Rosary demonstration
The Rosary demonstration was a spontaneous Catholic rally that the National Socialists perceived as a provocation. It surrendered on October 7, 1938, following a rosary celebration in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna , attended by more than 6,000 young Catholics . There were loud shouts such as “Christ is our leader!” As a reaction, the Archbishop's Palace was stormed the next day, and several days later Gauleiter Bürckel gave a hate speech against the church. This also marked the end of the attempt at a peaceful relationship between the Church and National Socialism in Austria.
background
After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in March 1938, all non-National Socialist clubs and associations were dissolved and banned. This also affected all Roman Catholic Austrian student organizations as well as other Catholic clubs and associations.
Happening
A surprising number of young people (approx. 7,000, some even estimated 10,000) came to the youth devotion at the traditional Rosary Festival on October 7, 1938 in St. Stephen's Cathedral. The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Theodor Innitzer , who was controversial in his relationship with the Nazis , took the opportunity to call on those present to
- "Right now at this time all the more firmly and steadfastly to confess our faith, to confess to Christ, our leader, our King and his Church".
According to eyewitness reports, there was an “indescribable atmosphere” in the cathedral, which was filled to the last seat, in view of the sermon.
After the rosary ceremony in the cathedral, the several thousand young people did not go home, there was a spontaneous demonstration in front of the church. The young people enthusiastically sang hymns on Stephansplatz and chanted “We want to see our bishop!” (Instead of “We want to see our leader!”) In front of the Archbishop's Palace.
This spontaneous, unannounced meeting was broken up by the police and the Gestapo and some participants were arrested.
reaction
On the evening of October 8, 1938, members of the Hitler Youth stormed and devastated the Archbishop's Palace . There they smashed windows, destroyed paintings and threw furniture out of the window. Violence was used against defendants, and the ceremonial Franz Jachym was injured in the scuffle. The secretary Jakob Weinbacher was threatened to be thrown out of the window, but he was able to defend himself successfully. Later the Hitler Youth moved on to the Curhaus on Stephansplatz, where Cathedral Curate Johannes Krawarik was thrown from the first floor into the inner courtyard and both legs broke. The police called for help arrived significantly late, when the violent youth had long since disappeared. The Viennese police chief Otto Steinhäusl was later accused of deliberately failing to intervene.
After the rosary celebrations, well-known Catholic youth leaders such as Hermann Lein were served protective custody orders and the Gestapo immediately arrested the accused for "inciting the people". Lein was deported to Dachau concentration camp in December 1938 , and from September 1939 to Mauthausen concentration camp . After 19 months, he was released on April 23, 1940. The student Ferdinand Habel, who spontaneously expressed his displeasure with the Hitler Youth's action as a witness on Stephansplatz, was also arrested and taken to the Dachau concentration camp. In 1940 he died of typhus in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Due to the tense situation, Cardinal Innitzer only caused the papal nuncio to send a diplomatic protest note to Berlin, which, however, went unanswered. However, the employees of the archdiocese were sworn to secrecy.
On October 13, 1938, there was an anti-church and anti-Semitic rally organized by Gauleiter Josef Bürckel on Heldenplatz . In front of around 200,000 functionaries and sympathizers of the National Socialists, he gave a hate speech against the power of the Church and insulted the cardinal as "the most confusing and insidious of all politicizing clerics". In March, Bürckel had drafted the text for a joint declaration by the Austrian bishops, which advised the voters to vote for the Anschluss in the April 10th vote.
Appreciation
After the rosary devotion on October 7, 1938, "the Catholic youth ... confessed their loyalty to the Church and to the bishops". This rally was perceived as a provocation by the National Socialists who stormed the archbishop's palace the next day. The opposition between the Catholic Church and National Socialism thus emerged openly. According to some historians, these events triggered the Catholic resistance against National Socialism in Austria. This rally was one of the largest in the Nazi era . Similar actions by Catholics in type and size had previously taken place in Münster in 1935/36.
An alley has been named after cathedral curator Johannes Krawarik, who was thrown out of the window during the Nazi attack the next day, for several years: the Altottakring parish church is now at 1160 Vienna, Johannes-Krawarik-Gasse 1.
See also
literature
- Herbert Fritz, Willibald Rosner (eds.): “On to the oaths people and land ...” The Rosary Festival on October 7, 1938 . Vienna 1998.
- Hermann Lein , Michael Lemberger, Werner Routil, Gerhard Suchy: “Interview with contemporary witnesses - Dr. Hermann Lein “ (audio book), GS-Multimedia Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-900999-02-3 .
- Alfred Palka: "We want to confess to Christ, our leader and master ...". In: Der Fels 8–9 / 2013, pp. 243–247 ( as PDF online . The author († 1988) was a contemporary witness )
- Andrea Mayer: "Tear down the walls". An almost timeless challenge to every generation - using the example of October 7, 1938 and October 7, 1988. Diploma thesis , Vienna 2008 ( online version )
- Lothar Wettstein: Josef Bürckel: Gauleiter, Reichsstatthalter, Adolf Hitler's Crisis Manager (2nd edition 2010), Section 12.3 (pp. 445–449, online )
Web links
- Hermann Lein reports on the rosary and his arrest (website documentation archive of the Austrian resistance )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Die Presse: Die Welt bis yesterday: "Bloodthirsty Priesthood"
- ^ Rudolf Zinnhobler : The Church of Austria between the cross and the swastika. In: Theological-practical quarterly publication 36, 1988, pp. 46–54, there 49.
- ^ Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer : The Gau-Akt about Cardinal Theodor Innitzer. Insights into conflicts and moods during World War II. In: Austria in History and Literature 55, 2011, pp. 148–156, there 150.