Stefan Plohberger

Stefan Plohberger , born Reinhold Plohberger (born October 5, 1898 in Alkoven , † May 7, 1977 in Wilhering ) was an Austrian Roman Catholic clergyman, Cistercian , forester and opponent of National Socialism .

Life

Reinhold Plohberger joined Wilhering Abbey and took the religious name Stefan. In 1923 he made his solemn profession . In 1924 he was ordained a priest. From 1924 to 1928 he studied forestry in Vienna and graduated as a graduate engineer and was the forester of the monastery from 1930 to 1971. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1939 and was a lieutenant in Ebelsberg near Linz .

As a member of the resistance organization Greater Austrian Freedom Movement in the Jacob Kastelic group , he was arrested by the Gestapo on July 26, 1940 and, like his abbot Bernhard Burgstaller and several confreres, taken to the Anrath prison near Krefeld (today: Willich I prison ) in spring 1941 . On July 13, 1944, he was sentenced by the People's Court to eight years in prison for preparation for high treason and was imprisoned until April 29, 1945. He returned to the monastery on May 23, 1945 and stayed there until his death.

literature

• Erika Weinzierl : Monks against Hitler using the example of the Cistercian monastery Wilhering. In: Roman historical communications. 28, 1986, pp. 365-378.
• Erika Weinzierl: test bench. Austrian Catholics and National Socialism. Mödling 1988, pp. 186-199.
• Alkuin Volker Schachenmayr (Ed.): The Anschluss in 1938 and the Consequences for Churches and Monasteries in Austria. Heiligenkreuz, Be und Be Verlag, 2009.

Web links

• (Reinhold J. Dessl, Wilheringer Cistercians Resistance against National Socialism, in: Annual Report Stiftsgymnasium Wilhering 98, 2007/2008, pp. 7-19)
• (Gestapo files Reinhold Plohberger, with picture) ( Memento from July 2, 2019 in the web archive archive.today )
• (Obituary in the Linzer Diozesanblatt June 1, 1977, pp. 98-99, short biography without mentioning his resistance and persecution)