Bernhard Schwentner (28 September 1891 in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

– 30 October 1944 near

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

-Görden) was a German

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Life

Bernhard Schwentner was born in Schwerin in 1891. After finishing '' Gymnasium'', he studied in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

beginning in 1910. In 1913, he entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, and was ordained a priest in 1914. Until he was called into the military, Schwentner worked at the ''St.-Ansgar-Kirche/Kleiner Michel'' in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

as a vicar and a teacher. In

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he was a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

and, as an added responsibility, garrison clergyman at

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; ) is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital o ...

. In the time from April 1917 to December 1918, he was posted to the front as a chaplain. Finally, he worked again in Hamburg as a chaplain, before he went to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1924 to study Church law. He graduated with a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and canonical law. From 1927, Schwentner was the priest in the Catholic parish of

, and chairman of the conference of priests for

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

. The respectable clergyman viewed the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

' rise to power with wariness and scepticism. Schwentner met often with his officer friends from the Rechlin airbase, but in 1944, he was denounced by at least one of them to the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. On 15 September 1944, he was sentenced to death by the '' Volksgerichtshof'' for undermining the troops' fighting spirit (''

Wehrkraftzersetzung ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' or ''Zersetzung der Wehrkraft'' ( German for "corroding of defensive strength") was a sedition offence in German military law during the Nazi Germany era from 1938 to 1945. ''Wehrkraftzersetzung'' was enacted in 1938 b ...

''), and on 30 October 1944, Bernhard Schwentner was put to death. The urn containing his ashes was buried in

on 26 November 1949. After the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, many streets were named after Schwentner in places such as Hamburg, Schwerin and the last place where he worked, Neustrelitz. In 1965, a memorial to Bernhard Schwentner was built next to the Neustrelitz Catholic Church. It had on it a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

portrait of Schwentner with a thorny wreath, and it contained the urn with his ashes. The Church has since altered the monument. In the Catholic Church, he is regarded as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

Bibliography

*U. v. Hehl: ''Priester unter Hitlers Terror'', Mainz (1984) *B. M. Kempner: ''Priester vor Hitlers Tribunal'', Kirchenbote des Bistums Osnabrück, (November 3, 1946) *''Zur Erinnerung an Pfarrer Bernhard Schwentner'', Kirchenbote des Bistums Osnabrück, Nr. 31 (October 1960) *

RSHA The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...

-Report, Amt IV (October 21, 1943) *J. Torsy: ''Der Große Namenstagskalender'', Freiburg-Basel-Wien (1992) *K. H. Jahnke: ''Gegen Hitler: Gegner und Verfolgte des NS-Regimes in Mecklenburg 1933-1945''

External links

History of Catholic community of Neustrelitz
*, short biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwentner, Bernhard 1891 births 1944 deaths People from Schwerin People from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania executed by Nazi Germany World War I chaplains German military chaplains 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests Roman Catholic priests executed by Nazi Germany German Army personnel of World War I