Johannes Flintrop

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John Flintrop (ger. Johannes Flintrop). Born May 23rd, 1904 in Barmen (Wuppertal) - Died August 28th, 1943 in Dachau. Prominent Roman Catholic critic of the National Socialist dictatorship.

[edit] Biography

John Flintrop was born May 23rd, 1904 in Barmen to devout working class parents. After his theological studies at the University of Münster, he was ordained a Pastor in Cologne in 1927. At the age of 23, he initially served the congregation Heart of Jesus in Cologne Mülheim, before becoming a vicar general to the congregation of St. Lambert at Mettmann in 1933.

His admission to youth of the Catholic Kolping workers society in 1941 that the war had long not been won, and that "it is likely that we (German troops) too committed war atrocities" in the Soviet Union, landed him in prison in Düsseldorf, from where he was transferred to the Concentration Camp in Dachau on May 1st, 1942. He died in August 28th, 1943 officially of unknown causes. Surviving inmates of the concentration camp reported that he was forcefully subjected to medical experiments and died as a result of them. He was cremated and buried in his hometown of Barmen by the congregation of St.Lambert in 1943 in silent protest. He has a main street in Mettmann named in his memory.

[edit] References

Erich Klausener (1983). Zum Widerstand der Katholiken im Dritten Reich. Informationszentrum Berlin. Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Stauffenbergstrasse. Berlin.

Franz Kloidt (1962). Verräter oder Märtyrer? Dokumentation katholischer Blutzeugen der nationalsozialistischen Kirchenverfolgung geben Antwort. Patmos Verlag. Düsseldorf.

Rev. Helmut Moll (1997). Johannes Flintrop – ein katholischer Priester aus Barmen in den Fängen des Nationalsozialismus. In: Romerike Berge 47. Heft 3, pp. 21-24.

Rev. Helmut Moll (Ed.) (1999). Zeugen für Christus: das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. Schöningh Verlag. Paderborn, pp. 455-459.