Johannes Ries

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Johannes Ries (born July 9, 1887 in Elversberg ; † January 3, 1945 in Dachau concentration camp ) was a German Roman Catholic priest and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Johannes Ries attended grammar school in St. Ingbert from 1902 to 1906 and the grammar school in Speyer from 1906 to 1909 , where he also passed his Abitur. From 1909 to 1914 he studied philosophy and theology in the Trier seminary . In 1914 he was ordained a priest and worked as a chaplain in Uchtelfangen , Waldbreitbach and Losheim am See .

In 1923 he was appointed head of a parish in Arzfeld . There he came into conflict with the local NSDAP leadership from 1933 because he refused to take part in a national celebration. In return, he was banned from parish festivals. He also refused to display flags at the funeral of a Gauleiter . Between 1936 and 1938 there were a total of 14 reports against Ries for violating the treachery law . On March 25, 1937, he was officially warned by the district president .

When Ries refused to hand over the youth work of his community into National Socialist hands in 1937, the Nazis tried to portray him as a pedophile . He was accused of molesting three school girls. However, the testimony did not stand up to investigation.

In 1942 Ries had a French prisoner of war celebrate a mass sacrifice in a chapel . For this he was charged with favoring the enemy . During a house search, letters were found expressing doubts about the final victory and which he had addressed to soldiers at the front. He was first to Trier in custody brought and later imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, where he died on January 3, 1945th

Commemoration

  • In Elversberg a street was named after him in 1967 (Pfarrer-Ries-Straße).
  • In the parish of Arzfeld, a memorial plaque was placed in the chancel of the church.
  • Another memorial plaque was put up in 2003 in the Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Elversberg. This was consecrated on July 25, 2003 by Bishop Reinhard Marx .
  • In 1999, the Catholic Church accepted Pastor Johannes Ries as a witness of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century .

literature

  • Helmut Moll (publisher on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 671-674.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Study group for the research and communication of the history of the German resistance 1933–1945 by the federal executive board and the Saar Association of the Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists : Local History Guide to Places of Resistance and Persecution 1933–1945. Volume 4: Hermann Volk: Saarland. Pahl-Rugenstein-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-7609-1320-2 , p. 107.
  2. ↑ a b Isaak Julius: Johannes Ries. on: mahnmal-trier.de
  3. ↑ Festival service with Bishop Marx: Herz-Jesu Elversberg celebrates 100 years of parish consecration - memorial plaque for Johannes Ries. Diocese of Trier , July 28, 2003, accessed October 10, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Ries, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic clergyman and resistance fighter against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Elversberg
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1945
Place of death Dachau concentration camp