Walter Spix
Walter Spix (born June 17, 1894 in Mönchengladbach ; † August 9, 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp ) was under the religious name Alfons Spix Superior and Vice Provincial of the Arnstein Fathers in the Arnstein Monastery on the Lahn .
Life
At the age of 25, Walter Spix entered the congregation of the Arnstein Fathers, where he took the name Alfons and was ordained a priest in 1925 . In 1928 he took over the position of superior in the Johanneskloster in Niederlahnstein . After five years he was called back to Arnstein in the same position in 1933. In 1938 he was elected Vice Provincial of the German Order Province .
As head of the monastery in Arnstein, he came into conflict with the unjust National Socialist state. Unaware of the legal requirements, he allowed Polish slave laborers to attend church services and allowed them to have breakfast at the monastery gate. He was therefore warned by the Gestapo in 1941 and arrested on November 19, 1941 after another, probably unintentional violation of these regulations. At the beginning of 1942 he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp . There he died on August 9, 1942, presumably of an intestinal problem.
Alfons Spix was not an active resistance fighter. Eric Steinhauer mentions him in the BBKL as an example of the risk those Christians took during the Nazi era who continued to follow the standards of Christian charity .
The Roman Catholic Church has Alfons Spix in 1999 as witnesses of faith in the German martyrology of the 20th century added.
literature
- Stefan G. Diefenbach: From Arnstein to Dachau. Father Alfons Spix SS. CC. Victims of the National Socialist church struggle. Munster 1991
- Helmut Moll (publisher on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference), witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th revised and updated edition 2019, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 , Volume II, pp. 979-982.
- Eric Steinhauer: Walter Spix. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 18, Bautz, Herzberg 2001, ISBN 3-88309-086-7 , Sp. 1344-1345.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Spix, Walter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Spix, Alfons (religious name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German religious, victim of National Socialism |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 17, 1894 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mönchengladbach |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 9, 1942 |
| Place of death | Dachau concentration camp |