Squidward Brunke

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Thaddäus Brunke OFM (born January 21, 1903 in Harburg / Elbe as Wilhelm Johannes Josef Brunke ; † August 5, 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was a German Franciscan and priest . He died in camp and is one of the Roman Catholic martyrs of the Nazi era .

Life

Wilhelm Brunke grew up in Harburg near Hamburg. On March 28, 1923 he became a member of the Thuringian Franciscan Province ( Thuringia ) and received the religious name Thaddäus . After the novitiate in Salmünster , he made temporary profession there on March 29, 1924 , and perpetual profession on April 23, 1927 in the monastery on the Frauenberg in Fulda. He completed his philosophy studies in the Thuringia study house in Sigmaringen-Gorheim , he studied theology in Fulda, where he was ordained priest on April 7, 1929 .

He then worked for ten years as a chaplain in the Franciscan parish St. Bonifatius Church in Mannheim -Wohligart. In August 1939 it the provincial government appointed Thuringia for Guardian in Fulda. As superior of the large monastery on the Frauenberg, he was also responsible for supplying the brothers in the monastery with food, most of which was donated by farmers. In 1936 the National Socialists had legally ordered that groceries be delivered. The Franciscans were no longer able to collect alms or make appointments . Farmers friends now brought the food directly to the monastery. On November 30, 1940, a farmer's car was confiscated by the Gestapo , and house searches in the monastery revealed too many pigs and too large stocks of eggs. By storing these supplies, Father Thaddäus had violated an instruction from Provincial Vinzenz Rock, who did not want to give the Gestapo any reason to intervene. The provincial leadership of the Thuringia deposed Thaddäus Brunke as Guardian of Fulda on December 9, 1940, in order to prevent the abolition of the monastery, which was nevertheless violently carried out on December 14 by the Kassel Gestapo.

Thaddäus Brunke went to the monastery in Salmunster. There he was arrested on December 14, 1940 and imprisoned in the Breitenau camp from December 26, 1940 to May 13, 1941 . After almost five months in prison, he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp on May 16, 1941. According to a statement by his fellow prisoner Pastor Josef Albinger , Brunke was popular with the imprisoned priests there because of his unselfishness and willingness to make sacrifices. For the approved masses, he wrote notes and texts of the Gregorian chant for use during services in the priest's block in the Dachau concentration camp. The large-format notes of the chants, reproduced from the memory of the old monastery customs, were in use until the camp was closed. As Franz Sales Hess reported, during the brief period of privileged treatment in the spring and summer of 1942, the clergy in Block 26 came together to counteract the dullness of the camp and thus to kindle a new spiritual, religious endeavor. However, Thaddäus Brunke, weakened from hunger and hard work, suffered a stroke in June and died after the second on the morning of August 5, 1942.

Appreciation

Stumbling block in Mannheim

Provincial Vinzenz Rock wrote in retrospect about Brunke's “sacrificial death for the Frauenberg” that it was correct that the Guardian had pretended to be solely responsible for the hoarding of the foodstuffs to the Gestapo and thus had not “dragged in” others. The provincial is also aware that he and the confreres of the provincial government “missed because we did not stand up for him enough. (...) May the good God reward him abundantly for his sacrificial death for the Frauenberg in heaven. "

In Mannheim, a stumbling stone was laid in front of the St. Boniface Church in memory of Chaplain Thaddäus Brunke. Another stumbling block is in front of the house where he was born at Maretstrasse 45 in Hamburg-Harburg.

literature

  • Emmanuel Dürr, Art .: Pater Thaddäus (Wilhelm) Brunke. In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhundert , Paderborn 1999, 7th updated and revised edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume 1, pp. 911–912.
  • Eike Lossin. Catholic clergy in National Socialist concentration camps . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8260-4413-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Civil registry office Harburg, 1903: Birth register . In: Standesamt Hamburg-Harburg-Wilhelmsburg (Hrsg.): Name directory births . 1903th edition. Registry offices 16225, Lfde. No. 6 . Registry office, Hamburg-Harburg-Wilhelmsburg 1903, p. 1 .
  2. ↑ Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar: Evangelical and Catholic clergy in the Breitenau camp (1941-1944) A report. (PDF) In: uni-kassel.de. Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar, 1992, p. 8 , accessed on March 3, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar: Evangelical and Catholic clergy in the Breitenau camp (1941-1944) A report. (PDF) In: uni-kassel.de. Dietfrid Krause-Vilmar, 1992, accessed on March 3, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Eike Lossin: Catholic clergy in National Socialist concentration camps . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-8260-4413-7 , p. 244 .
  5. ↑ Quoted in Emmanuel Dürr: Pater Thaddäus (Wilhelm) Brunke. In: Helmut Moll (ed.): Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century . Paderborn 1999, Volume 2, p. 747.
personal data
SURNAME Brunke, Squidward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brunke, Wilhelm (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Franciscans and priests
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Harburg / Elbe
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 1942
Place of death Dachau concentration camp