Victor Dillard

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Father Victor Dillard memorial plaque on the church of Sankt Konrad in Wuppertal

Victor Dillard (born December 24, 1897 in Blois on the Loire , † January 12, 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was a French Catholic clergyman ( Jesuit ) and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Live and act

Working as a Jesuit

During the First World War , Victor Dillard served in the French army as an instructor in the Polish army; In 1920 he joined the Jesuits . He studied economics and Catholic theology in Innsbruck and during his studies traveled to Great Britain and Germany, among other places . He was particularly interested in social issues and youth work. He celebrated his first mass in 1931 in the chapel of the Notre-Dame des Aydes boarding school in his hometown, which he had visited himself. He then worked in a house of the Jesuit order, where he looked after students. He continued his studies and, with the financial support of the entrepreneur Isidor Straus, made a trip to the United States , during which he also met President Franklin D. Roosevelt .

Resistance in Wuppertal

When the Second World War broke out, Dillard was again a soldier, was taken prisoner, but was able to escape. The Gestapo noticed him because he was visiting political prisoners in prison . When the French bishops called for pastoral care abroad , he originally wanted to travel to North Africa. Instead, however, in October 1943 he took a job under a false name and disguised as an electrician at the Wuppertal steam boiler and apparatus construction factory Siller & Jamart . In addition to his work, he looked after the French forced laborers and celebrated services, including in the chapel of the St. Joseph Hospital . In April 1944 he was betrayed and was taken to the Bendahl police prison , where he met Maria Husemann and Hans Carls, among others . On November 12, 1944, he was taken to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died on January 12, 1945 due to the poor camp conditions.

Honors

On January 12, 2002, the 57th anniversary of Victor Dillard's death, a memorial plaque for Victor Dillard was unveiled in the house chapel of the St. Josef Hospital in Wuppertal- Elberfeld . In August 2005, as part of the World Youth Day in Cologne, a memorial plaque was attached to the St. Konrad Church in Wuppertal and in January 2006 another for Père Dillard was attached to the Notre-Dame des Aydes school in Blois .

Publications

  • Lettres à Jean-Pierre pour devenir un homme . 1938
  • Evolution de la monnaie en France . 1941 (dissertation)
  • Lettres du Prisonnier Inconnu , 1941
  • Jeunes étudiants d'Amérique . 1942
  • Jeunes travailleurs d'Amérique . 1942

literature

Web links

Commons : Victor Dillard  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Dillard, Victor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Jesuit and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Blois
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1945
Place of death Dachau concentration camp