Katharina Katzenmaier
Katharina Katzenmaier , religious name Sister Theodolinde (born April 24, 1918 in Heppenheim , † August 5, 2000 in Mannheim ) was a German Benedictine and Nazi victim.
Life
Katharina Katzenmaier first attended elementary school until 1925 and then switched to the Liebfrauenschule run by the English Fräulein in Bensheim . From 1937 she attended the school for social aid in Altdorf near Nuremberg . She then worked for two years as a medical assistant in the municipal hospital in Bensheim. Then she was trained as a pastoral assistant in Freiburg until 1942. In May 1942 she found a job in the parish of St. Bonifatius in Püttlingen . In her community she was active against National Socialism . She denounced the euthanasia and said that she did not believe in the " final victory ". So she came into conflict with the Gestapo .
On July 21, 1943, she was arrested and taken to Lerchesflur Prison . She has been interrogated several times without any charges being brought against her. Instead, she remained in protective custody and was taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp on October 22, 1943 . Towards the end of the war, she was forced on a death march . At the beginning of May 1945 she was liberated by Soviet soldiers and made her way to Heppenheim together with two fellow sufferers until September 1945. She was looked after by her mother for six months.
She then trained as a teacher in Darmstadt-Jugenheim and moved to Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in autumn 1947 , where she studied theology, philosophy and psychology. However, she broke off her studies there. On November 1, 1949, she joined the Benedictine Sisters of St. Lioba in Freiburg as a nun and was given the religious name Theodolinde. Until 1983 she worked as a pastoral assistant, catechist and religion teacher, from 1973 in Mannheim . Until 1990 she continued to teach as a primary school teacher in Mannheim and the surrounding area.
She got involved in the Ravensbrück camp community from the 1960s and was a member of the board of this prisoners' association from 1974 . She described her experiences in the concentration camp in lectures to school classes and in adult education. In 1996 she published an autobiographical work called Vom KZ ins Kloster .
In 2001 she was posthumously honored with the " Püttlinger Anchor Cross". Theodolinde Katzenmaier-Strasse in Püttlingen is named after her.
Fonts
- From the concentration camp to the monastery. A piece of life history . Eos Verlag, St. Ottilien 1996, ISBN 3-88096-296-0 .
literature
- Monika Kreis: Katharina Katzenmaier . In: Luitwin Bies / Horst Bernard (ed.): Saarland women against the Nazis. Persecuted - Evicted - Expropriated . Blattlaus-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2004, ISBN 3-930771-31-4 , p. 41-47 .
- Reiner Albert, Rembert Boese, Veronika Drop (eds.): From the concentration camp hell into the commitment for Christ and human rights. Sister Theodolinde Katharina Katzenmaier. Approaches to life and work (= regional church history, vol. 8). With a foreword by Rita Süssmuth. Lit, Münster 2018, ISBN 978-3-643-14030-2 .
Web links
- Biographical article with photo
- Katzenmaier Theodolinde (Katharina) on http://www.saarland-biografien.de
- Farewell to comrades: Käthe Katzenmaier, Sr. Theodolinde on http://www.ravensbrueckblaetter.de
- Katharina Katzenmaier (1918-2000) on http://www.vvn-bda-saar.de
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Katzenmaier, Katharina |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sister Theodolinde (religious name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Catholic nun and Nazi victim |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 24, 1918 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Heppenheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 5, 2000 |
| Place of death | Mannheim |