Albert Maring

Albert Maring SJ (6 April 1883 – 8 April 1943) was a German Roman Catholic priest and theologian.

Biography

Albert Maring was born in Koblenz, the son of a merchant. On April 23, 1901, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Feldkirch, Austria. From 1902 he went to Exaeten (Netherlands) to the juniorate. During the philosophy studies in Valkenburg his natural scientific talent became apparent. In Copenhagen, under the guidance of the physicist Martin Knudsen and his assistant Niels Bohr, he earned a master's degree. The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn awarded him a doctorate in 1928.

After his ordination to the priesthood, he held religious lectures for high school students in Oberdörnbachshof (Schwarzbach) in 1934, which was reported by informers. In June 1935, the state police for the administrative district of Münster stated that Maring, who lived in Münster, was a danger to the youth who were now to be educated in the "spirit of paganism".

Alongside Friedrich Muckermann, Maring published the periodical Der Gral. Monatszeitschrift für Dichtung und Leben. Since 1930, the Jesuits had dealt with the ideology of National Socialism. Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office, recognized Maring as one of the main opponents of the system. Muckermann was able to flee to the Netherlands in time. After thorough preparations, the Gestapo arrested Maring in Lübeck for "activities hostile to the state and treasonous to the country." On February 8, 1941, he was transferred to the Münster police prison, where he joined August Benninghaus, who had also been arrested. After a stopover in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp in the priests' block on June 18, 1942. "Since it is not to be expected that Maring will change his anti-state attitude, he is transferred to the concentration camp."

Weakened by lack of nutrition and camp diseases, Albert Maring died in the infirmary on April 8, 1943.

In 1999, the Catholic Church included Albert Maring in the German Martyrology of the 20th Century as a witness to the faith.

Works

• Untersuchungen über das Spektrum des Eisenlichtbogens bei vermindertem Druck im Gebiet 2270–3900 Ångström (1928)
• Deutsches Volk und christliches Sittengesetz (1934)
• Der Gott der Deutschgläubigen und unser Gott (1934)
• Der Weltendom und sein Bauherr: Ein Blick in d. Bauhütte d. Weltalls (1939)
• Feste und Gedenktage der Kirche: Besinnliche Lesungen auf d. Festtage d. Kirchenjahres (1940)

References

• Christian Frieling, Priester aus dem Bistum Münster im KZ. 38 Biographien. Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung (1992), pp. 130–33.
• Joachim Kuropka, ed., Meldungen aus Münster: 1924-1944. Geheime und vertrauliche Berichte von Polizei, Gestapo, NSDAP und ihren Gliederungen, staatlicher Verwaltung, Gerichtsbarkeit und Wehrmacht über die politische und gesellschaftliche Situation in Münster. Münster (1992).
• Helmut Moll, ed., Zeugen für Christus. Das deutsche Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. Paderborn (1999), pp. 960–63.
• Hermann Rieke-Benninghaus, P. August Benninghaus SJ – Märtyrer aus Druchhorn. Dinklage (2005).
• Hermann Rieke-Benninghaus, Zeugen für den Glauben. Verlag Hermann Rieke-Benninghaus. Dinklage (2005).
• Hans-Karl Seeger, Gabriele Latzel and Christa Bockholt, ed., Otto Pies und Karl Leisner: Freundschaft in der Hölle des KZ Dachau. Sprockhövel: Verlag Dr. Pies (2007).