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 Bernhard Lichtenberg - Righteous among the Nations - Berlin, Germany
N 52° 30.980 E 013° 23.675
33U E 391063 N 5819679
A German Catholic priest who has been awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by the State of Israel and Yad Vashem
Waymark Code: WMTB0J
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 10/25/2016
Views: 11
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I reject with my innermost the deportation of the Jews with all its side effects, because it is directed against the most important commandment of Christianity, ‘You shall love your neighbor as much as you love yourself’
The man who said these words during his interrogation by the Gestapo in 1941 was not a Jew, but a Catholic Priest. His name was Bernhard Lichtenberg and he was the provost of Berlin's St. Hedwig's Cathedral.
After Kristallnacht, the first organized Nazi pogrom in Germany, Provost Lichtenberg prayed in St. Hedwig's Cathedral: "Outside burns the temple. This is also a house of God."
Until his arrest in October 1941, Mr. Lichtenberg would pray publicly for the persecuted Jews at the daily Vespers service at St. Hedwig's. |
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When he was arrested, he asked the Gestapo for permission "... to accompany the deported Jews into exile, in order to give them spiritual aid." Basically, he volunteered to be sent to a death camp in order to be with those, who needed him most.
He was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, but due to his failing health never made it there. He collapsed on his way to the concentration camp and died in a cattle car in Hof, Bavaria on November 5, 1943 at age 68. In spite of Nazi repression, more than 4,000 people attended his funeral in Berlin.
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Provost Lichtenberg's tomb in St. Hedwig's Cathedral
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Provost Lichtenberg is entombed in the crypt of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin. In 1996, Pope John Paul II declared him a blessed martyr. The beatification ceremony took place during a Mass celebrated in the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
In 2004, he was awarded the title of Righteous among the Nations by the State of Israel and had his name added to the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
To Catholics, he is the Blessed Bernhard. To Jews, he is khassidey umot ha-olam; to the author of this waymark, a German who was born not too long after the Holocaust (and thus received what German Chancellor Helmut Kohl called "The mercy of a late birth") he is a fellow German he can be proud of.
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Physical Address:
Hedwigs Kathedrale
Hinter der Katholischen Kirche 3
Berlin, BE Germany
10117
Date Dedicated: 12/01/2004
Supporting Website: [Web Link]
Memorial Type: Monument/Plaque
Fee/Donation: Not listed
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