Hermann Kagerer

Hermann Kagerer (born April 8, 1896 in Kirchholz , † January 6, 1984 in Linz ) was an Austrian pastor and resistance fighter against National Socialism . He was only released from the concentration camp due to exceptional circumstances and was thus able to continue working as a pastor after the Second World War.

Life

Hermann Kagerer grew up as one of seven children in a farming family. The son of a carpenter was interested in the profession of priest at an early age and so his parents sent him to the episcopal grammar school of the Kollegium Petrinum in Linz. However, his school years were not crowned with success and he had to continue his high school career at the State High School in Ried, where he passed his school leaving examination in 1915 . On April 15, 1915, he was called up to work with the weapon and first attended the officers' school in Steyr . As a cadet , he served in the 14th Infantry Regiment during World War I and took part in combat operations in Galicia and Italy . In 1916 he suffered a serious wound and was entrusted with training young recruits for a year before returning to the Italian front as a lieutenant . He took part in the fateful eleventh battle of the Isonzo and narrowly got away with his life.

After the war he joined the Linz Seminary and was on 29 June 1922 by Bishop Johannes Maria Gföllner for priests ordained. He was employed as a cooperator from 1922 to 1925 in Waizenkirchen , from 1925 to 1928 in Sierning and most recently from 1928 to 1929 in Bad Ischl . From 1929 onwards he worked as a religion teacher at the boys and girls secondary school at Ried im Innkreis . He also looked after students at the Linz State High School for the Christian-German Student Union (CDSB).

While National Socialism was gaining power in the Innkreis , Kagerer fell into the opposition. As a patriot he joined the Fatherland Front with the consent of the bishop and agitated against National Socialism wherever he could. He became district leader of Ried. At the time of the Anschluss, this did not go unnoticed by the rapidly growing National Socialist forces who collected material about him.

On March 13, 1938, shortly after the annexation of Austria , Kagerer was arrested by members of the SA and the SS and placed under house arrest. He was then initially detained in the county prison, where he was tortured and interrogated. On July 20, 1938, he was taken to the police prison in Linz and five days later he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp without trial . One of his fellow prisoners was the pastor Konrad Just , who later described the conditions and the abuse in the pastor's block of the concentration camp in his memoirs.

On May 9, 1939, Kagerer was the first priest to be transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp , where he had to work in the quarry. He then repaired garden tools and was last used in the effects room. On November 15, 1940 he was surprisingly released from the concentration camp on the intervention of Hermann Göring . A mutual friend, a gendarme, whom Kagerer had stood by when the latter should have been released as an illegal immigrant, had called on Goering and obtained his release. Kagerer was banned from the district and went to Vienna to the monastery of the Sisters of the Divine Redeemer on Kaiserstrasse. There he was allowed to work as a clergyman with the consent of Archbishop Theodor Cardinal Innitzer , but was constantly monitored by the Vienna Gestapo .

1944 succeeded Bishop Josephus Calasanz Fließer , Gauleiter August Eigruber to persuade to abolish the Gauverbot. Kagerer returned to the Gau Oberdonau and worked as a pastor again. In Altenfelden he remained active as a pastor even after the end of National Socialism. He retired on August 31, 1966. Popular in the place and diocese, he was honored with the honorary title of " Episcopal Consistorial Councilor " and he became an honorary citizen of the market town of Altenfelden. Even after his retirement he remained active as a treasurer until 1974 and celebrated his golden jubilee in 1972 and his diamond in 1982.

On January 6, 1984, Kagerer died in the hospital of the Sisters of Mercy in Linz. In 2015 his nephew Josef Kagerer published a book about his life.

literature

• Josef Kagerer: Hermann Kagerer . In: Irmgard Aschbauer, Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair (eds.): Freedom is in fact alone. Resistance to National Socialism for religious reasons. Biographies and contributions to the 2009 International Symposium . Edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902605-17-7 , p. 103-106 .
• Josef Kagerer: “You created space for me in times of distress” (Ps 4.2): The clergyman Hermann Kagerer - marked by the World War and the Nazi era . Wagner Verlag, Linz 2015, ISBN 978-3-902330-64-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Josef Kagerer: Hermann Kagerer . In: Irmgard Aschbauer, Andreas Baumgartner, Isabella Girstmair (eds.): Freedom is in fact alone. Resistance to National Socialism for religious reasons. Biographies and contributions to the 2009 International Symposium . Edition Mauthausen, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-902605-17-7 , p. 103 f .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Josef Kagerer: Hermann Kagerer . Vienna 2010, p. 105 .
3. ↑ Florian Tannberger: Altenfelden at the time of National Socialism. tannberger.wordpress.com, accessed September 20, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Hans Marsálek: The spiritual prisoners in the concentration camp Mauthausen / Gusen . In: New archive for the history of the Diocese of Linz . tape 12 , issue 1, 1998/99. Linz, S. 33 ( online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Josef Kagerer: Hermann Kagerer . Vienna 2010, p. 106 .
6. ↑ Book presentation by Hermann Kagerer, February 12, 2015. Altenfelden Library, February 16, 2015, accessed on September 20, 2015 . 
7. ^ Helmut Wagner: New publication on the subject of the Church and National Socialism in Upper Austria. Diocese of Linz, February 16, 2015, accessed on September 20, 2015 .