Gerhard Hirschfelder

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Gerhard Hirschfelder

Gerhard Franziskus Johannes Hirschfelder (born February 17, 1907 in Glatz , district of Glatz , province of Silesia ; † August 1, 1942 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German Roman Catholic priest , resistance fighter against National Socialism , youth minister of the former county of Glatz and a martyr . On September 19, 2010, he was beatified in Münster Cathedral .

Life

Grave site for Gerhard Hirschfelder in the cemetery in Czermna ( Tscherbeney )

Gerhard Hirschfelder was born as the son of the unmarried Maria Hirschfelder. After graduating from the Glatzer catholic school Gerhard Hirschfelder studied as a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Prague belonging Glatz philosophy and theology at the University of Breslau . After his ordination on January 31, 1932, he worked as a chaplain in Tscherbeney until February 1939 and then in Habelschwerdt . In July 1939 he was also appointed youth chaplain for the County of Glatz.

Hirschfelder had the reputation of an excellent and popular pastor. Confessional youth work was of particular concern to him. It was shaped by the goals of the Quickborn Catholic Association , of which he was a member. By imparting life orientation and Christian faith, he hoped to be able to make the youth resistant to the National Socialist ideology. Because of this, and because of his sermons critical of the Nazi regime , he was denounced while he was a chaplain in Cherbeney.

He was also spied on in Habelschwerdt and repeatedly interrogated by the Gestapo . When he denounced the wanton destruction of Christian symbols in a Sunday sermon in July 1941 and exclaimed “He who tears faith in Christ from the hearts of young people is a criminal!” He was arrested on August 1, 1941 and taken to the prison in the district town Brought bald. The arrest warrant was signed by Richard Spreu , District Administrator in Habelschwerdter . In the Glatzer prison, Hirschfeld composed prayers for the stations of the cross and wrote a short commentary on Paul's letters .

Four months later he was taken to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was given prisoner number 28972. There he died of exhaustion on August 1, 1942. A few weeks later, his ashes were buried in the Tschorbeney cemetery. The cause of his death could not be disclosed. He was soon venerated as holy by the believers in the places of his former ministry .

Commemoration

Memorial plaque in Telgte

In 1998 the International Gerhard Hirschfelder Circle was founded and the beatification process opened in the same year . On March 27, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI. the death of Gerhard Hirschfelder recognized as martyrdom. The beatification took place on September 19, 2010 in Münster Cathedral by Joachim Cardinal Meisner . The liturgical feast day is August 2nd. His formerly simple grave in the Tscherbeey cemetery (now Czermna ) was covered with black marble even before the beatification and the grave slab was provided with a trilingual inscription.

In Telgte in the Münsterland , a memorial stone commemorates Hirschfelder.

In 1999 the Catholic Church accepted Gerhard Hirschfelder as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

Hirschfelder way

In the Glatzer Bergland there has been a spiritual-tourist themed hiking trail in the footsteps of Blessed Father Gerhard Hirschfelder (Polish: Szlak Błogosławionego Księdza Gerharda Hirschfeldera ) since 2011 , which leads to the most important stations in the life and work of the Father. The path is marked by an orange Latin cross with the letter H on a white background.

Fonts

  • Way of the Cross prayers . Written down in Glatz prison in 1941 . Cloppenburg 1963
  • Commentary on the letters of Paul and prayers of the cross. From the estate of the Servant of God Gerhard Hirschfelder . Munster 1999

literature

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Hirschfelder  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20101011002034/http://kirchensite.de/aktuelles/bistum-aktuell/bistum-aktuell-news/date/2010/09/14/pro-christus-kontra-hakenkreuz / New biography of Gerhard Hirschfelder (2), Pro Christ - contra swastika, Kirchensite.de (accessed February 20, 2017)
  2. ↑ http://www.kipa-apic.ch/index.php?pw=kineupa&na=0,0,0,0,d&ki=206254
  3. ↑ Sermon by Cardinal Meisner on the occasion of the beatification of Hirschfeld : 'Your saints are like waters that flow upwards'
  4. ↑ Apostolic Bull, with which Pope Benedict XVI. Kaplan Hirschfelder added to the list of the blessed
  5. ↑ Redesigned grave with trilingual inscription
  6. ↑ Szlak Błogosławionego Księdza Gerharda Hirschfeldera (Polish) (accessed November 15, 2017)
personal data
SURNAME Hirschfelder, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hirschfelder, Gerhard Franziskus Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, youth chaplain of the former County of Glatz
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Glatz , District of Glatz , Province of Silesia
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 1942
Place of death Dachau concentration camp