Gerhard Storm

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Gerhard Storm (born April 1, 1888 in Sonsfeld bei Haldern ; † August 20, 1942 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German Roman Catholic priest , pastor , resistance fighter against National Socialism and a martyr of the Catholic Church .

Life

After attending the schools in Venlo and Birkenfeld , Gerhard Storm studied theology in Münster , where he was finally ordained a priest on March 8, 1913. Storm then became chaplain of the St. Martini congregation in Wesel and , from May 19, 1920, of the St. Aldegundis congregation in Emmerich , where he was among other things entrusted with editing the church press for the deanery . In addition, from 1925 onwards, as a religion teacher, he gave so-called life science lessons at the vocational schools in the city of Emmerich. On April 1, 1931 Storm signed a contract with the city in which he undertook to continue teaching until he was 65 years old. In the following, however, this contract was terminated on December 31, 1934 by the city, which was now run by National Socialists , under the law for the restoration of the civil service . Thereupon Storm successfully demanded the withheld salary and pension payments until 1936. In addition to his teaching activities, Storm campaigned in particular for the Catholic youth. He took part in the construction of a youth home and distributed a monthly newsletter to the young people entrusted to him. As a result of the ban on church youth associations, Storm advanced to become a youth chaplain , which prompted the National Socialists to shadow him .

Memorial plaque for the pastor Jan Otten and the chaplain Gerhard Storm at the church of St. Aldegundiskirche in Emmerich am Rhein

During the Second World War Storm was hired as a hospital pastor in Emmerich. Here, too, Storm was shadowed, but it was not until a sermon on January 11, 1942 that a reason for an arrest was finally seen. On January 15, a report was sent to the Gestapo , which contained in particular the quotation “This is exactly how it would be for a state that artificially spruced up the rotten state structure through laws and ordinances and so on. This state structure would also collapse when the time came. ”And was finally judged as follows:“ Even if he did not specifically refer to today's state, it was not difficult to infer from his words what he wanted to say. The exact wording of his statements cannot be reproduced. This branch did not belong in the sense of his sermon and was a direct derailment. ”During the subsequent house search, the original elaborations of the sermons of January 1st and 11th, the sermon Salvation comes from the Jews from 1938 and 95 other sermons confiscated.

Storm was interrogated in Emmerich on March 25 and finally arrested on May 15 at 1 p.m. at the behest of the Gestapo. He was initially taken to the Emmerich police prison, and three days later he was transferred to the men's prison in Düsseldorf . From there, Storm was brought to the Dachau concentration camp , where he was interned on July 23 and, weakened by a lung disease, died after just a few weeks on August 20 as a result of the consequences of his imprisonment. The official report stated that he had died of intestinal catarrh .

The graves of Heinz Bello and Gerhard Storm in the crypt of the Xanten Cathedral

Storm's urn was first buried in the cemetery in Haldern until it was transferred to the crypt of Xanten Cathedral on September 3, 1966 as a memorial for modern martyrs.

The Catholic Church accepted chaplain Gerhard Storm in 1999 as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

literature

  • Alex Bettray: Fifty years ago: The priest and religion teacher Gerhard Storm was not allowed to write . in: Calendar for Klever Land 36 . Boss, Kleve 1986, ISSN  0174-0520 , pp. 32-36
  • Christian Frieling: priest from the diocese of Münster in the concentration camp. 38 biographies. Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 1992. ISBN 3-402-05427-2 . Therein pp. 191–194: Gerhard Storm .
  • Rüdiger Gollnick: Not Gone with the Wind: Gerhard Storm, prophet and rebel . Schröder, Bad Honnef 1988, ISBN 3-926196-10-6
  • Franz Kloidt: Concentration camp inmate No. 32281. Blood witness Gerhard Storm . Gesthuysen, Xanten 1966
  • Helmut Moll , ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference, Witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th, updated and revised edition 2019, pp. 539–542.
  • Hans-Karl Seeger: STORM, Gerhard . In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, Vol. XXI (2003) Sp. 1472–1474.
  • Karl-Heinz Steeger: Gerhard Storm. in: Rundbrief Internationaler Karl-Leisner-Kreis 36 , IKLK, Kleve 1997, pp. 49–51

Footnotes

  1. ^ Christian Frieling: Priest from the diocese of Münster in the concentration camp . Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 1992. ISBN 3-402-05427-2 , p. 191.
  2. ^ Christian Frieling: Priest from the diocese of Münster in the concentration camp . Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 1992. ISBN 3-402-05427-2 , p. 192.
  3. ^ Christian Frieling: Priest from the diocese of Münster in the concentration camp . Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Münster 1992. ISBN 3-402-05427-2 , p. 194.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Storm, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Martyrs of the Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Haldern
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1942
Place of death Dachau concentration camp