The photo for this post conveys a remarkable story of oppression and resistance.
Eighty-four years ago in 1941, Nazi authorities evicted Fr. Viktor and his brethren from their monastery in Schwarzenfeld. They expected him to leave town—and return home to America, abandoning his mission to sow Passionist spirituality on German soil. The American missionary had other plans.
“Our orders were to leave in a few days… we refused to go until the police came and gave us orders to be out in about an hour’s time. They assigned rooms for us in the town. We, however, moved into the sacristy…
“This room was about one meter (three feet) wide at one end and a little over two meters at the other end. After taking all necessary measurements, we found this room could be made livable for us, being a little over four meters long. There were two small windows about 1 1/2 feet by 2 feet in size. The bed would have to be narrowed so as to be able to get into the room. There was sufficient room for a chair, a bed, and a stairway that had to be built very steep. The bed was placed under the stairway…
“In a few weeks we had installed ourselves in what we considered as palace rooms, but when the Bishop saw the room where I was living, he called it a hole, worse than anything even found in a jail.”
—Fr. Viktor Koch, SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome (September 26, 1946).
In short, Fr. Viktor Koch fell back on a time-honored practice in the States. He protested the eviction with a sit-in that would last until the arrival of American troops in April 1945. The photo for this post shows the sacristy—a room the size of a walk-in closet—that Fr. Viktor claimed as his abode. Fellow Passionist Fr. Paul Böhminghaus (the priest standing in the background) lived in the room above.
This act of peaceful protest stunned his parishioners. Consider that these people lived in a time and culture where authorities issued orders, and those orders were obeyed without question. Seeing a revered religious leader defy the Nazis was a revelation—one that affected them in profound ways.
Useful reminders
This post is part of a month-long series celebrating historical events that contributed to my debut historical fiction novel, The Sower of Black Field. Visit the “Latest News” area on my website for a recap »
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