Gebhard Rath

Gebhard Rath (born April 13, 1902 in Gramastetten ; † March 2, 1979 in Vienna ) was an Austrian Roman Catholic clergyman, Cistercian , archivist and persecuted by National Socialism .

life and work

Florian Rath joined Wilhering Abbey and took the religious name Gebhard (after Gebhard von Salzburg ). In 1926 he made his solemn profession ; In 1927 he was ordained a priest. From 1928 to 1931 he studied history at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1931 with the dissertation The founding documents and the founding history of the Cisterce Wilhering . Then he was an archivist and librarian in the monastery until 1940.

As a member of the resistance organization Greater Austrian Freedom Movement . He was arrested by the Gestapo on July 26, 1940 and (like his abbot Bernhard Burgstaller and several confreres) in the spring of 1941 in the Anrath prison near Krefeld (today: correctional facility ) in the Jacob Kastelic group , which he was commissioned to set up and manage in Upper Austria Willich I ) brought. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the People's Court on March 1, 1944, for “preparation for high treason” and was imprisoned until the end of April 1945.

He returned to Gramastetten on May 22, 1945, but no longer served as a priest and resigned from the order on March 1, 1946. On July 9, 1946, he joined the Austrian State Archives , was deputy director from 1947 and director of the house, court and state archives from 1951, from 1955 also of the general administrative archive and finally from 1956 until his retirement in 1968 he was general director of the whole State Archives.

Works

• (Editor with Erich Reiter) The oldest traditional book of the Mondsee Monastery , ed. from the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives, Linz 1989 (research on the history of Upper Austria 16).

literature

• Festschrift Gebhard Rath. Dedicated on the occasion of his 60th birthday by the Austrian State Archives as well as by Austrian provincial and city archives directors. April 13, 1962 (= communications from the Austrian State Archives. Volume 14). State Archives, Vienna 1961.
• Richard Blaas: In memoriam Florian Gebhard Rath. In: Communications of the Austrian State Archives , Volume 33, 1980, pp. 533-537.
• Erika Weinzierl : Monks against Hitler using the example of the Cistercian monastery Wilhering. In: Römische Historische Mitteilungen , Volume 28, 1986, pp. 365–378.
  • also in: Erika Weinzierl: test stand. Austrian Catholics and National Socialism. Mödling 1988, pp. 186-199.
• Fritz Fellner: "A truly patriotic work". The Commission for the Modern History of Austria 1897–2000. Böhlau, Cologne / Vienna / Weimar 2001, p. 277 (short biography).
• Reinhold J. Dessl: Resistance of Wilheringer Cistercians against National Socialism. In: Annual report Stiftsgymnasium Wilhering , Volume 98, 2007/2008, pp. 7–19 ( PDF; 266 kB ).

Web links

• Rath estate