DE | FR | IT | ES | PL | HR | HU | SK
<<Dominikaner über S. Barbara<< | >>M.Gestade über S. Ruprecht>>
Instead of the grandeur of a Ringstraße hotel, one sees a municipal building of the City of Vienna.
During World War II, however, it did not serve as a grand hotel but as the Gestapo headquarters in Vienna. Some may recognize the Hotel Métropole from Stefan Zweig’s Chess Story. It was a place of harrowing interrogations, mistreatment, and the starting point for deportation to a concentration camp or a death cell. A place of terror, which is commemorated here in the square before it.
Among the many prisoners in this building were also Catholic resistance fighters, martyrs of the 20th century.
They have existed in all eras, and in our time, they may be more numerous than ever—confessors of a life that knows no end. We must honor their testimony to make our hope fruitful.
Pope Francis in "Spes non confundit“
Two of them shall be introduced here:
The young father and widower Jakob Kastelic and the seminarian Hanns Georg Heintschel-Heinegg, true witnesses of hope, whose suffering took a dreadful turn right at this place.
The most credible testimony to this hope is given to us by the martyrs, who, in their firm faith in the risen Christ, were able to renounce even their earthly lives rather than betray their Lord.
Dr. Jakob Kastelic
January 4, 1897, Vienna – August 2, 1944, Vienna
Hoffnungszeuge Witness of hope and father of two young boys
Jakob Kastelic was an Austrian resistance fighter against the Nazi regime.
Coming from humble origins, he studied law and was active in politics and the church. After the "Anschluss" in 1938, he lost his job and founded the "Greater Austrian Freedom Movement" in 1939.
In 1940, he was arrested by the Gestapo. During his imprisonment, his wife passed away, and his children were cared for by Anna Hanika, the fiancée of his best friend. In 1944, the People's Court sentenced him to death for high treason. On August 2, 1944, he was executed in Vienna.
Letter from Anna:
Dear Dr. Kastelic, since my last letter, your two dear little boys have grown so much… At the end of every prayer, they say: "Dear Heavenly Father, dear Heavenly Mother, please let our Papa come home soon!"
…But that wish never came true.
His farewell letter, August 2, 1944:
"Take care of my little ones, raise them to be upright and good people. With gratitude, I go strengthened by the grace of God into eternity."
What would I do in such a situation…?
Hanns Georg Heintschel-Heinegg
September 5, 1919, in Kněžice, Czech Republic
† December 5, 1944, in Vienna
hoffnungszeuge, witness of hope, seminarian and poet
Hanns Georg Heintschel-Heinegg was an Austrian resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. After completing his school-leaving exam, he began studying theology, but his studies were interrupted by Austria’s annexation to the Nazi Reich in 1938.
Due to his critical stance against the National Socialists, he was monitored by the authorities and arrested in 1940 as a member of the Austrian Freedom Movement. He spent years in prison under inhumane conditions but remained deeply rooted in his faith. Despite several petitions for clemency, he was executed in Vienna on December 5, 1944. His letters and literary works testify to hope, courage, and spiritual strength.
From a poem written in prison in Krefeld, Germany:
"Come, O Savior, come and comfort,
Hand me the wood of the cross.
For by it we are redeemed,
As it broke the pride of sin."
Komm o Heiland!
(from suno.com)
Well-informed, the pilgrimage of faith continues.
glaubensweg zum Dom | pilgrimage of faith to St Stephen‘s Cathedral
via << Dominikanerkirche & S. Barbara <<
glaubensweg zum Dom | pilgrimage of faith to St Stephen‘s Cathedral
via >> Maria am Gestade & St. Ruprecht >>