Nazi Catholics were not excommunicated

Originally posted by ivanhoe
There were Roman-Catholics who indeed did obey the Church and opposed the Nazi-regime. They ended up in Hitler's concentration camps where all his opponents ended up. Many of them never returned. You have to keep in mind that Nazi-Germany was not a free and democratic country. People did not have a free choice as we are having now. If you did not obey the r ...[text shortened]... cases you ended up dead. If you have a wife and children to take care off you might think twice.

This might be a nice time to mention Sts. Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
This might be a nice time to mention Sts. Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein.

Absolutely ! Edith Stein, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.


Edith Stein — Convert, Nun, Martyr ( ... mystic ànd philosopher. IvanH. )

by L. Garcia.

"Edith Stein is one of those people whose entire life seems to be a sign. She was born on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, in 1891 in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland), the youngest of eleven children in a devout Jewish family."

" ....... "

"Stein remained in Cologne for five years, participating in the life of the community with great joy while continuing her scholarly work. After the terror of kristallnacht (November 9 1938), the nuns in Cologne feared for Stein’s safety and decided to send her secretly to the Carmel in Echt, the Netherlands. Her sister Rosa later joined her there as a Third Order Carmelite, serving as the convent portress. When Holland fell to the Nazis, Edith and Rosa Stein were in danger again, and plans were made to move them to Switzerland. Before these could be finalized, the Dutch bishops issued an encyclical attacking the anti-Semitic atrocities of the Nazi regime. The Gestapo retaliated immediately by rounding up all Roman Catholic Jews to be sent to the death camps. Edith and Rosa Stein were arrested on August 2, 1942. When Rosa seemed disoriented as they were led away from the convent, Edith gently encouraged her, “Come, Rosa. We go for our people.” The sisters were deported to Auschwitz and executed just a week later. Edith Stein was fifty years old."


http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0001.html

"Edith Stein, saintly Carmelite, profound philosopher and brilliant writer, had a great influence on the women of her time, and is having a growing influence in the intellectual and philosophical circles of today’s Germany and of the whole world. She is an inspiration to all Christians whose heritage is the Cross, and her life was offered for her own Jewish people in their sufferings and persecutions."


http://www.ewtn.com/faith/edith_stein.htm