Photo: saarbruecken.de
He was executed in October following Gestapo efforts to extract more information from him. His Faith gave him strength to withstand brutal interrogations without compromising his friends. (2)
On his last day, he wrote to his family, ‘On this day I’m leaving this life and entering eternity. ... strength and comfort you’ll find with God and that is what I am praying for till the last moment ... Hold each other and stand together with love and trust.... God’s blessing on us, in Him we are and we live ...’.(6)
addendum 2018
"This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth and the 75th anniversary of his execution. He deserves much more recognition than he's received in the past. Unlike the other White Rose members, he refused to join the Hitler Youth and never did, despite threatened with being prevented from taking the university admittance test. Instead, he joined illegal Catholic youth groups for boys and was arrested in early 1938 for his participation. He and his friends spent a few weeks in jail. He served as an altar boy at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Saarbruecken where he grew up, joined the Red Cross as a university student, and pursued medical studies as opposed to the liberal arts which he maintained were corrupted by the Nazis. His main concern had been for the victims and was deeply troubled by the indifference and/or alignment of those in authority with the Nazis. His favorite bible verse, which inspired him throughout his life, was James 1:22. He strove to be a "doer of the Word." He also recited Psalm 90. After two deployments on the Russian Front and his resistance with the White Rose, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Munich on February 18, 1943. Of the core White Rose members, he spent the longest time in prison (8 months) and never cooperated with the Gestapo, thereby saving the lives of those whom he had tried to recruit for the White Rose. He also experienced the most time on the battlefield as a combat paramedic and witnessed crimes against humanity committed by his fellow Germans. He was executed for high treason on October 12, 1943 in Munich's Stadelheim Prison, today one of Germany's largest prisons. He was declared a martyr by Saint Pope John Paul II." (9)
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