Georg Schelling

Georg Schelling (born September 26, 1906 in Buch , Vorarlberg ; † December 8, 1981 in Rum , Tyrol ) was a Catholic priest , editor-in-chief as well as prisoner and camp dean in the Dachau concentration camp .

Georg Schelling around 1965

Life

Beginnings

Georg Schelling was born in Buch, attended grammar school in the Mehrerau in Bregenz and graduated in 1926 with the matriculation examination. In Brixen He then studied theology and received on June 29, 1930 Innsbruck Cathedral , the ordination .

From 1931 to 1934 Schelling worked as a chaplain in Hohenems , later was a beneficiary in Bregenz and was editor-in-chief of the Christian-social daily Vorarlberger Volksblatt .

Nazi persecution

As a Catholic priest, Schelling was a staunch opponent of National Socialism . Until 1938 he had articles critical of the Nazi published in the Vorarlberger Volksblatt . As editor-in-chief, he encouraged German political exiles to write critically about the conditions in Nazi Germany and even denounced the anti-church and misanthropic behavior in Hitler's Germany.

On March 21, 1938, shortly after the annexation of Austria , Schelling was arrested in Bregenz and interrogated by the Gestapo. After a few weeks he was transferred to the Gestapo central prison in Innsbruck and from there to the Dachau concentration camp, where he arrived on May 31, 1938. Temporarily - from September 26, 1939 to the beginning of December 1940 - he was a prisoner in Buchenwald, then, until his release in March 1945, again in Dachau. On June 5, 1938, he wrote to his family from Dachau:

“Georg Schelling, b. September 26, 1906 Block 8, Room 4 Dear ones! You must have heard of my transfer from Bregenz to Innsbruck. I was in Innsbruck for a week. I could have just written a letter when the transfer came here. Now I'll be here for a week the day after tomorrow ... "

From December 1940, the so-called priest or pastor's block existed in Dachau , in which priests of various denominations, isolated from the other prisoners, were allowed to celebrate masses. On March 17, 1943, Schelling was appointed camp chaplain, and in October 1944, Cardinal Michael Faulhaber from Munich appointed camp dean for up to 1,800 clergymen from all European countries. A total of 2,796 priests passed through the Dachau concentration camp.

He was released from the concentration camp on April 12, 1945. His successor as camp dean was Andreas Rieser .

Despite the special position of the priests in Dachau, Schelling was also subject to reprisals and the arbitrariness of the SS overseers. There are reports of 47 days of hunger bunker and a total of 14 months of punishment, beatings and abuse.

After the war

After his release, shortly before the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp by US troops , he resumed his priesthood in Vorarlberg in June, was chaplain in Altach for two years and headed the parish of Nenzing from November 30, 1947 until his death and from 1967 as dean the newly created dean's office Walgau-Walsertal .

1961 Schelling was by Pope Johannes XXIII. appointed papal secret chamberlain ( monsignor ). In addition, he was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor of the State of Vorarlberg and the Medal of Honor for Services to the Liberation of Austria . The political community of Nenzing has made him an honorary citizen for “outstanding services to the good of the community” .

Georg Schelling died on December 8, 1981 at the age of 75 in the sanatorium of the Sisters of the Cross in Rum and was buried in the priest's grave in the village cemetery of Nenzing.

Publications

• Vorarlberg Fortress. A report on the war in 1945 in our country . Teutsch, Bregenz 1947 (newly published and edited by Meinrad Pichler with the collaboration of Emmerich Gmeiner. 3rd edition Bregenz 1987), ISBN 3-900252-00-9 .
• The night is over! In: Vorarlberger Volkskalender 1947, pp. 121–129.
• The Schallert. Family history remarks on the parent roll , 1952.
• Memories of the last spiritual editor . In: 100 Years of the Vorarlberger Volksblatt. 1866-1966, 1966.
• The fallen of the community of Nenzing , 1974.

literature

• Archive of the Diocese of Feldkirch (ed.): Msgr. Georg Schelling (1906–1981) - Approaches to a priest's biography. Series of publications sources and investigations, Vol. 8, Feldkirch 2019
• Jakob Fußenegger (ed.): Concentration camp dean Georg Schelling. 200 letters from the concentration camp. Vorarlberger Verlagsanstalt, Dornbirn 1991, ISBN 3-85430-148-0 .
• Elmar Schallert: In memory of our HH Dean and Pastor Msgr. Georg Schelling. In: Parish Letter Nenzing 1982.
• Johann Maria Lenz: Christ in Dachau. Libri Catholici, Munich 1957.

Web links

• Monsignor Georg Schelling -100. Birthday ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 964 kB)
• Persecution and resistance in Vorarlberg 1933-45
• Never forget: Victims resisting Nazi rule, page 30 ff (PDF file; 1.07 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Birgit Kaiser: Andreas Rieser. In: Christ in the KZ , Sankt Ulrich Verlag, Augsburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86744-164-3 , p. 191.
2. ↑ Monsignor Georg Schelling - 100th birthday. In: Pfarre Buch: Pfarrnachrichten , Edition 37 of September 2006, p. 8.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 987 kB)