Sister Maria Restituta Kafka was a Catholic nun and a nurse who defied the Nazi regime and was eventually detained and executed by the guillotine inside of a German prison. She was offered numerous chances to avoid the guillotine by offering to leave her convent or agree to remain silent about the Nazi atrocities, but she stayed firm in her beliefs.
Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1998.
An amazing and courageous story:
December 10, 2022 at 2:03 am
I’m having trouble believing that this story is entirely true. It’s all rather kafka-esk
February 4, 2023 at 1:01 pm
Pearl: You may wish to read up on Sophie and Hans Scholl of the White Rose group and their fate.
February 5, 2023 at 4:52 pm
Pearl, Sister’s story is still told in America by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity.
Real person, real story
February 19, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Until recently I never knew that Hitler used the guillotine, primarily for political opponents. Hitler thought it was an ignominious way to die and supposedly more people died that way during the Third Reich than during the French Revolution. Hitler was proud of the man in charge of these executions, because he carried them out with speed and efficiency. The German enthusiasm for such characteristics also showed in the praise of the “efficiency” of Auschwitz, another shame of watching a German trait twisted into a horror.
As for Kafka-esque, I would say everything in the Third Reich was that way, not simply these executions.