BERTRAM, ADOLF
Publié le 22/02/2012
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BERTRAM, ADOLF (1859–1945), Archbishop and Cardinal; leader of the
German Catholic Church during the Republic and the Third Reich. Born to
modest circumstances in Hildesheim (his father owned a fabric shop), he studied
outside of Prussian territory to escape Bismarck's Kulturkampf against Catholicism.
After pursuing theology during 1877–1881, he attended seminary in Munich
and entered the priesthood in 1883. Evolving into a distinguished church
administrator, he was named Bishop in 1906 of his home city, Hildesheim.
Advanced to Archbishop of Breslau in 1914, he received a Cardinal's cap in
1916. As tradition dictated, he became Chairman of the Conference of German
Bishops at the death in 1919 of Felix Cardinal von Hartmann; he retained the
position until his own death.
As Breslau was in eastern Silesia, Bertram was sensitive to the church's exposure
resulting from the severe Polish-German tension of the 1920s. Although
he was respected in the Weimar era for his pastoral skills, his strict political
neutrality—he punished both German and Polish clerics who became outspokenly
nationalistic—was little appreciated. However, the Bishops' Conference
profited from his energy, his encyclopedic knowledge, and his diplomatic skill;
he helped negotiate the Vatican's 1929 concordat with Prussia.* In 1930 he
issued an exhortation asking that Catholics* rebuff fanaticism and distance themselves
from racism. Under his guidance the conference issued a 1932 prohibition
on joining the NSDAP.
Old enough to sustain wounds from the Kulturkampf, Bertram was horrified
when Hitler* seized power. He had once denounced the idea of an Aryanized
church, but he revised his maxim to avoid endangering Catholicism. He insisted
on patience and compromise (he habitually sent Hitler birthday greetings), and
his posture seriously damaged his reputation. When he learned of Hitler's death
in April 1945, he held a requiem mass for the Nazi leader.
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