Peter Lorenz

Born in Vienna to a German father and a Slovakian mother, Peter Lorenz studied theology in Vienna after graduating from high school and joined the student fraternity Nibelungia Wien in 1931.

He faced great difficulties in gaining admission to a seminary. Because of his German nationality, he was rejected by the Hungarian and Slovakian regents of the seminaries in Raab [Györ], Esztergom and Tyrnau [Tmava] on the grounds that "they already had enough 'Swabians'". The Archbishopric of Freiburg/Brsg. also rejected him, the "Hungarian". They therefore recommended that he apply to the archdiocese of Vienna, which accepted every "Krowat". He was ordained a priest in 1935 and initially came to Hainburg a. d. Donau as a vicar.

The Hungarian professor Szabor Szita writes about this rescue operation under the heading "Victory of humanity": "In the municipality of Rohr am Gebirge - located between Höllental and Piestingtal - the local inhabitants gave shelter to 20 Hungarian Jews. Pastor Peter Lorenz was at the forefront of the relief operation." After the war, Peter Lorenz became dean in Pottenstein. A tree was later planted for him in Jerusalem in the Avenue of the Righteous.