Edmund (Josef) Pontiller OSB
Personalia
Order Name:
Born:
Died:
Profession:
Persecution:
Escape 1938,
Imprisoned 20.05.1944 - 09.02.1945,
Murdered on 09.02.1945
Honors:
Decoration of Honor for Services to the Liberation of Austria (awarded posthumously)
Memberships
Curriculum Vitae
Josef Pontiller was born in Dölsach as the eldest of five children, the son of the cooper and weaver Josef Pontiller and his wife Anna. After attending elementary school, he transferred to the Benedictine Oblate School in Volders. On September 24, 1912, Josef Pontiller joined the Benedictine order and was given the name Edmund. He took his solemn vows on July 22, 1916 and was ordained a priest in the same year. He then completed his theological studies and became involved in the pastoral care of young people, including as spiritual leader of the Catholic Youth in East and North Tyrol.
In 1923, Edmund Pontiller became prefect of the Agricultural Apprentice Institute in Kirchschletten near Bamberg in Upper Franconia, but returned to Innsbruck in 1928 and became rector of the study convict at St. John's Church on the Innrain. In 1930, he returned to pastoral care in Upper Franconia.
There, he also witnessed Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. A staunch opponent of National Socialism, he did not hold back his opinions and also expressed them in his sermons. He was therefore arrested by the Gestapo in October 1936 for pulpit abuse. He was warned shortly beforehand and was able to flee to Austria. In Austria, Edmund Pontiller became a temporary priest at the Lambach Benedictine Abbey and worked at the Holy Trinity Church in Stadl-Paura. In February 1938, he took over the leadership of the Marian Congregation.
After the occupation of Austria by the Third Reich, he was immediately banned from youth and preaching and was interrogated by the Gestapo. With his arrest also imminent, he fled to the Bakenybel monastery in Hungary on September 17, 1938; it was not possible for him to flee to Switzerland. In Hungary, he became house chaplain to Princess Stephanie of Belgium and to Baron Biedermann at Szentegat Castle near Szigotvar.
Under pressure from the Arrow Cross in Hungary, Edmund Pontiller was arrested by the Gestapo at Szentegat Castle in May 1944 and transferred to the Vienna I Regional Court on May 20, 1944. On October 14, 1944, he was sent on to Salzburg and finally to Berlin, where he was tried before the People's Court on December 15, 1944, presided over by President Roland Freisler. Edmund Pointiller was charged with the following offenses: Fleeing to Hungary, currency deportation, broadcasting crimes, homosexuality and correspondence with the Abbot of Pannonhalma, in which he criticized National Socialism.
Your Excellency, Most Reverend Archabbot,
Despite the sad state of affairs, time is passing quickly and we are already on the eve of a lovely Christmas and the beginning of a new year.
I do not want to fail to wish Your Excellency a very blessed and gracious Christmas, as well as God's help and protection in the new year.
The European war has now been turned into a world war in the literal sense of the word by the dark forces. The Christmas bells will therefore also be able to be heralds of peace in our hearts this year, but not of world peace. The slaughter and murder will continue; indeed, it will perhaps reach a certain climax in the coming year. In addition, there is bitterest hardship everywhere.
From my homeland I am told of bitter physical hardship but even more bitter emotional hardship. Hitler knows no mercy for his people. He believes he has the right to drag the whole of Europe into the abyss with him. I hear from the monastic world that many abbots are dying. Some in concentration camps, such as the Cistercian abbot of Wilhering near Linz [note: Abbot Bernhard Burgstaller, SOCist, starved to death in Anrath prison], others in distant hospitals. Old religious are killed as unproductive and burned. Their ashes can be obtained for 4 marks. The abbey churches and monasteries are literally looted. Even the miraculous images of the Mother of God are being tampered with, as in Lambach Abbey, where a few weeks ago the statue of the Mother of God, which for centuries had been the focal point of all the oppressed and afflicted, was removed. The people protested, cried, literally screamed in agitation; but it didn't help; the all-powerful Gestapo continued to plunder and rob in the hinterland. But outside, at the front, the best of the people, the young religious and priests, the Catholic academics and fathers of families were falling. What should be left? Only a huge pile of rubble and nameless misery. Stalin, it is reported, at least stopped his persecution of Christians during the war; Hitler, however, is now taking the fight against the Church to extremes. There are still Catholics, even Catholic priests, who still sprinkle incense on this Nero on the German throne, defend him and present his persecution of Christians as harmless.
In contrast, God has provided me with a safe place so far! How have I earned that? What should I thank him for? But I will submit myself to God's providence, I will speak with all my heart: Lord, your will be done, and I have firm trust in God's intervention at the right time.
Sincerely, Your Excellency
J. Pontiller
Edmund Pontiller is sentenced to death at the trial for draft evasion.
At the People's Court I was sentenced to death for Wehrmachtzersetzung. I have only one answer to this announcement: Lord, your will be done! Being a priest means being a victim! Today I have to be one in the truest sense of the word. I want to sacrifice my life for the great concerns of the time and also of my monastery. I hope for a merciful judgment from God's mercy. I forgive everyone and everything and hope that God will forgive my sins and mistakes.
Farewell now to my eternal home! Please pray and pray for a Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!
P. Edmund
His mortal remains are buried in Munich. In 1964, they were exhumed and buried in Niederaltaich.
Places
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Citations
- Mikrut, Jan (2000): Blutzeugen des Glaubens. Martyrologium des 20. Jahrhunderts. Band 3 (Wien), p. 88–105.
