 290 and 384

Web links

• Biogram (accessed November 24, 2016)