Hide Article Text (OCR)
m ■ ■ ------German Bishop Denounces Gestapo For Murdering Of “Unproductive” Citizens]Washington. — A severe indictment ot the killing or unproductive citizens, Incurables, and the like was volcod by Bishop Clemen# August Count von Galen or Wuenatw, Germany. In the third of 2tl9 now famous sermons denouncing the method# .of the Gestapo. According to what I' have learned on good authority, lie stated, the practice in homes and clinics in Westphalia Is to draw up lists of patients who are to be transferred elsewhere as ‘unproductive1 citizens and after some time put to death. During this very week the first batch of patients 1ms been sent from the clinic of Marienthal near Muenstcr.'•Article 2 of the Code of Penal Law 1 s still valid, tho bishop recalled, and according to this code, anyone who deliberately kills a man by premeditated act will be executed as a murderer. IMs In order to protect tho killers of these unhappy patients against-this legal penalty that the pa-j tlcnta to be put to cl oath are removed from their place of residence to some distant Institution. Some disease or other reason is given as the cause of death, but n» the bodies arc Immediately cremated. neither their families nor the regular police can afterwards find out whether the disease Is gcmime or what was really thu cause of death.the German people If we transgress the sacred commandment, 'Thou shall not kill.'Commandments Violated1*retested But To No PurposeWhen I heard of Uio proposal to remove patients from Muricti-thul In order to kill them I Informed the Tribunal of Mucnater Police. I bad already sent a strong written protest to tho provincial administration of Westphalia, which Is responsible for the Institutions to which these patients have been entrusted. It was ail to no purpose. Tho first con tin gout of Innocent people has left Marienthal under sentence ofdeath and from tho clinic ofWaoetom I am told that 800 patient* have been removed.It is simply because In the opinion of some doctor or in the view of some committee that they are 'unworthy to live,' It Is thought that they cun no longer produce riches and that they are like old machines which can no longer work, an old horse which has become Incurably lame, or like « cow which can no longer give «ny milk.Is history repeating itself here In Germany, In our land of Westphalia, in our city of Muenster? The' Eighth- Commandment lays down, 'Thou shalt not bear lalsf witness against thy neighbor.' How often do we see this commandment violated publicly and with immunity?The Seventh Commandment says; ‘Thou shalt not steal,' but can we say that property and possessions are -being respected when our brothers and our sisters, monks and nuns, are forcibly and brutally robbed of their convents; and who protects property, now If it is illegally seized and not restored? The Sixth Commandment iss, Thou shalt not commit adultery,' Think of the instructions and promises given on the question of free love and maternity outside marriage in the notorious open letter published In the journals of Rudolph Hess, who has since disappeared. And in matters of this kind what indecency and vulgarity do we not see everywhere, even In Muenster? To what lengths has not the impropriety of dress gone among ouryoung people? That is how modesty, the guardian of purity, is being destroyed and the way prepared for unchastity in the future,No Respect For Parent#Have Not Lost Bight To I4v§We not dealing here with machines or horses or cows, destroyed when they no longer cart fulfill their purpose. No, we are speaking here of men, of our neighbors, our brothers and slaters, poor people and invalids, Unproductive beings 1 Perhupal But have they for that reason lost their right to live? Have you or hftv© I tho right to live only solong aft we are productive, or rather so long ft# othera regard us as productive? If ono admits the principle that unproductive men may -be killed, then woe to nil of us who become old and wrinkled by ago. If ono may kill such men, woo to all invalids who, in order to produce wealth, have used, sacrificed and worn out tholr strength arid their arms, If one may by violence kill our unproductive neighbors, then woe to our gallant soldiers who come back to their coun :ry wounded and maimed and sick.And how is It one observe# the Fourth Commandment, which orders respect and obedience to parents and superiors? The authority of parent# haft greatly diminished und i# more and more shaken by the‘ demands'made upon the young against the wishes of their parents. Hdw do you think one can preserve a*, genuine respect and -conscientious obedience toward state authority if one continues to violate the Commandments of the Supreme Authority, the Commandments of God; if one is fighting against, and trying to destroy faith in the only true god, the Supreme Being, the Lord of Hoaven and Earth?The observance of tho first three commandmenta has long since lapsed In German public life and here aWo In Muenster. Many desecrate and secularize Sunday and feastday# and try to remove them from the service of God, The name of God is constantly ridiculed, dishonored and blasphemed, ana as for the First Commandment . . . mon have created according to their own good pleasure false gods to adore — Nature, tho state, the people, or the race , ,, Is It surprising then that they try also to claim divine prerogatives, and to make themselves the masters of the life and death of their neighbor#?Provoke Wrath Of God ,Nemo of no then will bo sure of his Ufo, Any committee cun put a mart on tho list or unproductive*, when it judges that he has become unworthy of life, No police can protect him, no court can avenge his murder and Inflict on tho murderer tho punishment he deserves. Who cun havo any confidence iii n doctor when he has only to certify his patients us unproductive and he can get authority to kill them. If this horrible doctrine la tolerated, admitted and practiced, It is impossible to imagine to what depths of depravity It wl 1 lead, what suspicion und d I struct it will cause even in close family circles. Woe to men and toI hope that It is not too lat but it is certainly time to realis now on this very day .what alor can bring peace, what.alor can »ave us and preserve us fro: divine punishment, and to adm openly and unreservedly the d vine revealed truths, and to sho by our attitude that we wish i direct our lives by the Commam mcnt« of God and that we acee] in all gravity the motto: Rath, die than sin; and that we wish t sincere prayer and penance draw down divine grace and fo glyoneaa on us, our city and lai and our dear German people, But if there are some who co: tlhuo to provoke the wrath ■God, who blaspheme our fait who despite God's Comman menta, who make common cau with those who drive our yom men from, their religion, who d spoil and expel our monks ai nuns, who deliver over to dea Innocent human beings, our brot era and slaters, then we refuse consort with such people, \ withdraw ourselves from their 1 fiucnce. so as not to become theaccomplices and expose oursclto the punishment*.whieh. the C
Newspaper Details
Sheboygan Press
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, US
Wed, Jan 28, 1942
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Muskingum C.
OH, USA 19 Nov 2019
Other Publications Near Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Sheboygan Mercury
Evening Press
Sheboygan Press Telegram
Sheboygan Press
Sheboygan Evening Press
