Johannes Lindenblatt

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Johannes Lindenblatt (born June 23, 1882 in Tollnigk ; † January 27, 1945 in Rastenburg ) was a Catholic clergyman who is considered a martyr of the 20th century.

Youth and education

After the birth of Johannes Lindenblatt (in some sources also Johann or Hans) in Tollnigk , the Lindenblatt family moved to the Rastenburg district in 1883. Johannes Lindenblatt passed his Abitur in Rößel, after which he went to Freiburg im Breisgau to study theology . In Freiburg he joined the Hercynia Catholic Student Union , “where he became an avid CVer”. He then attended the Theological College in Braunsberg . He was ordained a priest on July 9, 1905 in Frauenburg , after which he worked as a chaplain at the provost church in Königsberg in the Diocese of Warmia .

Military chaplaincy in the First World War

When the First World War broke out , Pastor Lindenblatt became an infantry division pastor in the 1st Army Corps , where he took part in heavy fighting in Tannenberg, Suwalki and Lowicz. His range of tasks included field pastoral care, care for the wounded and field sermons at the staff and in the hospitals.

“ Devoted entirely to his pastoral care, he occasionally did without his vacation: 'Pastor', it was then, 'It's time you went on vacation and check on your old mother!' "

Pastor Lindenblatt held the rank of major during his activity as a military chaplain and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Badge for Wounded .

Pastor in the Weimar Republic

Following the military chaplaincy , he became pastor of Rastenburg in 1920 and succeeded Pastor Alfons Buchholz. Rastenburg was a diaspora congregation in which the Catholic community made up only 5% of the population, compared to 14% Catholics in East Prussia.

Action and murder in the Second World War

Ernst Notger Beckmann, who as a Rhinelander spent four years (1940–1944) as a chaplain in Rastenburg, reported on Pastor Lindenblatt: “ From 1909 to 1920 was in the cath. Parish Pastor Alfons Buchholz, who then went to Elbing and later became canon in Frauenburg. He was followed by Pastor Johannes Lindenblatt, who was closely associated with his community. Because he himself came from the Rastenburg district. His parents' estate was Bäslackshof. He was a loyal pastor to his community who was always ready to listen to the concerns of those entrusted to him. In addition to his own community, he was also valued and respected by other citizens of the city. It was primarily thanks to his personal contact with the Protestant pastors that the relationship between the two denominations was so good. During the war, when I saw Pastor Lindenblatt, he made it his special task to give priestly consolation to the soldiers, especially the wounded in the Carlshof hospital . His shooting by the Russians on January 27, 1945 can be seen as a seal on his life. “By returning to the Rhineland in 1944, Ernst Beckmann avoided possible acts of violence by the Red Army and was able to pass this report on.

When the Red Army took what was then the eastern German territories in 1945, Lindenblatt was taken from his apartment on January 27, 1945 and found dead in the ditch the next day with a small gunshot wound in the temple together with three other Rastenburg men. Pastor Lindenblatt's remains were buried in two mass graves with the other victims. In May 2002 a memorial stone was inaugurated in the cemetery in Rastenburg, commemorating the victims of the Red Army.

Perception after death

The Roman Catholic Church accepted Pastor Johannes Lindenblatt as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century . Preparations for his beatification have been going on since 2008.

literature

  • Helmut Moll (Ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. 6th, expanded and restructured edition. Paderborn u. a. 2015, ISBN 978-3-506-78080-5 , Volume I, pp. 790-791.
  • Ernst Notger Beckmann: Around the Rastenburg. News from home and godparents. No. 1 (Vol. 1) May 1969. Published by the Rastenburg district community in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e. V., page ???, online (PDF).
  • Monika Guddas: Around the Rastenburg. News from home and godparents. No. 11 (Vol. 4) Dec. 1991. Published by the Rastenburg district in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e. V., pp. 677-687.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Monika Guddas: Around the Rastenburg. News from home and godparents. No. 11 (Vol. 4) Dec. 1991. Published by the Rastenburg district in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e. V., p. 678.
  2. ↑ Monika Guddas: Around the Rastenburg. News from home and godparents. No. 11 (Vol. 4) Dec. 1991. Published by the Rastenburg district in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e. V., pp. 679 and 682.
  3. ↑ Ernst Notger Beckmann: Around the Rastenburg. News from home and godparents. No. 1 (Vol. 1) May 1969. Published by the Rastenburg district community in the Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen e. V., S. ???
personal data
SURNAME Lindenblatt, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic priest and martyr
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Madness
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1945
Place of death Rastenburg