Joseph Müller (priest)

Joseph Müller

Joseph Müller (born August 19, 1894 in Salmünster in Hesse ; † September 11, 1944 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German Catholic priest , pastor and staunch critic of National Socialism . He was sentenced to death by the People's Court in Berlin in 1944 for a political joke . He was executed in the Brandenburg-Görden prison .

Joseph Müller is considered a Christian martyr of the 20th century.

Life

Joseph Müller was the youngest of the seven children of the Salmünster cantor and teacher Damian Müller and his wife Augusta. He attended high school and graduated from high school. As a volunteer he took part in the First World War and sustained a serious wound at the front. In February 1919 Joseph Müller decided - like two of his brothers - to become a Catholic priest. Since there were more applicants for priesthood than free pastoral care positions in his home diocese of Fulda at that time , he and his brother Oskar Müller applied to the diocese of Hildesheim , which had an increased need for priests due to the diaspora situation of the Catholics there.

Stations of studies, training and pastoral care

Joseph Müller completed his theology studies at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . From March 1, 1921, he was a seminarist in the Hildesheim seminary . On March 11, 1922 he and his brother received in Hildesheim Cathedral by the local diocesan Bishop Joseph Ernst the priesthood . Then Joseph Müller began his pastoral work as a chaplain in Duderstadt . Since he had the desire as religious priests to live, he joined in April 1924 in the Franciscan - Kloster Frauenberg in Fulda one; however, he had to leave the order again in autumn 1924 because of his poor health. Thereupon he returned as a diocesan priest to the diocese of Hildesheim and took over chaplain positions in Gehrden (near Hanover), Hann. Münden , Celle and Wolfenbüttel . In May 1925 he became a chaplain in Blumenthal near Bremen. From August 1926 he was chaplain in Wolfenbüttel. In 1931 he took over his first position as pastor in the parish of St. Benno, Bad Lauterberg in the Harz region , where he was also responsible for pastoral care in Sankt Andreasberg and Braunlage . In 1934 he became pastor in St. Bonifatius in Süpplingen , in October 1937 in St. Peter and Paul in Heiningen . After a serious operation, on August 1, 1943, Joseph Müller was appointed pastor of the smaller Catholic parish of St. Cosmas and Damian in Groß Düngen near Hildesheim at his own request .

Pastoral work

As a result of his war injuries and chronic illnesses, Joseph Müller was considerably restricted in his physical performance; nevertheless he was regarded as an energetic and courageous pastor. He was valued in his respective congregations as a rousing preacher of the Christian faith who could not reach regular worshipers with his arguments. In his sermons and at community events during the Weimar period , he dealt critically with social democratic politics and urgently warned of the increasing emergence of National Socialism.

In his respective parishes, the pastor was also popular because of the warmth he showed to everyone. During his time as chaplain, he had already devoted himself particularly to youth work in the various parishes. As a pastor in Bad Lauterberg, he prompted the local religious order of the Vincentian Sisters to convert part of the lounge area of ​​their St. Benno-Stift sanatorium into a youth room. Another focus of his work was pastoral care for journeymen in the sense of Adolph Kolping .

Conflicts with the National Socialists

After the takeover of the Nazis Joseph Muller was suspended as pastor of the ever-increasing repression against the Catholic Church; but he did not deviate from his previous line. In particular, he wanted to protect the youth from the ideological influences of the new rulers. As a pastor in Heiningen, he organized the resistance of families against the closure of the local school. Because of his opposition, he was constantly shadowed by the Gestapo and attacked and spied on by local National Socialists. All of his activities, including his services and sermons, were monitored.

Arrest, conviction and execution

Shortly after he took up his post as pastor in Groß Düngen, Joseph Müller openly expressed his concern about the prevailing political conditions to the NSDAP local group leader in early August 1943 . When he visited his father a few days later, Joseph Müller told the following political joke: “A wounded man is dying and wants to know what he is dying for. He calls the nurse and tells her: 'I am dying as a soldier and I want to know who I am dying for.' The sister replies, 'You die for leaders and people.' The soldier then asks: 'Can't the Führer come to my deathbed then?' The nurse replies: 'No, that won't work, but I'll bring you a picture of the Führer.' The soldier then asks that the picture be placed on his right. He goes on to say: 'I belong to the Air Force.' Then the sister brings him the picture of Reichsmarschall Göring and puts it to the left. The soldier then says: 'Now I am dying like Christ.' "

The telling of this joke provided the opportunity to report the unpopular priest to the police and have him arrested. On August 17, 1943, Müller was interrogated by the Hildesheim Gestapo and arrested for the first time on September 6, 1943. He was accused of having “ compared Hitler and Göring to the two thieves who were crucified on the side of Jesus.” However, he was initially released because of his poor health. At the instigation of the NSDAP local group from Groß Düngen, which had turned to the People's Court in Berlin, he was arrested again on May 11, 1944 and further interrogations took place. On May 15, 1944, Joseph Müller was brought to the remand prison of the People's Court in Berlin-Moabit for further interrogation . He steadfastly refused to reveal the name of whoever told him the joke.

Joseph Müller was well aware of his situation and he wanted to face it courageously. From imprisonment he wrote to his bishop : “For the time being I can no longer work pastoral care, but I will now walk with Christ on the path that is also valuable from a pastoral point of view, that of suffering and prayer. I do not yet know the path that God wants to lead me in the future, but no matter how and where it will be, he will not find a wretched figure. But above all I also need support from above. He stays - and I know that - I don't mind. ”His brothers and his diocesan bishop Joseph Godehard Machens , who visited Joseph Müller in prison only two weeks later, reported that they saw him there as a“ poor remand prisoner in patched prison clothes, all in one mentally broken, worn down, dissolved states ”.

On July 28, 1944 Joseph Müller was before the People's Court of the show trial made. The President of the People's Court, Roland Freisler , accused Joseph Müller of making the work of the state youth difficult or frustrating as a youth pastor. It is high treason , sabotage and the undermining of state authority when a “ priest ” alienates the youth from the leader. Joseph Müller was sentenced to death "for undermining military strength " in accordance with Section 5 of the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance applicable at the time . The judge Hans-Joachim Rehse , who was later acquitted of it by his counterparts, also participated in this judgment . Relief witnesses from Groß Düngen were not heard in the process. He was executed on the scaffold in Brandenburg-Görden prison on September 11, 1944 .

After his execution

The grave of Joseph Müller in Groß Düngen

Contrary to local custom, the rulers forbade the ringing of the death knell for the executed local pastor Müller in Groß Düngen . As a contemporary witness tells in an ARD documentary about the joke in the “Third Reich” , after the end of the Nazi era, the first act in town was the bell rang.

After the urn with the ashes of Joseph Müller was initially buried in the city cemetery in Brandenburg, it was transferred to Groß Düngen in November 1945. This corresponded to an express wish of the executed person: “I expressly wish that I will be buried there where my bishop's call last called me as a priest and pastor. I want to rest until the day of my resurrection under a cross with a Savior on it. The cross was my companion in life. It should also stand over my mortal shell. Credo in vitam aeternam! "

In June 2014, lifted Berlin public prosecutor the verdict on after a pensioner had so requests. Around 300 people took part in a memorial service to mark the 70th anniversary of his death.

Müller's writings and letters from prison after his conviction before his execution are valued as an impressive Christian testimony.

Souvenirs and honors

Street sign of Joseph-Müller-Strasse in Groß Düngen

• In 1999, Joseph Müller was included in the first edition of the German Martyrology of the 20th Century , published on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference , a compilation of life images of people who suffered a violent death because of their creed.
• In Groß Düngen, the place where Joseph Müller was denounced, the Catholic parish has been commemorating the execution of its former pastor on September 11th at 1 p.m. by ringing the death knell of their church since the end of National Socialist rule. The parish home in Groß Düngen has been named "Joseph-Müller-Haus" since the last redesign
• The city of Bad Salzdetfurth named the “Joseph-Müller-Straße” and the “Joseph-Müller-Grundschule” after him in its district of Groß Düngen.
• Bad Soden-Salmünster named “Joseph-Müller-Straße” after the son of their town, and the parish hall in Salmünster also bears his name. There is a memorial plaque in the Catholic parish church of Salmünster and on September 11th at 1 p.m. the bells ring in memory of Joseph Müller.
• The city of Hildesheim named "Joseph-Müller-Strasse" after the priest and martyr of the Hildesheim diocese.
• In Salzgitter-Thiede , where Joseph Müller worked as chaplain from Wolfenbüttel from 1926, the former inspector's house of the Thiederhall potash mine , which was acquired in the same year and in which the Catholic chapel was established, was named "Joseph-Müller-Haus" in 1946.
• In Bad Lauterberg the parish home of the Catholic parish of St. Benno is called "Joseph-Müller-Haus". A memorial stone in the front garden of the parish hall commemorates the former pastor of the parish.
• In Tiftlingerode , a district of Duderstadt, the "Kaplan-Müller-Straße" was named after the former local chaplain. A wayside cross , consecrated on September 11, 1983, also commemorates his work.
• In Delligsen , the parish home of the Catholic Church of St. Joseph has been named Joseph Müller since it was built in 1958. A plaque at the entrance commemorates Müller.

literature

• O. Müller: A priestly life in and for Christ. Life, work, suffering and sacrificial death of Pastor Joseph Müller. Groß Düngen, Celle 1948.
• Franz Kloidt: Traitor or Martyr? Documents. Catholic martyrs of the National Socialist church persecution give answer. Düsseldorf 1962.
• Josef Homeyer : Joseph Müller. In: W. Burr (Ed.): UNITAS-Handbuch. Volume 1, Bonn 1995, pp. 279-283.
• Ekkart Sauser :  Joseph Müller (priest). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 1298-1300.
• Thomas Scharf-Wrede: Pastor Joseph Müller. In: Helmut Moll (ed. On behalf of the German Bishops' Conference): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume I, pp. 337-340.
• Thomas Scharf-Wrede (Ed.): Pastor Joseph Müller. Testimony of faith until death (= Hildesheim Chronicle. 25). Hildesheim 2014.

Web links

• Pastor Müller fell victim to hysteria and hatred of the Nazis. In: kirchenzeitung online of the Diocese of Hildesheim ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The martyr minister is rehabilitated. Report to WKSt.V. Unitas Ruhrania Bochum - Duisburg-Essen - Dortmund from 23 September 2014, accessed in September 2019.
2. ↑ Joseph-Müller-Pfarrheim, Groß Düngen ( Memento from February 10, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (Homepage of the Catholic parish of Sankt Cosmas and Damian, Groß Düngen).
3. ↑ Chronicle of the parish of St. Bernward 1920–1929 ( memento from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (homepage of the St. Bernward parish, Salzgitter-Thiede).
4. ^ Bad Lauterberg: Kolping family met for the general assembly. In: Harz Courier. January 13, 2014 harzkurier.de , accessed September 2019.