Anti-Nazi Christmas Pastoral Letter from the Bishop of Berlin, 1942

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

    "(T)he foulest of carrion are those who come clothed in the cloak of humility and the foulest of these Count Preysing! What a beast!"--Adolf Hitler on Konrad von Preysing

I tried to find the text of this sermon by Dr. C(K)onrad Graf von Preysing¹, Bishop of Berlin, for December 12, 1942 online but could not--there was a much more famous address made by Pope Pius at about the same time (which was much longer and well worn in history), but so far nothing for the von Preysing. So, since I have a reprint of it right here (made by the U.S. Office of War Information) I'll just present the very short document here.  At this point in the war, int eh winter of 1942, Hitler and the Nazis were on the other side of the height of power, the efforts in the East becoming the total defeat that had been awaiting them for most of the year, and the surrender of what was left of the decimated 6th army just weeks away. But there was still another 2.5 years before the final downfall, during which many millions of people will be murdered and killed. So, making such comments in Berlin in the winter of 1942 was still very dangerous, and Bishop von Preysing was a courageous man.

Some points from the Pastoral Letter:

• "...(I)n wartime, when might confronts might and when power seems to be supreme, we are in danger of despising justice...only by acknowledging and respecting right can we hope for a better future for everyone and a just peace for all. Let us examine ourselves and see how far the idea of an eternal, immutable right lives in us and how strongly we are convinced that certain  primeval rights may not be denied any man, regardless of his origin. We must be perfectly clear that the absence of such rights or even a violation of the rights of our fellow man is an injustice towards the alien nation as well as against our own nation. It is the curse of an evil deed that it must continue to conceive more evil..."
• "Change your mode of thinking."
• "Let us always remember that respecting alien rights we acknowledge and profess God's sovereign rule."

“Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix, Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (30 August 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he served as Bishop of Berlin from 1935 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII." Von Preysing opposed the appeasing attitudes of Cardinal Adolf Bertram towards the Nazis. He spoke out in public sermons and argued the case for firm opposition at bishops' conferences. He sought to block the Nazi closure of Catholic schools and arrests of church officials. By early 1937, the church hierarchy in Germany, which had initially attempted to co-operate with the new government, had become highly disillusioned. In March, Pope Pius XI issued the Mit brennender Sorge ("With burning concern") encyclical. The Pope asserted the inviolability of human rights and expressed deep concern at the Nazi regime's flouting of the 1933 Reich concordat, its mistreatment of Catholics and abuse of Christian values. He accused the government of "systematic hostility leveled at the Church" and of sowing "secret and open fundamental hostility to Christ and His Church".Preysing was part of the five-member commission that prepared the anti-Nazi encyclical."

“He extended care to both baptised and unbaptised Jews and protested the Nazi euthanasia programme... While Preysing was protected from Nazi retaliation by his position, his cathedral administrator and confidant Bernard Lichtenberg, was not. Lichtenberg served at St. Hedwig's Cathedral from 1932, and was under the watch of the Gestapo by 1933, for his support of prisoners and Jews. He became a confidante of Bishop von Preysing from 1935. He ran Preysing's aid unit, the Hilfswerke beim Bischöflichen Ordinariat Berlin, which secretly gave assistance to those who were being persecuted by the regime. From 1938, Lichtenberg conducted prayers for the Jews and other inmates of the concentration camps, including "my fellow priests there". For preaching against Nazi propaganda and writing a letter of protest concerning Nazi euthanasia, he was arrested in 1941, sentenced to two years penal servitude, and died en route to Dachau Concentration Camp in 1943..." from Wiki on von Preysing.