Paul Schneider (pastor)
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Paul Robert Schneider (August 29, 1897 – July 18, 1939) was a German pastor of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union who was the first Protestant minister to be martyred by the Nazis.[1][2] He was murdered with a strophanthin injection at the concentration camp of Buchenwald.[3]
Early life
[edit]
Schneider was born in Pferdsfeld near Bad Sobernheim, Germany in 1897, to Gustav-Adolf Schneider and Elisabeth Schnorr. Schneider studied theology at the universities of Giessen, Marburg and Tübingen. He was ordained in Hochelheim near Wetzlar in 1925.
Nazi opposition
[edit]On the occasion of the funeral of a Hitler youth boy a Nazi official said in his speech that the deceased would now be member of the heavenly storm of Horst Wessel.[4] Pastor Schneider responded that he would not know if a heavenly storm of Horst Wessel existed but the Lord would bless the boy and take him into his realm. After this, the Nazi leader came forward and repeated his words. Pastor Schneider then responded sharply that he would not allow God's word to be adulterated during a Christian ceremony. As a result, he was arrested for one week in June 1934.
Imprisonment
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While in prison he refused to salute the swastika flag. He explained his behaviour by saying "I cannot salute this criminal symbol". He also refused, as he had done earlier, the Hitler salute, saying that "you can only receive salvation (Heil) from the Lord and not from a human being." On one occasion on Easter Sunday, when thousands of prisoners were assembled for mustering, despite being severely handicapped by previous torture he climbed to the cell window and shouted: "Comrades, listen to me. This is Pastor Schneider. People are tortured and murdered here. So the Lord says, 'I am the resurrection and the life!'"[citation needed][5] His speech was interrupted by his tormentors.
After June 1938 the only reason for Schneider's imprisonment in Buchenwald was his refusal to accept the order to permanently leave his congregations in Dickenschied and Womrath. He could have been released from the KZ at any time, if he had agreed to accept this order. However, even under severe torture, he refused to do so.[6]
Contemporaries of note
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- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- Franz Kaufmann
- Erich Klausener
- Maximilian Kolbe
- Alberto Marvelli
- Dusty Miller
- Edith Stein
- Friedrich Weißler
Literature
[edit]- Claude R. Foster jr.: Paul Schneider, the Buchenwald apostle: a Christian martyr in Nazi Germany; a sourcebook on the German Church struggle; SSI Bookstore, West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania 1995, ISBN 1-887732-01-2.
German edition: Paul Schneider. Seine Lebensgeschichte. Der Prediger von Buchenwald; translated by Brigitte Otterpohl; Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2001, ISBN 3-7751-3660-6. - Albrecht Aichelin: Paul Schneider. Ein radikales Glaubenszeugnis gegen die Gewaltherrschaft des Nationalsozialismus; Kaiser, Gütersloh 1994, ISBN 3-579-01864-7.
- Margarete Schneider: Paul Schneider – Der Prediger von Buchenwald. Neu herausgegeben von Elsa-Ulrike Ross und Paul Dieterich; SCM Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-7751-4996-9.
Sources
[edit]- ^ "Paul Schneider - Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon".
- ^ "Ein stiller Held, der die Glocken für Hitler nicht läuten ließ". 28 March 2018.
- ^ Walter Poller: Arztschreiber in Buchenwald, Offenbach a. M.: Verlag Das Segel, 1960; (zitiert aus/nach: Prediger in der Hölle, Gedenkheft zur 25. Wiederkehr des Todestages von Paul Schneider, Verlag Kirche und Mann, Gütersloh)
- ^ Moltmann, J., & Kohl, M. (2014). The way of Jesus Christ: Christology in messianic dimensions. Alexander Street Press. p. 199
- ^ Kameraden, hört mich. Hier spricht Pfarrer Paul Schneider. Hier wird gefoltert und gemordet. So spricht der Herr: Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben!
- ^ "Widerstand!? Evangelische Christinnen und Christen im Nationalsozialismus". Forschungsstelle für Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte.