Erich Klausener

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Erich Klausener
Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance Kingdom of Prussia
 German Empire
Battles/warsWorld War I
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Erich Klausener (25 January 1885 – 30 June 1934) was a German

Catholic politician and Catholic martyr in the "Night of the Long Knives", a purge that took place in Nazi Germany
from 30 June to 2 July 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders.

Family

Klausener was born in

Ministry of Commerce.[3] He served as an artillery officer in Belgium, France and on the eastern front of World War I, and was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class in 1914 and the Iron Cross First Class in 1917.[citation needed] During the French occupation of Ruhr, Klausener sent a letter to Belgian occupation authorities, criticizing the mistreatment of German police officers. In response, Klausener was arrested, tried by a Belgian court-martial, sentenced to two months in prison, and temporarily expelled from the Ruhr.[4]

Career

From 1924, Klausener served in

Nazis came to power in 1933, Hermann Göring became minister-president of Prussia. Klausener was displaced from the ministry of transport of Prussia when Göring started to Nazify the Prussian police, and Klausener was transferred to the Reich Ministry of Transportation.[3]

Chair of Catholic Action Berlin

In 1928, Klausener joined the Katholischen Akademikerverbandes (Catholic Academic Association) and was elected to its board.[1][5] (Another sources states that Klausener "initiated" Catholic Action in Berlin in 1922 via encyclical Ubi Arcano[6])

Assassination

A close associate of Vice Chancellor

Chancellor.[3] It called for an end to the revolution, Nazi terror and for the restoration of normalcy, freedom, and freedom of the press.[7]

On 24 June 1934, Klausener spoke at the Catholic Congress in the Berlin's Hoppegarten. His passionate criticism of the repression was viewed by the Nazis as an open challenge.[3]

Six days later, on 30 June 1934, during the "Night of the Long Knives", SS officer Kurt Gildisch was ordered by Reinhard Heydrich to go to Klausener's office at the Ministry of Transport to assassinate him.[7][8] After the killing, Gildisch was promoted in rank to SS-Sturmbannführer.[8]

Martyr

Klausener's Monument in the cemetery of St. Matthias Church, Berlin

After the end of the Nazi regime and after World War II, a monument was erected to Klausener in Berlin. In 1999, the Catholic Church in Germany accepted Klausener into the German martyrology as a witness of faith.[9]

Legacy

Tributes and memorials

  • Erich-Klausener-Gymnasium (State High-School) in Adenau is named after him[10]

Klausener had seven Straßen (streets) named after him:

Leo-Statz-Platz in

Unterbilk, Düsseldorf

Gallery

  • Klausener (Right) behind Prussian Interior Minister Albert Grzesinski (Centre) at the Constitutional Celebration of the Berlin Police in August 1929
    Klausener (Right) behind Prussian Interior Minister Albert Grzesinski (Centre) at the Constitutional Celebration of the Berlin Police in August 1929
  • Klausener circa 1928
    Klausener circa 1928
  • Memorial stone for Klausener and Leo Statz in Leo-Statz-Platz in Unterbilk, Düsseldorf
    Memorial stone for Klausener and Leo Statz in Leo-Statz-Platz in
    Unterbilk, Düsseldorf
  • Klausener's Stolperstein in Düsseldorf, Leo-Statz-Platz on Kronprinzenstaße
    Klausener's Stolperstein in Düsseldorf, Leo-Statz-Platz on Kronprinzenstaße
  • 50th Death Anniversary Stamp of Klausener from the West Berlin Deutsche Bundespost Berlin in 1984
    50th Death Anniversary Stamp of Klausener from the West Berlin Deutsche Bundespost Berlin in 1984
  • Klausener Memorial Plaque in Keithstrasse 8, Schöneberg, Berlin
    Klausener Memorial Plaque in Keithstrasse 8, Schöneberg, Berlin

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 3-88309-035-2
    .
  2. ^ Adolph, Walter (1955). Erich Klausener. Berlin: Morus-Verl. p. 157.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Erich Klausener", German Resistance Memorial Center
  4. ISBN 3-89325-820-5
  5. ISBN 3428001923
    .
  6. ^ Joseph Gustav. "Lexixon". Berlin: Berlin Geschichte. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  7. ^ a b c Shirer, William (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-30680-947-7
    .
  9. ^ Serfontein, Anli (6 October 2020). "Klausener remembered as first Catholic victim of Nazi regime in 1934". Crux.
  10. ^ Penz, H. O. "Das Staatl. Neusprachl. Erich-Klausener-Gymnasium in Adenau hat eine wahrhaft bewegte Geschichte" (PDF). Chronik des EKG.

External links

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