Alfred Delp facts for kids

Father Alfred Delp was an influential member of the Kreisau Circle - one of the German Resistance groups operating inside Nazi Germany.

Alfred Friedrich Delp was a German Jesuit priest and thinker. He was part of the German Resistance movement against the Nazis. He belonged to the Kreisau Circle, a secret group that planned for a better Germany. Delp is seen as an important figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. He was wrongly linked to the failed July Plot in 1944, which was an attempt to overthrow Adolf Hitler. Delp was arrested, sentenced to death, and executed in 1945.

Growing Up and School

Alfred Delp was born in Mannheim, a city in Germany, on September 15, 1907. His mother, Maria, was Catholic, and his father, Johann, was Protestant. Alfred was baptized as a Catholic. However, he went to a Protestant school and was confirmed in the Lutheran church in 1921. This was because his grandmother on his father's side influenced him.

After a disagreement with the Lutheran pastor, he decided to fully join the Catholic Church. He received his First Communion and Confirmation there. His Catholic priest noticed how smart he was and how much he loved learning. The priest helped him get into a good school called the Goetheschule in Dieburg. Because he grew up with both Catholic and Protestant influences, he later strongly believed that the different churches should get along better.

After finishing school at the top of his class, Delp joined the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1926. The Jesuits are a group of Catholic priests and brothers. He studied philosophy in Pullach, Germany. Then, he worked for three years as a teacher at a Jesuit school called Stella Matutina Kolleg in Feldkirch, Austria.

In 1933, he saw how the Nazi government affected people. The Nazis made it very hard for German students to study in Austria. They charged a huge fee of 1000 Mark for anyone entering Austria. This forced almost all German students to leave Austria, including those at Stella Matutina. Delp and other teachers helped open a new school, Kolleg St. Blasien, in the Black Forest for these students. After this, he continued his studies in theology in the Netherlands and Frankfurt.

His Work as a Priest

In 1935, Delp wrote a book called Tragic Existence. In it, he talked about how humans are important because they are created by God. He also looked at the ideas of another philosopher, Martin Heidegger. In 1937, Alfred Delp became a Catholic priest in Munich. He wanted to get a special degree in philosophy from the University of Munich. But the university refused him because of his political views against the Nazis.

Starting in 1939, he worked as an editor for a Jesuit magazine called Stimmen der Zeit ("Voices of the Times"). The Nazis shut down this magazine in April 1941. After that, he became the leader of St. Georg Church in Munich. He preached at two churches, Heilig-Blut and St. Georg. He also secretly helped Jews escape to Switzerland through an underground network.

Joining the Resistance

The Jesuits who openly spoke out against the Nazis faced harsh punishments. Many priests were sent to concentration camps. The government also took over church properties, like the building where Stimmen der Zeit was published. This limited the work of the Jesuits in Germany. Delp's superior in Munich, Augustin Rösch, became active in the secret resistance against Hitler.

Rösch introduced Delp to the Kreisau Circle. This was a secret group of people who met regularly starting in 1942. They wanted to plan a new and better society for Germany after the Nazi rule ended. Delp's job was to explain Catholic social teaching to the group. He also helped connect the group's leader, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, with important Catholic leaders. These included Archbishop Konrad von Preysing of Berlin.

Arrest and Trial

On July 20, 1944, a plot to kill Hitler failed. After this, a special police force called the Gestapo arrested and questioned everyone known to be part of the Resistance. Alfred Delp was arrested in Munich on July 28, 1944. This was eight days after the attempt on Hitler's life. He was not directly involved in the plot itself.

Delp was taken to Tegel Prison in Berlin. While in prison, he secretly held Mass (a Catholic church service). He also wrote letters and thoughts about Advent and Christmas. These writings were secretly taken out of the prison before his trial. On December 8, 1944, a Jesuit priest visited Delp. This priest was sent by Delp's superior to receive Delp's final promises to the Jesuit Order. This was supposedly forbidden, but the police guarding him did not understand what was happening. Delp wrote that day, "It was too much, what a fulfillment, I prayed for it so much, I gave my life away. My chains are now without any meaning, because God found me worthy of the 'Vincula amoris' (chains of love)."

Delp was put on trial with Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Franz Sperr, and Eugen Gerstenmaier. The trial took place before the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) from January 9 to 11, 1945. The judge was Roland Freisler. Delp, von Moltke, and Sperr were sentenced to death by hanging. They were found guilty of high treason and treason. The court dropped the charge that Delp knew about the July 20 plot. However, his involvement with the Kreisau Circle, his work as a Jesuit priest, and his Christian beliefs were enough to seal his fate.

Execution

While Delp was in prison, the Gestapo offered him freedom. All he had to do was leave the Jesuits. But he refused this offer. Delp, like all prisoners connected to the July 20 plot, had to wear handcuffs day and night. Prisoners being taken to be executed had their hands cuffed behind their backs.

Alfred Delp was executed on February 2, 1945, at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. The very next day, Judge Roland Freisler was killed in an air-raid. A special order from Heinrich Himmler said that the bodies of all prisoners executed for the July 20 Plot must be burned. Their ashes were then to be scattered over sewage fields. So, Alfred Delp's body was cremated, and his ashes were disposed of in an unknown place near Berlin.

Honored After His Death

In September 1949, a priest named Otto Faller unveiled memorial plaques for Delp and Alois Grimm at Kolleg St. Blasien. Both men had been teachers there and were killed by the Nazis. Thirty years later, Kolleg St. Blasien named its new theater hall after Delp. The Alfred Delp Memorial Chapel in Lampertheim was opened on February 2, 1965, exactly 20 years after his death.

Many schools in Germany are named after Alfred Delp, including one in Bremerhaven. In Mannheim, a Catholic student home is named for him. A guesthouse at Canisius College in Berlin also bears his name. In Dieburg, a school, a Catholic community center, and a street are named after him. The German army, the Bundeswehr, named its barracks in Donauwörth the Alfred-Delp-Kaserne. In 1955, a street in Munich-Bogenhausen was renamed Delpstrasse.

Delp's name is also on a list of almost 900 Catholics who died violently for their Christian faith. This list was published in 1999 as Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th century.

Beatification Process

Delp's last church in Munich sent documents to the Archbishop of Berlin in January 1990. These documents supported starting the official process to declare him a saint (beatification).

His Writings

Delp's book In the Face of Death was published in 1956. It contains his thoughts, notes, parts of his diary, and letters. He wrote these during his six months in prison. This book has been compared to Letters and Papers from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, another famous resistance figure. Delp's book is the first part of a series that includes Committed to the Earth and The Mighty God. The American version of his Prison Meditations (1963) had an introduction by Thomas Merton. Merton thought Delp was a deep thinker and one of the most insightful writers of his time.

Delp is best known for the writings that were secretly taken out of prison. Because he was imprisoned during the Christmas season, many of these writings are about Advent and the coming of Jesus. In one of his last letters, Delp wrote, "...all of life is Advent." Many Christians still read and are inspired by Delp's life and his powerful message.

Quotes

• God does not need great feelings or great works. He needs great hearts. He cannot work with nothing.
• It is the time of planting, not of gathering. God is planting; one day He will gather again. I will try to do one thing. I will try to at least be a healthy and good seed, falling into the soil. And into the Lord God's hand.
• Whoever does not have the courage to make history, becomes its poor object. Let's do it!
• If there was a little more light and truth in the world through one human being, his life has had meaning.
• In half an hour, I'll know more than you do.
• Someday, others shall be able to live better and happier lives because we died.

See Also

• Jesuits and Nazi Germany