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Totalitarianism: Last Years of a Resister in the Diocese of Berlin: Bernhard Lichtenberg's Conflict with Karl Adam and his Fateful Imprisonment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Kevin Spicer C.S.C.
Kevin Spicer C.S.C.
Affiliation:
An assistant professor in the history department at Stonehill College and a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
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Extract

Among the priests of the diocese of Berlin who lived and served as parish ministers during the Third Reich, one individual stands out for his courage and willingness to risk his life and speak the Christian truth in a world often devoid of any gospel values. Monsignor Bernhard Lichtenberg (1875–1943) surpassed the other clergy of his diocese in his conscious efforts to challenge the perverse policies of the state in a consistent, profound manner. To defend the faith against encroachment by the state, Lichtenberg not only exhibited Resistenz by creating defensive barriers through his own ministry, but also publicly protested, in a rigorous manner, state actions that he deemed immoral and contradictory to Catholic values.

Type
Articles
Information
Church History , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , June 2001 , pp. 248 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 2001

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References

1. Taken from the field of medicine, denoting immunity, Martin Broszat introduced the term Resistenz. According to Broszat, it included those actions that offered an “effective defense, demarcation, and curbing of the National Socialist control or its claims of control.” In contrast, he limited the term resistance (Widerstand) to those who consciously opposed the Nazi regime on political grounds.Google Scholar On this point see Broszat, Martin, “Resistenz und Widerstand. Eine Zwischenbilanz des Forschungsprojekts,” in Bayrern in der NS-Zeit, Vol. 4, Herrschaft und Gesellschaft im Konflikt, Part C (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1981), 698.Google Scholar

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18. Krieg, Karl Adam, 9.

19. Krieg, Karl Adam, 159.

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21. Adam, Lage, f. 231R.

22. Adam, Lage, ff. 230R–231.

23. Adam, Lage, f. 231.

24. Adam, Lage, f. 231.

25. Adam, Lage, ff. 238R–239.

26. Adam, Lage, f. 234R.

27. Adam, Lage, f. 240R.

28. Adam, Lage, f. 239R.

29. Adam, Lage, ff. 240R–241R.

30. See Schulte to Orsenigo, 27 September 1940;Google Scholar note of Sebastian concerning a talk with Bornewasser, 8 November 1940 in Volk, Ludwig, Akten Deutscher Bischöfe über die Lage der Kirche 1933–1945, Vol. 5, 1940–1942, VKZ A34, (Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald, 1983), 75, 252.Google ScholarLudwig Sebastian (1862–1943), Bishop of Speyer, noted that Adolf Cardinal Bertram (1859–1945), Archbishop of Breslau, had declared to President Hürth of the Kolpingsblatt that if the newspaper continued to print things in a similar vein concerning Adam's comments, he would close down the newspaper.Google Scholar

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38. Lichtenberg to Adam, 4 11 1940, Berolinen II, 127.Google Scholar

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50. Adam to Lichtenberg, 23 11 1940, Berolinen II, 139.Google Scholar

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55. Adam to Lichtenberg, 23 11 1940, Berolinen II, 141.Google Scholar

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