History Book: Faith over fear

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, March 3rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, the story of an unassuming Austrian farmer who stood up to Hitler.

Franz Jägerstätter was one of more than a million Austrian men drafted during World War Two. He reported for duty just like the rest of those million men, but then refused to swear allegiance to Hitler.

EICHER: Jägerstätter was arrested on the spot on March 2nd, 1943. Here’s WORLD correspondent Caleb Welde.

CALEB WELDE: Franz Jägerstätter is more or less neighbors with Hitler. Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” fortress is only an hour from the farm where Jägerstätter lives and works with his wife and three little girls.

NEWSREEL: …While in Vienna, Austria’s Nazi leader watches a gigantic parade.

When the war begins, Jägerstätter shows up for the required military training.

ELLSBERG: Jägerstätter was not a pacifist. He was not just in principle against all war…

Robert Ellsberg is editor in chief at Orbis Books which published Jägerstätter's later prison letters in 2009. He says Jägerstätter goes voluntarily.

ELLSBURG: It was only when he was really faced directly with the question of the implication of accepting induction and making this oath to Hitler.

The oath reads, in part: “I swear by God, this holy oath, that I shall render unconditional obedience to the Leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler.” Jägerstätter says to take that oath would be, at minimum, a lie.

FRANZ: Who can serve two masters? When we Catholics fight, sacrifice, and work for the National Socialist victory, then it seems to me to be entirely impossible that we would find God granting our prayers for peace, for in our actions we are doing the exact opposite of what we are praying for.

Jägerstätter knows he might face prison for his convictions. After his training he'd been allowed to return home to care for the farm.

Franz Jägerstätter in a Wehrmacht uniform Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons

Virtually none of Jägerstätter’s friends support his stand. His wife Fani begs him not to put his life at stake. He struggles with why the Catholic Church initially opposed National Socialism, and now acts indifferent. His priest and bishop explain he’s not responsible for his government’s actions. Jägerstätter isn’t persuaded.

FRANZ: I can never and shall never believe that we Catholics must make ourselves available to do the work of the most evil and dangerous anti-Christian power that has ever existed.

Everyone asks, “How can you do this to your family? They are your first priority.” Jägerstätter points out he will have to leave his family and risk his life either way; either for Hitler, or for Christ. He’s been reading scripture.

FRANZ: Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

In late April, 1943, Jägerstätter gets the letter he’s been dreading, military orders calling him up for duty. He stalls a week, and then shows up, as ordered. He’s able to write his wife a day after he’s arrested for refusing to take the oath.

FRANZ: Dearest wife. Warmest greetings from my new residence. So far it has not been bad.

Fani writes back.

FANI: Much beloved husband. …Writing to you now in your current situation makes me terribly sad. ...I still had a small hope that you would change your decision during your trip because you have compassion for me… May God protect you. See you again. I shall constantly pray for you.

Jägerstätter remains in prison four months while he waits for a verdict from the military court. He and Fani write many letters.

FANI: Greetings in God, most beloved husband. Our little ones have insisted that I write you about them, telling of course only the good things they are doing…

Jägerstätter feels awful he isn’t there to help.

FRANZ: Thanks be to God you again have water. …My dear little ones, I am grateful you think so often about your father and pray for him. Unfortunately, I have not seen the flowers that your mother included in her letter.

The two celebrate Easter apart.

FANI: Your package arrived. The girls are grateful to you for the oranges. They are delighted with them. …”

FRANZ: “Hallelujah! The church rejoices today.” When we submit ourselves fully to God’s will, everything will turn out for the good. May things come about as God wants.

Two weeks after Easter, 1943, without warning, guards usher Jägerstätter onto a train. They’re heading for Tegel Prison in Berlin. A German pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer is also here. Bonhoeffer … for more violent resistance. After two months of solitary confinement, Jägerstätter is sentenced to death.

FRANZ: My dearest wife. You need have no heavy heart for me. Do not forget me in your prayers as I am not forgetting you.

He continues writing, and not just letters. He fills a notebook with hundreds of meaningful scripture passages and personal reflections on the Christian Life.

Five days later, Jägerstätter is ushered out of his cell into a room where his wife and local priest are waiting for him. Jägerstätter’s court-appointed defence attorney has arranged the meeting. He presents Jägerstätter a paper. Sign it, agree to serve the Fatherland, and he’s free. Jägerstätter refuses. Fani had made up her mind several months before she would stand with her husband. She writes him on the way back to the farm.

FANI: I hope that with God’s help everything will be made right. I’ll surely pray a great deal for you, and please do not lose heart…

The day his execution arrives, a priest administers final rites and reports later that Jägerstätter died at peace, even as he was beheaded, on August 9th, 1943.

In 2020 the Vatican released documents that showed that, beginning in 1939, the Pope had been secretly negotiating with Hitler. German Catholic bishops criticised the behaviour of their predecessors under the Nazis, admitting that the church did not do enough to oppose the war or the crimes the regime committed.

2020 was also the year Terrence Malick released a film he called “A Hidden Life.”

FRANZ: I can’t swear loyalty to Hitler.

NAZI: Do you think your defiance will have changed the course of things?

FRANZ: I can’t do what I believe is wrong.

Malik’s film won many award, introducing a quiet man of conviction to a worldwide audience. But for Franz Jägerstätter, his act of bravery was not for recognition. He prayed his life would be a testament of faith:

FRANZ: We are fortunate when we experience a little joy in this world. But what are the short moments of joy in this world in relation to that which Jesus has promised us in his kingdom? ‘No eye has seen nor ear heard and no human heart has grasped … what God has prepared for those who love him.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. Franz and Fani’s letters come from the book titled, Franz Jägerstätter : Letters and Writings from Prison … I’m Caleb Welde.

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