Monastery tower

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The monastery tower is the systematic abolition of monasteries by secular power for political or economic reasons.

There was a monastery tower, for example, in the French Revolution , in the secularization of the early 19th century, in the Kulturkampf of the late 19th century and in 1941 by the National Socialist rulers.

Klostersturm during the National Socialist regime

During the National Socialist era , government agencies and the National Socialist Party confiscated well over 200 monasteries. The Nazi rampage against the Catholic religious orders in Germany started because of a secret decree of the NSDAP - Reichsleiter Martin Bormann of 13 January 1941st

Since the beginning of the Second World War , the SS under Heinrich Himmler and the Wehrmacht - initially in the " affiliated ", annexed and militarily occupied neighboring countries of Germany - had their own seizures of facilities and buildings. While the Wehrmacht used the confiscated monasteries and facilities mainly as military hospitals , rest homes, and training facilities for soldiers, the SS claimed them primarily as initial accommodation for " Volksdeutsche ", who relocated to National Socialist Germany under the motto Home to the Reich through the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle of the SS should be.

Initially, Protestant and non-church social institutions (including psychiatric clinics, nursing homes for the disabled) were also confiscated and evicted. Later the balance shifted to the disadvantage of the Catholic monasteries and institutions. The previous residents were mostly not only driven from their accommodations, from their workplaces and places of activity, but the religious were also often banned from staying in the local area of ​​their religious houses. Order members who opposed the coercive measures were alleged to have committed crimes, and by the Gestapo in protective custody taken.

For many mentally ill and / or physically disabled persons in need of care from the confiscated church and secular hospitals and nursing homes, the evictions immediately led to their being transported to Nazi killing centers .

The monasteries were not always transferred to the destination justifying their confiscation. The NSDAP often took over the monasteries, religious houses and church institutions for their own purposes. Also, the compensation payments previously promised for the loss of the buildings often did not take place. The Catholic bishops of Germany wrote several pastoral letters and publicly objected. On July 30, 1941, Hitler forbade further confiscations because this action had caused great unrest among the church-bound population.

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literature

  • Annette Mertens : Himmler's monastery tower. The attack on Catholic institutions in World War II and the reparation after 1945. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2006, ISBN 3-506-75621-4 ( Publications of the Commission for Contemporary History Series B: Research 108; also: Leipzig, Univ., Diss., 2005).
  • Ulrike Gärtner , Judith Koppetsch (eds.): Monastery tower and prince revolution. State and Church between Rhine and Weser 1794/1803. Book accompanying the exhibition of the state archives of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Museum for Art and Cultural History Dortmund, May 24 to August 17, 2003. Museum for Art and Cultural History, Dortmund a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-935019-85-8 ( Publications of the State Archives of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Series D: Exhibition Catalogs State Archives 31).
  • Sales Hess : Dachau - a world without God. Sebaldus-Verlag, Nuremberg 1946.
  • Carl Anton Schips : Women of strong faith. A monastery tower 400 years ago. 2nd completely revised and expanded edition. Schwabenverlag, Stuttgart 1938 ( From Schwaben's past  6).
  • Ferdinand Doelle : The monastery tower of Torgau in 1525. Aschendorff, Münster 1931 ( Franciscan Studies. Supplement 14, ZDB -ID 202286-2 ).
  • Paul Humpert : The monastery tower. Experiences from the November days 1918. Preface by Johannes Wallenborn. Publishers of the Oblates of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Hünfeld 1930 ( flowers and fruits from home and abroad Missionsfelde 16, ZDB -ID 988569-9 ).
  • Felix Nabor : The monastery tower. Historical tale from St. Gallen's past. With 10 pictures by M. Annen. Zehnder, Schwyz u. a. 1923.

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