Bernhard Schwentner

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Bernhard Schwentner (1891–1944) was a German Catholic priest. He was born in Schwerin and studied in Münster and Osnabrück, being ordained in 1914. He worked in Hamburg as a vicar and teacher, and served as a chaplain in World War I, including front duty from 1917 to 1918. After the war he studied in Rome and earned a doctorate in philosophy and canon law. From 1927 he was the priest in Neustrelitz and chaired the Mecklenburg priests’ conference. He opposed the Nazis, but in 1944 he was betrayed to the Gestapo. On 15 September 1944 he was sentenced to death for undermining the troops’ fighting spirit and was executed on 30 October 1944. His ashes were buried in Neustrelitz in 1949. After the war, streets were named after him, and in 1965 a memorial near the Neustrelitz church was built with his urn. The Catholic Church regards him as a martyr.