Erich Sack (1 April 1887 – 24 January 1943) was a German

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Pastor and resistance fighter against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

.heiligenlexikon.de
/ref> Sack was born in Goldap,

East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...

(today Gołdap, Poland) and studied Lutheran theology at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

. He started to work as a Pastor at the Parish of St. Anschar and the „Bethlehem”-hospital in

Eppendorf, Hamburg Eppendorf is one of thirteen quarters in the Hamburg-Nord borough of Hamburg, Germany, and lies north of the Außenalster. In 2020 the population was 24,806. History Eppendorf, first mentioned as ''Eppenthorp'' in 1140, is Hamburg's oldest vil ...

. In 1914 he returned to East Prussia and became a Pastor with the

Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pr ...

in Lyck (Ełk). In 1924 he moved to

Pillkallen Dobrovolsk (russian: Добровольск, lit. "Voluntary Town"; german: Pillkallen (1510-1938) or ' (1938-1947); lt, Pilkalnis; pl, Pilkały) is a village in Krasnoznamensky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It has a population of ...

(Dobrovolsk) and in 1927 to Lasdehnen (Krasnoznamensk). After the Nazis took over power in Germany he opposed the Nazi-influenced "

German Christians Christianity is the largest religion in Germany. It was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD, while parts of that area belonged to the Roman Empire, and later, when Franks and other Germanic tribes converted to Christianity from t ...

" and joined the

Confessing Church The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi Germ ...

. In 1942 he was arrested by the Gestapo, accused of "Weakening the Resistibility of the German people" after Sack had expressed his concerns about the German victory in a confirmees lesson.Andreas Kossert, Ostpreussen - Geschichte und Mythos, p. 298 Sack died in the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau () was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is ...

on 24 January 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sack, Erich 1887 births 1943 deaths People from Gołdap People from East Prussia 20th-century German Lutheran clergy German resistance members University of Königsberg alumni German people who died in Dachau concentration camp Resistance members who died in Nazi concentration camps German civilians killed in World War II