Martin Waltz
Martin Walzer (born May 17, 1883 in Büchelberg , Palatinate ; † February 28, 1958 , ibid) was a priest and prelate of the Diocese of Speyer ; Long-time pastor of Ludwigshafen am Rhein , 2nd chairman of the Bavarian People's Party , activist against separatist rule in the Palatinate , persecuted by the Nazi regime and rebuilder of the war-torn St. Ludwig Church in Ludwigshafen .
Life
Martin Walzer was born as a farmer's son in Büchelberg. Even as a student he dealt intensively with the problems of social policy. On August 13, 1906, he was ordained a priest in Speyer Cathedral from Bishop Konrad von Busch . Then Walzer worked as a chaplain in Sankt Martin (Pfalz) , Hettenleidelheim , Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse , from 1916 as a parish administrator and then as a pastor of Heltersberg .
In 1922 the priest became parish priest at St. Ludwig in Ludwigshafen, a large city parish with over 14,000 believers, where he stayed until his retirement. He soon became dean there. Walzer was active in politics and finally became 2nd chairman of the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) . He was also a leader in the priestly association of the Diocese of Speyer. He exercised a decisive influence on the building of new churches and the establishment of new parishes in the up-and-coming industrial metropolis. In the defensive struggle against separatist rule in the Palatinate , he was in an exposed position. On January 9, 1924, he played a key role in the public protest against the creation of the “Autonomous Palatinate”, so he was arrested and had to flee. Pope Pius XI distinguished the priest in 1925 with the dignity of a papal secret chamberlain and the title "Monsignor". On October 4, 1928, Prelate Walzer received the papal nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, in his parish in Ludwigshafen . who also celebrated a Holy Mass there. The politically active pastor exercised an emphatic opposition to the Nazi regime. This led to numerous measures against him. He was under constant Gestapo surveillance; Among other things, the house was searched, arrested and imprisoned for two days on February 24, 1938, multiple Gestapo interrogations and confiscation of documents between 1938 and 1940, as well as a warning from the state police dated April 20, 1942.
On January 5, 1945, the St. Ludwig Church , which he had completely renovated in 1937, was destroyed by bombs. Prelate Walzer had the ruins secured, an emergency church built and the artistically valuable church rebuilt; In 1953 it could be consecrated again. He developed a tireless commitment to the needy population and thus went down in the city's history as a memorable personality. In memory of his beneficial work, a street in Ludwigshafen today bears the name of the priest, the “Prälat-Walzer-Passage”, and a bronze plaque with a portrait was erected for him in a central location. The meeting house of his former parish is called "Prelate-Walzer-House".
After the Second World War , the clergyman was one of the founders of the Palatinate CDU and advocated the reintegration of the Palatinate into Bavaria. For this he acted as a middleman of the Palatinate clergy to the Bavarian state government . He also wrote the resolution of 1948, which put these intentions into words and was supported by high-ranking personalities. It led to the establishment of the "Federal Bavaria and Palatinate" and finally resulted in a referendum in 1956 , which the Speyer bishop and his environment massively thwarted, as well as the political headquarters of the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate and which was therefore doomed to failure.
In 1956, Prelate Walzer celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest in Ludwigshafen, was retired in 1957 and died soon after in his home town of Büchelberg. Bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel , 2 cathedral capitulars, more than 150 priests and a large mourning congregation, which also included political figures, gave the priest the last escort to the Büchelberg cemetery.
Connection to the Bavarian royal house
Prelate Martin Walzer had excellent contacts with the Bavarian royal family , especially with Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , which is why he was nicknamed "Königswalzer". The priest was the holder of the Crown Prince Rupprecht Medal in silver and the pretender to the throne took lunch with him on September 20, 1949, when he was visiting the Palatinate, in the Ludwigshafen rectory. Der Spiegel reported at the time:
“ There was a completely different visit to Ludwigshafen on September 20th. Bavaria's Exkronprinz Rupprecht. He ate his lunch with Prelate Walzer in the rectory. The prelate has both feet on his royal Bavarian past, and he is still satisfied with it today. He wears the golden Rupprecht commemorative pin on his black lapel. He got it when he delivered a wine basket full of the best Palatinate locations on Lake Starnberg for the 80th birthday of Bayern-Rupprecht. From there he took home the old man's promise to see his visit to Ludwigshafen. In addition to the heart-sick travel marshal Otto Eichenlaub from Hambach, the 66-year-old pastor of souls moved steadily through the landscape next to his crown prince. He climbed the Trifels with him - 'Your Majesty are still the toughest of us ...' "
literature
- Viktor Carl: Lexicon of Palatinate personalities . Hennig, Edenkoben 2004, ISBN 3-9804668-5-X , pages 916/917.
- The Pilgrim : “Obituary” and “Obituary”, Pilger, Speyer, No. 10, of March 9, 1958
- Festschrift 100 years of St. Ludwig's Church . Catholic Parish Office St. Ludwig, Ludwigshafen 1962
- Eva Wetzler: The Catholic Church and National Socialism in Ludwigshafen , Volume 1, The clergy. Diocese archive Speyer, 1987
- Hans Ammerich : The attitude of the churches to the referendum in 1956 . Announcements of the Historical Association of the Palatinate, Volume 104, Speyer 2006.
Web links
- Wittelsbacher Hof, of course . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1949 ( online - about Crown Prince Rupprecht's visit to Prelate Walzer).
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the referendum on reunification with Bavaria, 1956 ( Memento of August 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Waltz, Martin |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Prelate waltz (religious name); King Waltz (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German priest and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 17, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Büchelberg (Wörth) |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 28, 1958 |
| Place of death | Büchelberg (Wörth) |