Josef Losch

Josef Losch (born October 26, 1900 in Rottendorf near Nabburg; † January 29, 1945 in Plötzensee prison , Berlin ) was a German Roman Catholic clergyman and a victim of Nazi war justice.

Life and activity

Losch decided early on to pursue a spiritual career. In 1925 he was ordained a priest in Regensburg . In the following years he worked as a pastor in Gleißenberg , Kelheim , Dingolfing and Neusorg .

After the National Socialists came to power , Losch was transferred to Etzgersrieth on September 30, 1933 . On April 1, 1938, he moved to Miesbrunn as pastor . Because of his Catholic worldview, over the years he took an increasingly strong, negative attitude towards the National Socialist system of rule. Repeated critical statements that arose from this attitude led to the fact that it was increasingly targeted by the police surveillance organs of the Nazi state since the late 1930s.

In the course of the intensification of the repression and terrorist measures against all remaining opponents and dissidents of the regime initiated by the National Socialists in the last phase of the war, a police search of the house in Losch's rectory in Miesbrunn was carried out on the morning of January 16, 1944. On this occasion, letters were found that Losch had written to friends at the front, in which he was negative about Adolf Hitler and his government and the war, which he described as a "work" of the dictator and of which he was prophesied that it would "soon be over". He also stated that such a "religiously hostile system" should "never" come back to government.

He was taken into custody on January 16, 1944, as his statements resulted in a political burden in terms of the Nazi state. In November 1944 he was indicted before the People's Court in Berlin on charges of undermining military strength . On November 24th, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. His execution with the guillotine followed on January 29, 1945 at 2 p.m. in the Berlin-Plötzensee prison.

Posthumously Losch was honored in 2009 by being awarded honorary citizenship of Pleystein (Miesbrunn). In addition, a memorial plaque in his former church in Etzgersrieth reminds of his life.

Web links

• Executed by the Nazis Amberger Zeitung on September 26, 2014