Franz Valentin pitcher

Franz Valentin Krug (born December 24, 1904 in Würzburg , † December 11, 1993 in Bad Kissingen ) was a pastor , resistance fighter , poet and artist .

Life

Franz Krug was the son of the Federal Railway Inspector Franz Krug and Eva Wehner. The visit to the secondary school in Würzburg initially sketched out a technical and scientific life path. But his early entry into the youth movement Bund Neudeutschland , which combined Germanism and Catholicism in the student youth, led him purposefully to the priesthood. On March 16, 1930 he was ordained a priest in Würzburg. Josef Stangl , who later became Bishop of Würzburg, was a fellow on his course. He took up his first chaplaincy on April 1, 1930 in the Lower Franconian community of Fellen. Just 14 months later he moved to Zeil am Main on June 1, 1931 and to Schweinheim near Aschaffenburg on May 1, 1933. For the young chaplain, Schweinheim was something like first love. The pastor Umenhof there, a witty original, obviously left a deep mark on him. It was here that he first came into contact with the German Scout Association of St. This connection between Catholicism and the idea of Robert Baden-Powell fascinated him so much that it never let go of his whole life. From October 19, 1938 to February 28, 1973 he was pastor in the Lower Franconian community of Dorfprozelten before he retired on March 1, 1973 as a pilgrimage pastor in Rengersbrunn. On November 1st, 1977 he finally received a benefit in Bad Kissingen and worked there in pastoral care until his death. He was in the village of Dorfprozelten for almost 35 years, even though he was warned from various quarters. Dorfprozelten is an extremely difficult community with very difficult people and great social tensions: boatmen, forest workers, socis and communists. He came anyway and has never looked back. At his golden jubilee as a priest, which he celebrated in the village priests, he said: "Here I have found my earthly home".

Franz Krug in the Third Reich

The millennium was less than twelve weeks old and was already showing its true colors. The Enabling Act was enacted and approved by all parties with the exception of the SPD. Political Catholicism, namely the Center Party, was also at an end. While a concordat between Hitler and the Vatican was still being concluded and some bishops were still sympathizing with the regime, the local pastors soon had to sense where the wind was blowing. The young chaplain Franz Krug was probably one of the first priests to mess with the Nazis. In the 1933 Reichstag election in the Aschaffenburg district, Schweinheim was the municipality in which the browns received the most votes in percentage terms. As early as 1934, the headmaster Alfons Friedrich sent a first written report “about a sermon by the Krug” to the district leadership in Würzburg. In January 1936, Friedrich reported to the police that "almost every sermon Krug delivers can be seen to be directed against the state". He also never returns the “German greeting”. The school principal and the mayor and local group leader, who now "supervised the sermons", quickly noticed the diplomatic skill of their chaplain: "He always knows how to express himself in such a way that one cannot intervene against him". Mayor Schebler also complained that Krug "answers invitations to patriotic events by not showing up". After further, similar complaints about the chaplain had been received by the district leadership, the SS-Obersturmführer Gerum, an employee of the SD in Würzburg, wrote, "I ask to take all means against Krug ...". Franz Krug is summoned for questioning. But apart from the statement that Krug “abuses religious instruction and the pulpit to reveal his opposition to National Socialism”, nothing could or would not be done. After all, measures have now been taken in the background to punish the "Hetzkaplan". Krug, who knew nothing about it, volunteered for the village of Dorfprozelten in 1938. Anyone who now thought the waves would be smoothed out with it saw themselves mistaken. The “rebellious priest” also held out from his new congregation, the district leadership and the Gestapo on their toes and made sure that many pages of files were kept about him. The Third Reich came to an end with a big bang for Pastor Krug. From Good Friday 1945 to Holy Saturday, American artillery bombarded the village process. A shell hit the church wall and also damaged the church's stained glass windows.

Franz Krug as an artist

Franz Krug was also very active as an artist and poet. He made countless linocuts, mostly with Christian but also with Franconian-native motifs. At his death he also left behind 75 volumes of poetry (thick and thin), which he had put on and written. The data show that he wrote poetry all his life and was extremely productive at certain phases of his life.

Awards

• 1972: Honorary citizen of the village of Dorfprozelten
• The city of Aschaffenburg and the community of Dorfprozelten each name a street after Pastor Franz Krug.

literature

• Gutbert Klug - Pastor Franz Krug - pastor, poet and artist (1999)
• Local history and history association Dorfprozelten - Dorfprozelten am Main - A village in the course of its 1000-year history (1995)