Gottfried Könzgen

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Gottfried Könzgen (born April 3, 1886 in Mönchengladbach ; † March 15, 1945 in Mauthausen concentration camp ) was a German workers secretary , politician ( center ) and martyr .

Life

After attending primary school in Hochneukirch near Mönchengladbach, Gottfried Könzgen completed an apprenticeship as a weaver. He completed his secondary school leaving certificate and A-levels in evening classes at the Archbishopric Konvikt in Neuss. He then studied law and economics in Bonn as a guest student.

In the First World War he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class. After the war he married in Mönchengladbach in 1920 and began to be politically active. From 1919 to 1944, Gottfried Könzgen was the workers 'secretary of the Catholic workers' movement in Duisburg. As a city councilor for the Center Party, he was temporarily active in Mönchengladbach . He was temporarily head of the “Catholic People's Office”, which at that time represented a kind of legal advice for the Catholic population. He was a member of the Provincial Parliament from 1925 to 1930 and a member of the city council in Duisburg from 1929 to 1933.

He was arrested for the first time on January 9, 1935. He had spoken in the Catholic workers' home in St. Joseph in Duisburg about the “concept changes in our day”, in which the Gestapo saw an attack on the Nazi worldview and an agitation against the German labor front. He was then in protective custody for 108 days . In 1938 he was banned from speaking and was further observed by the Gestapo , although he was no longer arrested until 1944.

He was arrested again on August 23, 1944, the background to this being the grid action . He was taken to the prison in Duisburg and from there sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp as a political prisoner . On August 24, 1944, Könzgen, who is anchored in the Catholic faith, wrote to his son Edmund, among others: “In times of need we want to love our people and fatherland especially hard until the hour of justice and freedom strikes. Maybe God wants to give us peace even this last and mother Christa and you and eventually for me heavy sacrifices to get back with conciliatory hand. "In the spring of 1945 he was taken to the Mauthausen concentration camp brought, where he on March 15, 1945 died in the infirmary as a result of his imprisonment, and possibly was also killed.

Honors

Named after Gottfried Könzgen:

  • the memorial chapel in the Catholic Church of St. Joseph in the Dellviertel in Duisburg, since 2010
  • the Heimvolkshochschule Gottfried Könzgen in Haltern am See
  • the community secondary school "Gottfried-Könzgen-Schule" in Duisburg
  • the Gottfried-Könzgen-Strasse in his hometown Jüchen-Hochneukirch, in Duisburg and in Herten as well as the Könzgenstrasse in Dortmund- Aplerbeck

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

The beatification process is sought.

literature

(in order of appearance)

  • Karl-Heinz Brüls: pioneer of a new social order . Heimvolkshochschule Gottfried Könzgen, Haltern 1982. Therein pp. 7–9: Gottfried Könzgen .
  • Michael Teggers: Gottfried Könzgen 1886–1945 . KAB district association Duisburg, Duisburg 1986.
  • Ekkart Sauser :  KÖNZGEN, Gottfried. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 16, Bautz, Herzberg 1999, ISBN 3-88309-079-4 , Sp. 862-863.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Helmut Moll (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century , Paderborn a. a. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 224–227.
  • Peter Cinka: Workers' Secretary Gottfried Könzgen. Resistance fighters and martyrs . Ketteler, Cologne 2001.
  • Carmen Stange : Könzgen, Gottfried (1886–1945), Catholic workers' movement . In: Siegfried Mielke (ed.): Trade unionists in the concentration camps Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen , Vol. 1. Metropol, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-89468-268-X . Pp. 218-221.
  • Irmgard Aschbauer, Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair (ed.): Freedom is in fact alone. Resistance to National Socialism for religious reasons. Biographies and contributions to the International Symposium 2009 / Freedom lies in the action alone. Resistance against national socialism due to religious motivation. Biographies and lectures from the International Conference 2009 . Edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2010. ISBN 978-3-902605-17-7 . In it p. 115f. (German) and p. 343f. (English): Gottfried Könzgen .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Catholic Sunday newspaper for the diocese of Augsburg from 10/11. March 2018
personal data
SURNAME Könzgen, Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Dominican priest and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Mönchengladbach
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1945
Place of death Mauthausen concentration camp