Josef Lenzel
Josef Lenzel (21 April 1890 – 3 July 1942) was a German Roman Catholic priest active in resistance movement against the National Socialism, who died in the Dachau concentration camp where he had been sent as a result of his work with Polish forced labourers.
Biography
[edit]Lenzel was born in 1891 in Breslau (now Wrocław) in Prussian Silesia. In 1911, he started his theological studies at the University in Breslau, and was ordained as a priest on 3 June 1915 in Breslau Cathedral. He became a vicar in Wołów immediately after this, and in 1916 became a vicar in Berlin-Pankow. In 1929, he became a rector, then a titulary provost of St Mary Magdalene's parish in Berlin-Niederschönhausen. During the Second World War, he helped Polish obligatory workers in his parish; his help was viewed unkindly by local Nazi authorities. In January 1942, during his preparations for a mass for maltreated Poles, he was arrested by the Gestapo and then sent to the Dachau concentration camp. He died there on 3 July 1942 from ill-treatment and exhaustion [1]
Memorials
[edit]- Commemorative plaque in a crypt of St. Hedwig's Cathedral,
- Commemorative plaque on a symbolic tomb in memorial of Josef Lenzel, in front of St Mary Magdalene's parish in Berlin-Niederschönhausen
- Street named Pfarrer-Lenzel-Straße in Berlin-Pankow.
- Commemorative plaque in front of St Mary Magdalene's parish on 22 Platanenstraße street in Berlinie-Niederschönhausen, in memorial of priest Josef Lenzel, that gave his life for Poles – brothers in faith
- A part of a commemorative plaque in memorial of Catholics of Archdiocese of Berlin murdered during the war, in a crypt of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin
Bibliography
[edit]- Helmut Moll, Ursula Pruss, Pfarrer Josef Lenzel. In: Zeugen für Christus. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. von im Auftrag der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz. site 101–104. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 1999
- Heinz Kühn, Blutzeugen des Bistums Berlin. Klausener, Lichtenberg, Lampert, Lorenz, Simoleit, Mandrella, Hirsch, Wachsmann, Metzger, Schäfer, Willimsky, Lenzel, Froehlich. Morus-Verlag, Berlin 1952
External links
[edit]- Website of Diocese of Münster: Josef Lenzel's biography (German)
- Website of Archidiocese of Berlin: Reminiscence of priest Josef Lenzel as a victim of nazism (German)
References
[edit]- ^ Archives of Archidiocese of Berlin: Biographical note for Josef Lenzel Archived 2012-03-31 at the Wayback Machine (German)