Gabriele von Magnis

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Gabriele von Magnis (born March 24, 1896 in Eckersdorf , district of Neurode , province of Silesia ; † March 8, 1976 in Andernach ) was the welfare and special representative of the Wroclaw Bishop Adolf Bertram for the care of the Catholic "non-Aryans" of Upper Silesia . Through her commitment she helped people who were persecuted by the National Socialist regime to leave the country .

Life

Gabriele von Magnis came from the Silesian branch of the noble von Magnis family . Her parents were Anton Franz von Magnis (1862–1944), 1902–1918 member of the Prussian manor and Knight of Honor of the Order of Malta, and Bianka, née. Deym from Střítež . Together with nine other siblings, four of whom died in childhood, Gabriele von Magnis spent her childhood on her parents' estate in Eckersdorf in the county of Glatz . In 1921 she left her affluent parental home with the desire to devote her life to caring for people who belonged to society's outsiders. After an apprenticeship in horticulture in Weimar, she attended the infant nursing school in Münster from 1922 to 1923 and graduated as an infant nurse. She then attended the Westphalian welfare school in Münster until March 31, 1925. She completed the mandatory one-year internship at the Berlin State Youth Office and the Berlin-Wedding District Youth Office. From September 1926 to December 1927 she worked as a welfare worker in the women's welfare office in Berlin. This activity also included hospital care in the women's hospital in Berlin-Reinickendorf and the care of prostitutes.

Early 1928 Gabriele was Magnis with the establishment of a police welfare office at the State Police office in the Upper Silesian Bytom commissioned. Her duties included visiting the police prison, questioning children, young people and prostitutes, and working with the criminal police. After the police welfare office, which was directly subordinate to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, was dissolved in 1933, Gabriele von Magnis received an offer of continued employment, which she declined because she did not want to serve the National Socialist state. Instead, she accepted a church job as a parish assistant in Gleiwitz- Richtersdorf. In addition to administrative and secretarial tasks, she was entrusted with the reception and integration of new parishioners as well as with youth and family welfare. Regardless of this, she was still listed in the “Inhabitants Directory of the City of Beuthen O.-S.” from 1937 as “Magnis, Gabriele, Countess, Police Welfare” with the address Wilhelmplatz 1 in Beuthen.

In 1935 Magnis took over the management of the Beuthener Caritasstelle, which was also a subsidiary of the Breslauer St. Raphaels Association, which was founded in 1871 "to protect German emigrants". During the time of National Socialism, the association helped people seeking help who wanted to emigrate because of the threat of political persecution and who had to accept harassment from the authorities. Probably for this reason Gabriele von Magnis was commissioned by Cardinal Adolf Bertram from Breslau in spring 1938 to look after the Catholic “non-Aryans”. These were also persecuted by the National Socialist racial ideology, although some of them had already converted to Catholicism several generations ago . In addition to caring and financial support, the order was primarily linked to help with emigration. In addition to existing contacts with authorities and welfare institutions, she also benefited from connections to the head of the Jewish welfare office and the judge at the district court. In addition, she was able to access information and tips from employees of the Upper Silesian Caritas offices. After their work had been spied on by the Gestapo , Magnis went to the Gestapo leader in Beuthen to confirm that the state wanted the Caritas Association to support the emigration of “non-Aryans” and their wives and children. This gave her a leeway that she used as far as possible. In addition, she helped those affected to make living conditions bearable.

After the Red Army had taken Beuthen at the end of January 1945, Gabriele von Magnis left the city with the intention of taking over the management of her parents' property in Eckersdorf, as her brother Ferdinand was still at war. In Eckersdorf she cared for the local needy, but above all for the refugees who tried to flee to the west from the advancing Red Army. With the help of the School Sisters , the Breslau had to leave, she taught at the former children garden a home for elderly and infirm refugees. In February 1946 Gabriele von Magnis - together with the villagers - had to leave their estate within a few hours.

Soon after her arrival in Lower Saxony, she was commissioned by the Hildesheim Vicariate General to take care of the displaced. After her retirement in 1958, she moved to Würzburg. Her work, with which she helped those persecuted by the Nazi regime, only became known after her death with the 1995 “Word of the German Bishops in Commemoration of the End of the Second World War 50 years”.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Magnis, Gabriele von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Magnis, Gabriele Countess
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German social worker
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Eckersdorf , District of Neurode , Province of Silesia
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1976
Place of death Then after