Education
University of Wrocław.
University of Wrocław.
Gerhard Hirschfeld was a German Catholic priest and martyr, beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Hirschfelder was ordained a priest in 1932. He worked with German youth and discouraged them from joining the Hitler Youth and from being influenced by Nazi propaganda.
In 1941, he said: "He who tears from the heart of young people their faith in Christ is a criminal", and was arrested a few days later.
Sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, he died of illness and hunger aged 35.
He criticized Nazism in his sermons and was denounced.
Quotations: "He who tears from the heart of young people their faith in Christ is a criminal".