Friedrich Lorenz (priest)

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Friedrich Lorenz OMI (born June 10, 1897 in Klein Freden ; † November 13, 1944 in Halle ) was a Catholic religious priest and a victim of Nazi military justice .

Life

Memorial plaque of the martyrs of the Nazi era in the crypt of the Saint Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin-Mitte

Friedrich Lorenz was born in 1897 as the son of a postman in Klein Freden in today's district of Hildesheim / Lower Saxony . In 1902 the family moved to Hildesheim , where he grew up in the local St. Bernward community . Here Lorenz had the first contact with the oblates . He attended St. Karl's boarding school in Dutch Limburg from 1911 to 1916. Subsequently, he entered the novitiate of the Oblates in Maria Engelport in August 1916 , but had to leave the monastery a month later due to his conscription to the army. During the First World War he fought as a private and non-commissioned officer on the Western Front. Because of his bravery he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class.

After World War II, he re-entered the monastery, laid on July 25, 1923 his perpetual vows and became a year later by the Fulda Bishops Joseph Damian Schmitt for ordained priests . Lorenz had his first assignment in the people's mission . Because the mission sermon was difficult for him, he was transferred to Schwerin in 1934 .

On September 1, 1939, he had to go to war as a military pastor . Here, too, he was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery . In 1940 he returned to Schwerin. Here he was in contact with the “Wednesday Circle”, a discussion group for men from the pastoral care area of Stettin . In 1942 his order sent him to St. John the Baptist in Szczecin as a chaplain . Fr Friedrich Lorenz worked there until his arrest. On the night of February 4 to 5, 1943, the "Wednesday Circle" was stormed by the Gestapo (" Stettin case "). 40 people were arrested, including Friedrich Lorenz. Lorenz was sentenced to death on July 28, 1944 in Torgau for “listening to enemy broadcasters ”, “ decomposing military strength ” and “favoring the enemy”. The verdict was upheld in a new hearing from September 2-4. On November 13, 1944, 4 p.m., Father Friedrich Lorenz OMI was beheaded in Halle (Saale). His body was cremated. The burial of the urn took place on November 3, 1947 in the Huenfeld monastery cemetery .

Commemoration

In 1999 the Catholic Church accepted Father Friedrich Lorenz into the German martyrology of the 20th century as a witness of faith .

literature

  • Frédérique Dantonel:  Lorenz, Friedrich. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 31, Bautz, Nordhausen 2010, ISBN 978-3-88309-544-8 , Sp. 798-800.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive  on 2009-07-15)
  • Benedicta-Maria Kempner: Priest before Hitler's tribunals . Unchanged reprint from 1967, 2nd edition. Bertelsmann, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-570-12292-1 , pp. 87–91 (first edition: Rütten & Loening, Munich 1966).
  • Helmut Moll (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , pp. 996–998.
  • Heinz Kühn: martyrs of the diocese of Berlin. Klausener, Lichtenberg, Lampert, Lorenz, Simoleit, Mandrella, Hirsch, Wachsmann, Metzger, Schäfer, Willimsky, Lenzel, Froehlich . More publishing house, Berlin 1952.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Lorenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edmund Deppe: Three priests who died for their faith. In: KirchenZeitung , issue 33/2019 of August 18, 2019, p. 9.
personal data
SURNAME Lorenz, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Priests and Nazi victims
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Little Freden
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1944
Place of death Halle (Saale)