Peter August Blandénier OFMConv

Photo von Peter August Blandénier — Peter August Blandénier
Image: Gelsenzentrum.de

Personalia

Born:

November 19, 1905, Gelsenkirchen

Died:

April 20, 1941, Dachau concentration camp

Profession:

Priest

Persecution:

Imprisonment 31.03.1939 - 20.12.1939,
Imprisonment 04.03.1940 - 04.05.1940,
Dachau concentration camp 04.05.1940 - 21.04.1941,
Murdered on 21.04.1941

KZ Number:

7203

Memberships

Group Hebra

Curriculum Vitae

Peter August Blandénier was born on 19 November 1905 in Gelsenkirchen in Westphalia in Germany, the son of the traveler August Blandenier and his wife Karoline, née Gantenberg. He attended the Clementinum in Aschaffenburg from 1928-1932 and passed his school-leaving examination at the Münnerstadt Humanist Grammar School on March 22, 1934.

On October 19, 1937, Peter August Blandénier entered the Minorite convent in Asparn an der Zaya in Lower Austria. One year later, on October 19, 1938, he took his vows as a Minorite friar. On November 9, 1938, he enrolled in theology at the University of Vienna. Around the same time, he joined the monarchist resistance group around Wilhelm von Hebra. The Minorites Otto Joseph Pinzenöhler, Beda Land and Franz Hierzer also joined the resistance group. They are introduced by the medical student Karl Alfons von Portele. Together, they planned leaflet campaigns at the Vienna Minorite convent on Alserstraße. However, Beda Land and Franz Hierzer soon withdrew from the group.

Together, they wrote a leaflet signed "Östfrei" (Austria free), but lacked the financial means and time to print it.

Austria is not a part of the German Empire, but a country conquered by lies and violence, held down by tyranny, deprived of all rights, tormented and tortured. We Austrians are distinguished from the other Germans by our history and culture, in spirit and attitude, in character and way of life, and are opposed to the Prussians. We are a nation of our own: the Austrian nation.

Flyer "Östfrei" by the Hebra group from November 1938

The informer Franz Paiha, who had infiltrated the resistance group, provided the Gestapo with the relevant information. At the end of March 1939, the Gestapo struck and arrested around 20 members of the resistance group. Peter August Blandénier was arrested on March 31, 1939 on suspicion of endangering the state and high treason. The members of the Gruppe Hebra are charged before the People's Court.

In July 1939, the responsible ministry in Vienna informs the Rectorate of the University of Vienna of Peter August Blandénier's arrest and requests that a disciplinary investigation be initiated against him at the university and that he be banned from any further enrolment, examination, certification and also from entering the buildings, which is done.

The proceedings against Peter August Blandénier were dropped due to lack of evidence on December 20, 1939 and he was released from prison. However, he was arrested again by the Gestapo on March 4, 1940, as according to Gestapo files "it was to be feared that he would continue to behave in an anti-state manner".