Guido Andris

Guido Andris (born December 14, 1879 in Schollach (Eisenbach) ; † April 28, 1974 on the island of Reichenau ) was a Roman Catholic priest who was expelled from his parish by the National Socialists in 1934 for political reasons and temporarily arrested.

Live and act

Andris was born the son of a blacksmith and grew up in poor circumstances. After attending elementary school, at the age of 14, he switched to the Lender College in Sasbach. From 1897 to 1901 he attended the Grand Ducal Badische Gymnasium in Rastatt and the Archbishop's Gymnasialkonvikt there. After graduating from high school in 1901, he studied Catholic theology at the University of Freiburg until 1904 . On July 5, 1905, Andris was ordained a priest by Archbishop Thomas Nörber .

He worked as a vicar in the parishes of Ettenheim , Oberwolfach and from 1907 in Rastatt. From 1910 to 1912 he was released from his pastoral duties in order to devote himself to the Catholic press. During this time he worked as an editor for the newspapers Badenia and Rastatter Zeitung . In doing so, he fought violently with political liberalism. His own political home was the Catholic Center Party , of which he was a member. In 1912 he became parish administrator in the Catholic parish of Staufen . Two years later he came to Ottenhöfen , where he was invested as a pastor in February 1916. For 15 years he worked in the local parish. In March 1929 Andris was transferred to the Catholic parish of Löffingen and invested on behalf of the Archbishop of Freiburg, Karl Fritz .

Conflict with the National Socialists

At an early stage he came into conflict with the NSDAP local group in Löffingen, which had already been founded in April 1928. The local National Socialists wrote anonymous inflammatory letters and attacked the priest in the National Socialist press as a "spiritual center agitator". The confrontation came to a head in 1932 when Andris spoke out in favor of Hindenburg's re-election in the course of the 1932 presidential election. He warned of the "religious dangers" of the Nazi movement and described Hitler as a "baptismal certificate". On Easter 1932, the pastor refused to give NSDAP members absolution at confession . The conflict was ultimately based on ideological reasons, as Andris' sermon against the ideology of “ destroying life unworthy of life ” and his position against the anti-church writings of Alfred Rosenberg show.

After the National Socialist seizure of the local Nazis took advantage of the new opportunities that they offered themselves to practice Revenge: The conformist council demanded in several transfer requests of Archbishop Conrad Grober the displacement of the city pastor. Andris acted cautiously during this time and refrained from public criticism of the imperial government. But he continued to criticize the local National Socialists when they violated the provisions of the Reich Concordat. A constant point of contention was how to deal with the Catholic associations: Andris had built up a flourishing association system that the National Socialists tried to smash, although the Concordat gave a guarantee of existence. In addition, the priest repeatedly attacked the local group leader and local youth leader as well as other local National Socialists because of their way of life, which did not correspond to his ideas of morality and custom. In January 1934, the Secret State Police investigated Andris and his vicar Friedrich Kornwachs , as they were "intolerable" as clergy in Löffingen.

On June 23, 1934, the NSDAP local group, with the support of the Neustadt district leadership, struck a decisive blow against the priest. In the morning, National Socialists broke into the Catholic rectory and insulted and threatened Andris. They asked him to dissolve the Catholic sports association German Youth Force (DJK). Andris refused. In the afternoon National Socialists gathered in front of the rectory. They shouted slogans against the DJK and loudly demanded: “Out with the rebel!” Andris phoned Archbishop Gröber. He gave him instructions to leave Löffingen on the next train and come to Freiburg . Meanwhile, the situation escalated: some citizens criticized the National Socialists' action, there were arguments, scuffles and physical violence. A total of 16 citizens were arrested. One of them, the farmer Karl Bader, rang the church bells and was punished with imprisonment and one month imprisonment in the Kislau concentration camp . Andris finally followed the direction of his archbishop and left his parish. The National Socialists mocked him on the way to the train station and started singing the folk song Muss i denn, muss i denn out to the city center.

After his forced eviction on June 23, 1934, Andris was arrested by the Gestapo on June 29 in Freiburg on charges of "inciting to breach the peace" and taken into " protective custody ". He was released four days later. However, he was punished with a dismissal from the district and locality and was therefore not allowed to return to Löffingen or the Neustadt district . Efforts to have this reprimand lifted failed. In January 1935, Archbishop Conrad Gröber finally transferred Andris to the Steinbach parish (Baden-Baden) "with an absence permit" , where the clergyman was invested in October of that year.

Time from 1942

For health reasons he was transferred to the island of Reichenau in 1942 . Andris worked there in the parish of St. Peter and Paul for almost three decades . In 1965 he celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest. He retired five years later. He died in Niederzell at the age of 94 . He found his final resting place in the local cemetery.

literature

• Jörg Waßmer: "Unsustainable in Löffingen". The conflict between pastor Guido Andris and the National Socialists. Published by the city of Löffingen, Löffingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-00-048649-4 .
• Roland Weis: Dignities and burdens. Catholic Church and National Socialism. Freiburg 1994.
• Necrologium Friburgense 1971-1975. Directory of the priests of the Archdiocese of Freiburg who died between 1971 and 1975. In: Freiburg Diocesan Archive , Vol. 97 (1977), pp. 500f. ( online )

Web links

• The day the Nazis drove the pastor out. Badische Zeitung , June 20, 2014, accessed on May 16, 2015