Matthias Defregger

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Matthias Defregger (born February 18, 1915 in Munich ; † July 23, 1995 in Munich) was auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising . During the Second World War he passed the order to murder 17 hostages in Filetto di Camerda on Gran Sasso to his troops.

Life

Matthias Defregger was a grandson of the Tyrolean painter Franz von Defregger . His father was the sculptor Hans Defregger (1886–1956). He studied at the Jesuit college " Stella Matutina " in Feldkirch, Austria (Vorarlberg).

The Gran Sasso massacre

Defregger was drafted in 1935 as a reserve officer candidate for the Wehrmacht (intelligence department 7). He volunteered for a third year of service and became a lieutenant in the reserve, later a career officer. He was involved in the Polish campaign and in 1943 as a captain in Russia. In May 1944 he took over as commander of the 114th Jägerdivision and stationed in Italy Intelligence Department 114. On June 7, 1944, partisans attacked some soldiers of the Intelligence Department near Filetto di Camerda on Gran Sasso , whereupon the division commander Lieutenant General Hans Boelsen ordered the shooting of the residents of Filetto di Camerda in retaliation. Defregger was entrusted with carrying out the order and had 17 residents between the ages of 17 and 69 shot dead and the place set on fire. Six months later, Defregger was promoted to major.

Spiritual career

After the World War, Defregger pursued an ecclesiastical career. On 29 June 1949 he received from Munich Archbishop Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber in Freising Mariendom the priesthood . On July 3, 1949 celebrated Defregger his first Mass in Munich Bürgersaalkirche , on July 17, his Nachprimiz in Ortisei in Pöcking on Lake Starnberg. In St. Joachim in Munich-Obersendling, Defregger was chaplain from August 1, 1949 . After his brief activity in parish pastoral care, Defregger soon became active on the diocesan level. On September 1, 1953, Cardinal Joseph Wendel appointed him his personal secretary. In this task Defregger was also significantly involved in the preparation of the Eucharistic World Congress (1960 in Munich). Under Cardinal Julius Döpfner , Matthias Defregger became cathedral capitular of the metropolitan chapter on January 1, 1962, and a little later, on May 1, 1962, vicar general and thus direct deputy of the archbishop of Munich and Freising.

In 1968 Pope Paul VI appointed Matthias Defregger as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and titular bishop of Vicus Aterii . His successor as vicar general was Gerhard Gruber . Matthias Defregger and Ernst Tewes received their episcopal ordination from Cardinal Döpfner on September 14, 1968 in Munich's Liebfrauenkirche . Co-consecrators were Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Neuhäusler and the then coadjutor of Passau , Antonius Hofmann . His episcopal motto was: "Servus omnium" - "Servant of all". As the first episcopal vicar of the newly created South Region and from October 1, 1970 as a religious officer, Defregger made a name for himself well beyond the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. He was especially known as a popular preacher, Bavarian patriot and great admirer of Mary.

Litigation

He withheld his involvement in the Gran Sasso shootings for 25 years, until they were the subject of legal proceedings in 1969 and 1970. After Der Spiegel reported in July 1969 that the proceedings had been discontinued due to statute of limitations as manslaughter , the proceedings were reopened, but again in August 1969 and finally in September 1970 on the grounds that Defregger did not have the "criminal character" of the shootings at the time can recognize. In 1972 , Klaus Stiller processed the "Defregger case" in his diary of an auxiliary bishop . On August 15, 1981, during a pilgrimage in Munich in front of the Maria Ramersdorf church, Defregger was assassinated, in which he was injured with a potassium cyanide solution.

Last years

On April 6, 1990 Defregger asked to be relieved of his duties, but continued to work as a celebrant and preacher. His last public service was the memorial service on December 24, 1994 for the Sendlinger Murder Christmas in Waakirchen. He lived in Pöcking on Lake Starnberg until his death in 1995 . At his own request, he was buried in Amlach in East Tyrol, Austria , not far from Lienz in the Puster Valley. In Pöcking the Auxiliary Bishop Defregger-Weg was named after him.

Honors

radio play

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerhard J. Bellinger and Brigitte Regel-Bellinger : Schwabings Ainmillerstrasse and its most important residents. A representative example of Munich's city history from 1888 to today. Norderstedt 2003, p. 508.
  2. ^ "War Crimes: Pressure from Rome" . In: DER SPIEGEL . Hamburg August 11, 1969 ( spiegel.de [accessed September 2, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Friedrich Andrae: "Also against women and children" . In: The time . October 2, 1992, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed June 4, 2019]).
  4. ^ Felix Bohr: The war crimes lobby: Federal German help for Nazi perpetrators imprisoned abroad . First edition. Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-518-42840-5 , pp. 171 .
  5. ↑ Carlo Gentile : I crimini di guerra tedeschi in Italia (1943-1945). Einaudi, Turin 2015 ISBN 978-88-06-21721-1 , p. 150
personal data
SURNAME Defregger, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1995
Place of death Munich