Karl Raphael Dorr

Karl Dominik Alois Rudolf Raphael Dorr, his full name, was born the son of a primary school principal. After graduating from high school, he began studying at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Vienna (abs. theol. 1930) and was ordained a priest in Vienna in 1930. He then spent four years as chaplain in Laa/Thaya (Hollabrunn district, Lower Austria) and then in St. Josef ob der Laimgrube (Vienna-Mariahilf) until 1936.

Dorr was very active in Catholic Action (KA). In 1934 he became head of the children's pastoral care and in 1936 of the youth pastoral care of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

In 1936 Dorr was appointed cathedral preacher and cathedral vicar at St. Stephen's as well as head of the Hofburg Chapel, which positions he retained after the Anschluss in March 1938. Together with Karl Rudolf, he wrote the publication "Missionserneuerung", which was published in early 1941 with a print run of 5,000 copies and banned by the National Socialists. As a result, Dorr was banned from the Gau on June 22, 1941, the beginning of the Russian campaign. He then moved first to Tübingen to study at the Faculty of Theology there and was awarded a doctorate in theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Freiburg/Br. In the following years, he lived in Weitingen, where he helped with pastoral care.