Dr. Anton Koperek

Anton Koperek was born in Essen an der Ruhr, near Cologne, into a poor, large family of miners. After elementary school, he attended the high school run by the Steyler Missionaries and graduated in 1923 in Kempen am Rhein. After a brief stay at the St. Gabriel Mission Seminary in Mödling, he entered the seminary of the Diocese of Gurk in Klagenfurt and was finally ordained a priest on June 17, 1928.

Following his ordination, Anton Koperek served as an assistant pastor (curate) in the parishes of Markt Griffen, Pörtschach am See, Arnoldstein, Greifenburg, Villach-St. Martin, St. Veit an der Glan, St. Stefan am Krappfeld, and St. Andrä im Lavanttal. In 1931, he earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Graz, and in 1935, a doctorate in law. In 1937, he became the acting pastor of the parish of Kreuzen. In 1938, Anton Koperek witnessed the downfall of a free and independent Austria with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht. In 1940, he finally became the pastor of Kreuzen.

By 1940, Anton Koperek was already under the Gestapo’s scrutiny. The Kreuzen rectory was first searched on March 11, 1940. During a subsequent search on March 17, 1940, the flag of the former Catholic Youth Association and various pieces of correspondence were confiscated.

A more serious confrontation occurred two years later when Anton Koperek, who was fluent in Polish, provided pastoral care to Polish prisoners of war. As a result, he was summoned by the Gestapo to Villach on May 11, 1942. There, among other things, he was accused of leading children into the church in a closed group after school to hold a children’s pastoral care session. To this end, he is alleged to have intercepted the children on the street and influenced them with candy and home visits. Furthermore, he is accused of writing letters on behalf of Catholic Poles and holding children’s pastoral care sessions in a private home. He was released that same day.

On May 28, 1942, Anton Koperek was finally arrested by the Gestapo and taken via Villach to Klagenfurt. On July 11, 1942, he was deported to the Dachau concentration camp. A trial never took place.

Shortly thereafter, on November 10, 1942, Anton Koperek died at the Dachau concentration camp as a result of mistreatment, dropsy, dysentery, and starvation. The official cause of death was listed as “intestinal catarrh.” He was cremated, and his urn was interred at the cemetery in Kreuzen on March 28, 1942.