I reject with my innermost the evacuation [deportation of Jews] with all its side effects, because it is directed against the most important commandment of Christianity, ‘You shall love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.’ And I recognize the Jew too as my neighbor, who possesses an immortal soul, shaped after the likeness of God. However, since I cannot prevent this governmental measure, I have made up my mind to accompany the deported Jews and Christian Jews into exile, in order to give them spiritual aid. I wish to use this opportunity to ask the Gestapo to give me this opportunity.—Father Bernhard Lichtenberg
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Bernhard
Lichtenberg
[PHOTO
SOURCE: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/lichtenberg.asp]
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Unit 1012
will honor and always remember the Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg, every year
on December 3 and November 5, on his birthday and feast day respectively. We do
not remember him only on those two dates but also on his beatification day on June
23, 1996. We will remember and honor him for praying and saving the lives of
Jews during World War II and he rightfully deserves to be recognized by the
State of Israel as Righteous among the Nations.
His story
should be an inspiration for us to pray, support victims’ rights and defend the
use of the death penalty by speaking out against evil and saving lives. Most of
all, we agree with his quote in the right context of loving your neighbor.
We will
post information about him from Wikipedia and other links.
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Bernhard Lichtenberg Büste Hof
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Priest and martyr
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Born
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3
December 1875
Ohlau, Prussian Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
Died
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5
November 1943 (aged 67)
While being transported from Berlin to Dachau concentration camp, Germany |
Honored in
|
Roman
Catholic Church
(Germany) |
Beatified
|
23 June
1996, Germany, by Pope John Paul II
|
Major shrine
|
St.
Hedwig's Cathedral,
Berlin, Germany |
The Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg
(3 December 1875 – 5 November 1943) was a German Roman Catholic priest and
theologian, who died while in the custody of forces of the Third Reich.
He has been awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations, and has been beatified by the Catholic Church.
Life
Lichtenberg was born in Ohlau (now
Oława), Prussian Silesia, near Breslau (now Wrocław), the second of five
children. He studied theology in Innsbruck, Austria-Hungary and was ordained in
1899.
Lichtenberg began his ministry in
Berlin in 1900 as the pastor of Charlottenburg. For a time he also was a member
of the local parliament for the Centre Party. In 1931, the Bishop of Berlin
appointed him as a canon of the Cathedral chapter of St. Hedwig and in 1938 as
provost of the cathedral, entrusting to him the task of helping Jewish
community of the city. After Kristallnacht,
the first organized Nazi pogrom in Germany, Lichtenberg would pray publicly for
the Jews at Vespers services.
He protested in person to Nazi
officials the arrest and killing of the sick and mentally ill as well as the
persecution of the Jews. At first, the Nazis dismissed the priest as a
nuisance. Father Lichtenberg was warned that he was in danger of being arrested
for his activities, but he continued nonetheless. Deploring the regime of
concentration camps like that of Dachau, he organized demonstrations against
them outside certain camps.
In 1942, Lichtenberg protested against
the euthanasia programme by way of a letter
to the chief physician of the Reich
“I, as a human being, a Christian, a priest, and a German, demand of you, Chief Physician of the Reich, that you answer for the crimes that have been perpetrated at your bidding, and with your consent, and which will call forth the vengeance of the Lord on the heads of the German people."
Lichtenberg was arrested and condemned
to prison. Because he was considered incorrigible, he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, but he collapsed and
died while in transit, on 5 November 1943 in Hof, Bavaria.
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Bernhard
Lichtenberg
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Veneration
On 23 June 1996, Pope John Paul II
declared Lichtenberg and Karl Leisner blessed martyrs. The beatification
ceremony took place during a Mass celebrated in the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
Lichtenberg's tomb is situated in the
crypt of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. After the war, the main office
building of the Archbishop of Berlin was named after him.
BLESSED
BERNHARD LICHTENBERG
Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg was a
martyr during the Second World War. Born in 1875, he was ordained a
priest for the Diocese of Berlin, Germany. He served in the Cathedral of Berlin
and was an outspoken critic of the Nazis and their anti-Semitic campaign.
He organized protests outside
concentration camps, led public prayers for the Jews, and filed complaints
against the Nazi party. Bernhard was eventually arrested for these actions
and imprisoned for two years, but this did not deter him.
After his release, he resumed his
actions and criticisms against the Nazis. He was arrested again and sentenced
to the Dachau concentration camp. He never arrived at the camp. He was killed
Nov. 5, 1943 on the way to Dachau at the age of 67.
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II
in 1996.
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