Chief defendant in the 1937 Berlin Catholic trial: Chaplain Dr. Joseph Cornelius Rossaint — book description

Principal defendant in the Berlin Catholic trial of 1937:

“The ‘Sturmscharen’ and Joseph Rossaint became the foremost representatives of the Catholic youth movement. The trial against Rossaint thus became a beacon, and his conduct a source of hope for all of us who were then taking part in the resistance struggle against the state of total barbarism.”

(Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Abendroth on the Catholic trial, Frankfurt am Main, 1982)

In April 1937, one of the most sensational trials of the Nazi dictatorship took place. It has gone down in history as the Berlin Catholic trial. The principal defendant was the 34-year-old chaplain of the Düsseldorf parish church of the Immaculate Conception, Dr. Joseph Rossaint. The event attracted considerable attention in Germany and abroad. For three weeks, the press and radio reported on the show trial staged by Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Dr. Joseph Rossaint's birth, on 5 August 2002, this book appears as the first independent publication devoted to the event.

In the first part, Karl Heinz Jahnke presents the causes, course, outcomes, background and consequences of the trial.

The appendix contains numerous documents. These include reactions from the Catholic Church, entries from Goebbels's diary, Rossaint's notes on the indictment, and demonstrations of solidarity with the defendants from France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Also included are letters and diary entries written between 1937 and 1945 in Lüttringhausen penitentiary.

Prof. Dr. Karl Heinz Jahnke, born in 1934, historian in Rostock.

Principal research fields: anti-fascist resistance, the history of the Nazi regime, youth history and the regional history of Mecklenburg.

Dr. Alexander Rossaint, born in 1945, dentist in Aachen, son of Dr. Alex Rossaint, the brother of Dr. Joseph Rossaint. Arrangement and administration of his uncle's estate.