Adolf Bertram
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His Eminence Adolf Bertram (March 14, 1859 – July 6, 1945) was archbishop of Breslau and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
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[edit] Early Life
Adolf Bertram was born in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony in Germany. He studied theology at the University of Munich, the University of Innsbruck, and the University of Würzburg, where he obtained a doctorate in theology, and at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in Canon law in 1884. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1881. On April 26, 1906, he was elected bishop of Hildesheim and received his papal confirmation June 12, 1906. Eight years later, on May 27, 1914 Adolf Bertram became bishop of Breslau, a decision which was confirmed by the pope on September 8, 1914. While he held the title of a prince-bishop, the Prince-Bishopric of Breslau had long ceased to exist at this time.
[edit] Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
On December 4, 1916 prince-bishop Bertram was created a cardinal in pectore, owing to fears that there would be Allied hostility (especially from the Italian side) to the Church if his promotion were revealed. After hositilities subsided, he was published on December 5, 1919 and received the title Sant' Agnese fuori le mura on December 18, 1919. In 1930, after Breslau became a metropolitan see, he was further elevated to archbishop.
[edit] His Legacy
From 1919 until his death, Cardinal Bertram was the Chairman of the Fulda Conference of Catholic Bishops and thus the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Germany. His role during Hitler's rule is presently a matter of debate. On the one hand, Bertram came into conflict with the Nazi government when he attempted to preserve the independence of the Church. On the other hand, he initially declared his obedience to Hitler's government, said German civilians should obey too in 1938, and "in line with Rome’s policy" refused to publicly comment on the persecution of Jews.
However ideologically Bertram more and more initiated opposition to what he called the immorality and "neopaganism" of the Nazi Party. Because of this he was confined in his actions ever more by the Nazi authorities. Time Magazine wrote about Betram:
Died. Adolf Cardinal Bertram, 86, outspoken anti-Nazi Archbishop of Breslau and dean of the German Catholic hierarchy, whose tireless resistance to Hitler's "neopaganism" was climaxed last March in his defiance of orders to evacuate Breslau before the advancing Russians; presumably in Breslau. His death left the College of Cardinals with 40 members—fewest in 144 years.[1]
Following the assassination attempt on Hitler in July, 1944, the Gestapo rounded up nearly everyone suspected of opposing the Nazi regime or having even remote connection with the plotters. Fearing for his own safety and on the advice from the Vatican, Bertram decided to leave Breslau and spent the rest of the War at his summer residence at castle Johannesberg in Jauernig. Bertram died there on July 6, 1945 at the age of 86 and was buried at the cemetery in Ves Javorník (Oberjauernig). It is said that he died partly because of enormous stress caused by the bloody conflicts in post-World War II Sudetenland and the persecution of Germans by the Czech and Polish militias who acted in league with the Red Army by starting expulsions of Germans from territories annexed or re-taken by Czechoslovakia and Poland. His body was exhumed in 1991 and was reburied in his own metropolitan cathedral in Wrocław (Breslau), now in Poland. He was succeeded as Chairman of the Fulda Conference of Catholic Bishops by Josef Frings.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "The strongly anti-Nazi archbishop of Breslau, Adolf Bertram, died this month, probably near Breslau." - Time Magazine, 23 July 1945
[edit] References
- Entry at Bautz' Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (in German)
- Cornwell, John. Hitler's Pope. 1999. ISBN 0-670-88693-9.
- (German) At the site of the Apostolic Visitator of Breslau
| Preceded by Georg von Kopp |
Bishop or Archbishop of Breslau 1914-1945 |
Succeeded by Bolesław Kominek |
| Preceded by Wilhelm Sommerwerk |
Bishop of Hildesheim 1906-1914 |
Succeeded by Josef Ernst |
| Preceded by Felix von Hartmann |
Chairman of the Fulda Conference of Catholic Bishops 1919-1946 |
Succeeded by Josef Frings |
