Franz Jägerstätter

Franz Jägerstätter (May 20 1907 &mdash; 9 August 1943) (born as Franz Huber) was an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II and has been declared Blessed by the Roman Catholic Church. As in most countries at the time, refusal to serve mandatory military service in war time was a criminal offense in Germany, and Jägerstätter was sentenced to death and executed.

Life
Franz Jägerstätter (in English also spelt Franz Jaegerstaetter) was born in Sankt Radegund, Austria, a small village near Salzburg and Braunau am Inn. He was the illegitimate child of Rosalia Huber and Franz Bachmeier. He was first brought up by his grandmother, Elisabeth Huber. Franz's natural father was killed in World War I when he was still a child, and when his mother married, Franz was adopted by her husband, Heinrich Jägerstätter.

In his youth, Franz had gained a reputation for being a wild fellow, but, in general, his daily life was like that of most Austrian peasants. In 1933, he fathered an out of wedlock daughter, Hildegard Auer.

In 1936, he married Franziska Schwaninger, a girl from a nearby village, and they went to Rome on their honeymoon. A Catholic by birth, he experienced a religious awakening - apparently about the time of his marriage – and later served as sexton of his parish church.

When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Jägerstätter was the only person in the village to vote against the Anschluss. Although he was not involved with any political organization, and did undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi, and publicly declared he would not fight in the war.

After many delays, Jägerstätter was called to active duty in February, 1943. By this time, he had three daughters with his wife, the eldest not quite six. He maintained his position against fighting for the Third Reich, and was imprisoned, first at Linz, then at Berlin. After a military trial, he was sentenced to death and subsequently executed by guillotine on August 9, 1943, aged 36.

Beatification
In June 2007 Pope Benedict XVI authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to publish a decree that declares Jägerstätter a martyr. With its publication the process of beatification was completed. The beatification ceremony took place on October 26, 2007 in Linz. The ceremony was attended by his 94 year old widow, Franziska, and his four daughters.

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, said in the beatification sermon that Jägerstätter served as a model for Christians today who sometimes are confronted with "conditioning and manipulation of consciences and minds, sometimes through deceitful means." .

In literature
American sociologist Gordon Zahn wrote Jägerstätter's biography, In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter (1964). Zahn happened upon the story while researching his book German Catholics and Hitler's Wars in 1956 and became entranced with Jägerstätter's ultimate commitment to his faith and conscience, subsequently engaging in extensive research and interviews for the biography.

Israeli playwright Yehoshua Sobol based his play Eyewitness (2002) on Jägerstätter's story. It premiered in 2002 in a production by Tel Aviv's Cameri Theater, and has been performed abroad, titled "iWitness" (Hebrew: עד ראייה; lit. "eyewitness"). In the spring of 2004, an excerpt of the play was presented in the Cameri Theatre's symposium on "The Holocaust in Theatre."