Augustin Rösch (centre) was the wartime Jesuit Provincial of Bavaria and one of three Jesuits in the inner Kreisau Circle of the German Resistance. He ended the war on death row.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) had some 1700 members in Nazi Germany, divided into three provinces: Eastern, Lower and Upper Germany. Nazi leaders had some admiration for the discipline of the Jesuit order, but opposed its principles. Of the 152 Jesuits murdered by the Nazis across Europe, 27 died in captivity or its results, and 43 in the concentration camps.[1]
Hitler was anticlerical and had particular disdain for the Jesuits. The Jesuit Provincial, Augustin Rosch, ended the war on death row for his role in the July Plot to overthrow Hitler. The Catholic Church faced persecution in Nazi Germany and persecution was particularly severe in Poland. The Superior General of the Jesuits at the outbreak of War was Wlodzimierz Ledochowski, a Pole. Vatican Radio, which spoke out against Axis atrocities, was run by the Jesuit Filippo Soccorsi.[2]
Jesuits made up the largest contingent of clergy imprisoned in the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp, where some 30 Jesuits died. Several Jesuits were prominent in the small German Resistance, including the influential martyr Alfred Delp of the Kreisau Circle.[3] The German Jesuit Robert Leiber acted as intermediary between Pius XII and the German Resistance. Among the Jesuit victims of the Nazis, Germany's Rupert Mayer has been beatified. Among twelve Jesuit "Righteous Gentiles" recognised by Yad Vashem is Belgium's Jean-Baptiste Janssens, who was appointed Superior General of the Jesuits after the War.[4]
^Vincent A. Lapomarda; The Jesuits and the Third Reich; 2nd Edn, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press; 2005; p. 33 & Appendix A
^Vincent A. Lapomarda; The Jesuits and the Third Reich; 2nd Edn, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press; 2005; pp. 266–267
^Vincent A. Lapomarda; The Jesuits and the Third Reich; 2nd Edn, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press; 2005; p. 33
^Vincent A. Lapomarda; The Jesuits and the Third Reich; 2nd Edn, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press; 2005; Appendix A, B
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