The man who took a stand against Hitler
THREE weeks ago a patient in the hospital where I’m working handed me a book, thinking I might be interested in it. More out of politeness than anything else I took the book. I left the book on the desk and forgot about it. We have been busy in the hospital these days, so that book was the last thing on my mind.
A few days ago I spotted the book and brought it home with me. On the cover is a picture of Adolf Hitler with a smaller picture of Fr Franz Reinisch. The title of the book is ‘I Will Not Serve’ with the sub title ‘ The priest who said NO to Hitler’. At the bottom of the cover is the name of the author, David Rice. Shock might be too strong a word but I was sort of flabbergasted. I know David. David was a Dominican priest for a number of years. He headed the Rathmines School of Journalism, later known as Dublin Institute of Technology and these days called Technological University Dublin.
David has always had an interest in Germany. After his ordination, he set off from Dublin on his motorbike to drive through Germany on his way to Rome.
‘I Will Not Serve’ tells the story of a young wayward Austrian man, who to the astonishment of his friends and parents, but above all, to the amazement of his girlfriend, decides to study for the priesthood. With a number of hiccups along the way Franz is ordained a priest of the Pallottine Congregation on June 29, 1928.
Rice paints a picture of a man who has a short fuse. He’s tall and can easily intimidate those who might be inclined to disagree with him.
David readily agrees that the book is a mix of fiction and reality. But what is certain is that Fr Franz Reinisch took a stand against Adolf Hitler. It is also factual, that Reinisch spent his short 14 years as a priest, regularly in dispute with his religious superiors. On a personal note, that heartened me.
He realised long before Hitler came to power that he would prove disastrous for Germany and the world.
His fellow priests advised Reinisch to keep quiet and put up with the situation. In 1933 Germany and the Holy See signed a Concordat. Franz was reminded of that and told to obey his superiors.
In March 1941 Franz received his call-up papers to join the German Army. He refused. His refusal was based on the fact that soldiers were asked to swear an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler. He made it clear that he would never do such a thing. And for that he was beheaded as a common criminal at Berlin Brandenburg- Görden prison on August 20, 1942, just three days before the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad, the battle that heralded the end of Hitler.
In the course of his life Franz influenced many people, including fellow prisoners, and a close friend home on holiday from the front.
The book, published in 2018 by Mentor/Red Stag Press, is a great read.
There are plans afoot to make Franz Reinisch a saint.
ICanada Czech Rep Denmark
Ireland New Zealand Nicaragua Wales Shirley Bassey, performer of three James Bond movie songs Neils Bohr, physicist whose work helped create the atom bomb Giselle Bunchen, supermodel and businesswoman
Kim Clijsters, former world number one tennis player Sigmund Freud, deviser of psychoanalysis
Bianca Jagger, human rights activist
Dame Nellie Melba, Victorian opera star
Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi singer/songwriter
Clive James, TV presenter and poet
Kiri Te Kanawa, well known operatic soprano
Daniel Ortega, Sandanista dictator
Nelson Pessoa, showjumper at Olympics in 1956 and 1992 Georges Remi, aka Hergé, creator of the cartoon Tintin Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and mathematician Peter Rutherford, regarded as the father of nuclear physics Peter Schmeichel, former Manchester United goalkeeper Tom Stoppard, wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Shania Twain, whose hits include Man! I Feel Like a Woman Ninette de Valois, founder of the Royal Ballet in London Duke of Wellington, general at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 Answers: Australia (Melba, James); Belgium (Clijsters, Remi); Brazil (Bunchen, Pessoa); Canada (Mitchell, Twain); Czech Republic (Freud, Stoppard); Denmark (Bohr, Schmeichel); Ireland ( Valois, Wellington); New Zealand (Kanawa, Rutherford); Nicaragua (Jagger, Ortega); Wales (Bassey, Russell).
Let’s have another helping, this time with eleven countries: Australia Austria Ireland
Italy North Macedonia Mexico
Peru South Africa Tanzania
United States Wales
Sir David Adjaye, architect of the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks
Isabel Allende, bestselling author, daughter of a Chile president Atahualpa, last of the Inca emperors
Josephine Baker, once a popular cabaret performer in Paris Christine Bleakley, TV presenter aka Christine Lampard Mother Teresa Bojaxhiu, sainted Christian missionary Zola Budd, athlete who ran barefoot at the 1984 Olympics Christopher Columbus, who explored America for Spain Eamonn Devalera, Taoiseach, President, founder of Fianna Fáil Germaine Greer, feminist writer, teacher, commentator Joaquín Guzmán, aka ‘El Chapo’, drug dealer now in a US jail Ralf Hasenhuttl, manager of Southampton football club Nexhmije Hoxha, who died recently at the age of 99 Adolf Hitler, leader of the Third Reich
Neil Kinnock, leader of the UK’s Labour Party
Allan Lamb, England cricketer,scored more than 4,600 Test runs Gina Lollobrigida, actress in the 1958 movie ‘Anna of Brooklyn’ Elizabeth Matthews, singer, songwriter and broadcaster Freddie Mercury, lead singer with Queen, born Farrokh Bulsara Johnny Robbie, former South African rugby scrum-half Saint Anastasia Guadalupe García Zavala, aka Mother Lupita, founder of the Handmaids of Santa Margherita
Answers: Australia (Greer, Assange); Austria (Hitler, Hasenhuttl); Ireland (Robbie, Bleakley); Italy (Lollobrigida, Columbus); North Macedonia (Hoxha, Mother Teresa); Mexico (Zavala, Guzmán); Peru (Atahualpa*, Allende); South Africa (Lamb, Budd); Tanzania (Mercury, Adjaye); United States (Devalera, Baker); Wales (Matthews, Kinnock).
* Atahualpa’s birthplace is actually a matter for conjecture and speculation but his empire was Peruvian.