Franz Egger (pastor)

Franz Egger (born September 6, 1882 in Weingarten (Württemberg) ; † May 24, 1945 in Wurmlingen (Tuttlingen district) ) was a Roman Catholic pastor in Württemberg and a victim of National Socialism .

Life

Franz Egger was born as the son of August Egger and his wife Genovefa. Bird born. August Egger had a watch, gold and silver goods shop. Franz Egger did an apprenticeship as a sculptor after attending secondary school . After completing his apprenticeship, he was a Benedictine oblate in the art school in Beuron from 1900 to 1904 , where he was also taught Latin and other subjects. He planned to stay in Beuron and become a priest in the Archabbey of St. Martin , but the abbot was of the opinion that artists should not become priests.

So he left Beuron in 1904. The following year he served in Aachen as a one-year volunteer . From 1905 he attended high school to catch up on the Abitur, which he successfully passed in 1910. After graduating from high school, he studied at the University of Friborg (Switzerland) from 1910 to 1915 . On 19 July 1914 he received by André Bovet-Maurice , the Bishop of Lausanne-Geneva , the ordination . In 1915 he finished his studies with very good grades. Egger intended to do a doctorate in art , but he had to leave Switzerland in the spring of 1915 due to the political and military situation.

At Egger's request, he was temporarily appointed vicar in Laimnau , Wangen and Stuttgart by the Rottenburg diocese . In 1916 he and other clergymen were sent to Weingarten for medical training and then worked for a short time on the Western Front as a medical sergeant. After three months of training at the interpreting school in Berlin, he became an English and Italian interpreter at the AOK . From spring 1918 until the end of the war he was chaplain in the 52nd Reserve Division.

After the war he was parish administrator in Bad Mergentheim , Crailsheim and Oberbettringen (now Bettringen). In 1922 he became city pastor in Metzingen . He also looked after the pastoral care in Nürtingen , Neuffen and Bempflingen . This was difficult from 1923 to 1925 as rail traffic was severely restricted. For health reasons he had to give up the parish in Metzingen in April 1925. On May 17, 1925, he became pastor in Granheim (near Ehingen (Danube) , now part of Ehingen).

Proclamation against fascism

Franz Egger was an opponent of the National Socialists and also spoke out against them publicly. On April 20, 1932, as pastor of Granheim , he participated in a call to boycott a National Socialist meeting organized by Baron von Speth. Because of this open attitude towards National Socialism, he got himself into trouble, which explains the application for a transfer of May 31, 1932.

On December 19, 1935 he came to Schwalldorf (near Rottenburg am Neckar ). During the renovation of the church there in 1936, he took over the management. The cheeks of the pews were carved by him and are still unchanged today. Egger was particularly well received by the Schwalldorf youth.

Arrest and prosecution

Because of his attitude towards the National Socialists, Egger was denounced on June 13, 1940 and arrested by the Gestapo . He came first in the Gestapo prison Stuttgart in custody . Lukas Jungel, the mayor of the Schwalldorf community, was arrested along with Egger. Egger was sentenced on November 7, 1940 by the Stuttgart Special Court to two years and four months in prison, including the four months of pre-trial detention.

There is nothing to be found in the judgment of the special court on the accusations of the prosecution. From the report by Eggers lawyer Dr. F. Kalkoff (dated November 19, 1940) emerges that he was convicted under Section 1 of the Broadcasting Ordinance and Section 2 (2) of the Heimtückegesetz and for serious forgery of documents . Egger had listened to foreign radio stations. He confessed that in the fall of 1939 he had heard broadcasts from Italian radio stations and the Vatican. In 1940 he heard “a few times” excerpts from Beromünster , Strasbourg , and probably also London .

In addition, he had been guilty of serious forgery of documents and the treachery law . On January 22nd, 1940 he wrote a letter to the district manager Rauschnabel in Tübingen , which he called “Dr. Mayer ” with the wrong signature. In the letter Egger attacked the National Socialist leadership strongly and directed "serious insults" against the National Socialists. He is said to have closed the letter with the French words "C'est la vérité - n'est-ce pas?" (That is the truth - or not?) .

Franz Egger was able to resume his work as pastor in Schwalldorf on October 5, 1942, after he was released from prison on July 7, 1942. However, as a result of his imprisonment, his health suffered, which meant that from June 15, 1943, he could no longer practice his profession. He was retired on August 1, 1944. He spent his pension until the end in Wurmlingen near Tuttlingen . He died there on May 24, 1945.

literature

Ernst Rößner: "Franz Egger" . In: Karlheinz Geppert (Hrsg.): 700 years Schwalldorf - traces from past and present . 1st edition. Schwalldorf 2004, ISBN 3-924123-51-9 , pp. 123-125 .