Last priest from Dachau concentration camp dies in Germany

The last Catholic priest who was imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp has died at age 102 in Ochtrup in the north-west of Germany, reports Blagovest-Info.

Father Hermann Scheipers was a young priest in 1940 when he was arrested by the Nazis and taken to the camp, near Munich. Dachau had a large population of priests: some 95% of the 2,720 clergymen imprisoned there were Catholic.

His work among young people, soon after his ordination, drew the attention of the Nazis. Because Scheipers was sympathetic with Polish forced laborers, celebrated Mass with them and heard their confessions, he was arrested [in] October of 1940 and brought to Dachau five months later. His file, which he came across by chance, states the true reason for his arrest: “Scheipers is a fanatical proponent of the Catholic Church and thus likely to cause unrest among the population.”

At one point he was in danger of being sent to the gas chamber, but was spared death when his twin sister, Anna, pleaded with officials in Berlin, warning them of a strong reaction among the Catholic population in Münsterland if such an execution were to occur.

Finally, in April of 1945, Father Scheipers managed to escape from a death march towards Bad Tölz. After the war he returned to his former place of work in the Diocese of Dresden-Meißen. 

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