Friedrich Weißler
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Weißler was a German
lawyer. He belonged to the Christian resistance against National Socialism.
) within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union. From November 1934 on he helped - as a legal advisor for the opposition - to cover the old-Prussian state bishop Ludwig Müller and his willing subordinates with a wave of litigations in the ordinary courts in order to reach verdicts on his arbitrary measures violating the church constitution (Kirchenordnung). Since Müller usually acted without legal basis the courts often proved the litigants to be right.
Weißler had already worked as legal advisor for the first preliminary church executive, the rivalling executive body, organised by the Confessing Church for the else Nazi-submissive German Evangelical Church. He was also appointed as legal advisor to the second preliminary church executive and further became its office manager.
At Pentecost
1936 (May 31) the second preliminary church executive issued a memorandum to Hitler, also read from the pulpits (on August 23), condemning anti-Semitism
, concentration camps, the state terrorism
. A preliminary version had been published in foreign media earlier. "If blood, race, nationhood and honour are given the rank of eternal values, so the Evangelical Christian is compelled by the First Commandment, to oppose that judgement. If the Aryan human is glorified, so it is God's word, which testifies the sinfulness of all human beings. If - in the scope of the National Socialist weltanschauung - an anti-Semitism, obliging to hatred of the Jews, is imposed on the individual Christian, so for him the Christian virtue of charity is standing against that." The memorandum concluded that the Nazi regime will definitely lead the German people into disaster.
On October 7, 1936 the Gestapo
arrested Weißler, erroneously blaming him to have played the memorandum into the hands of foreign media. Since Weißler was a Protestant of Jewish descent he was not taken to court, where the evidentially false blaming would have been easily unveiled, but deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and tortured to death from February 13 to 19, 1937 becoming the first lethal victim of the Kirchenkampf
on the Protestant side.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
lawyer. He belonged to the Christian resistance against National Socialism.
Biography
In March 1933 Weißler was dismissed as judge due to his opposition to the Nazis. He moved to Berlin and collaborated with the Protestant opposition (Confessing ChurchConfessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
) within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union. From November 1934 on he helped - as a legal advisor for the opposition - to cover the old-Prussian state bishop Ludwig Müller and his willing subordinates with a wave of litigations in the ordinary courts in order to reach verdicts on his arbitrary measures violating the church constitution (Kirchenordnung). Since Müller usually acted without legal basis the courts often proved the litigants to be right.
Weißler had already worked as legal advisor for the first preliminary church executive, the rivalling executive body, organised by the Confessing Church for the else Nazi-submissive German Evangelical Church. He was also appointed as legal advisor to the second preliminary church executive and further became its office manager.
At Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
1936 (May 31) the second preliminary church executive issued a memorandum to Hitler, also read from the pulpits (on August 23), condemning anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, concentration camps, the state terrorism
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
. A preliminary version had been published in foreign media earlier. "If blood, race, nationhood and honour are given the rank of eternal values, so the Evangelical Christian is compelled by the First Commandment, to oppose that judgement. If the Aryan human is glorified, so it is God's word, which testifies the sinfulness of all human beings. If - in the scope of the National Socialist weltanschauung - an anti-Semitism, obliging to hatred of the Jews, is imposed on the individual Christian, so for him the Christian virtue of charity is standing against that." The memorandum concluded that the Nazi regime will definitely lead the German people into disaster.
On October 7, 1936 the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
arrested Weißler, erroneously blaming him to have played the memorandum into the hands of foreign media. Since Weißler was a Protestant of Jewish descent he was not taken to court, where the evidentially false blaming would have been easily unveiled, but deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and tortured to death from February 13 to 19, 1937 becoming the first lethal victim of the Kirchenkampf
Kirchenkampf
Kirchenkampf is a German term that translates as "struggle of the churches" or "church struggle" in English. The term is sometimes used ambiguously, and may refer to one or more of the following different church struggles:...
on the Protestant side.