Pöckinger priest was involved in shootings in 1944: does his name come off the street sign?
Created: 06/03/2022, 08:25
Pöcking clears up with his past.
© picture alliance/dpa/Matthias Balk
Auxiliary Bishop Defregger was part of a firing squad in Italy in 1944.
A path is still named after him in the town of Pöcking - that is about to change.
Pöcking – On Whit Monday, the mayor of Pöcking, Rainer Schnitzler, is setting off on a trip to Italy with a municipal council delegation.
In Abruzzo, they want to take part in the commemoration of a massacre committed by German soldiers there on June 7, 78 years ago, which cost the lives of 17 men.
It is linked to a name that adorns a street sign in Pöcking: Matthias Defregger.
Schnitzler has now been the head of the town hall for 20 years.
Until recently, no one was upset about the Auxiliary Bishop Defregger Path, which has been called that since 1997.
Defregger lived in Pöcking in the district of Starnberg as a respected fellow citizen and valued pastor until 1995. Schnitzler still served with him - and he was happy to do so, as he says.
Pöcking: auxiliary bishop was part of a firing squad
The Pöckingers knew that the churchman had a dark spot on his CV.
However, his involvement as a Wehrmacht captain in a firing squad was remembered as follows: Partisans had attacked a German village post during the war, and in retaliation Defregger's passing unit was ordered to liquidate all the male residents of Filetto di Camarda.
Had he resisted, the officer would have been shot too.
By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.
It is the version that the Munich public prosecutor's office used as a basis for dropping their murder investigations against Defregger in 1970.
She took his criminal innocence as proven.
This was preceded by an international scandal after
Der Spiegel
spoke to the bereaved in Filetto in the summer of 1969 and raised the Defregger case to the front page.
When the judiciary filed him, the heated debate fell silent again.
Historian emphasizes: Pöckinger auxiliary bishop was an accomplice
The reference to an alleged emergency order now appears in a new light in view of military-historical research.
Not a single German who refused to be executed - and there were - was "put up against a wall" himself.
For the Italian historian Carlo Gentile, who now teaches in Cologne and who wrote a standard work on war crimes by the Wehrmacht in Italy, one thing is certain: Defregger was at least an accomplice.
At the height of the scandal, the auxiliary bishop justified himself as follows: The events of the war weighed heavily on him, but he could not be accused of anything legally or morally.
After the war, Defregger studied theology and was ordained a priest.
He confessed to his superiors what he had done as a soldier.
However, he stayed away from the survivors of the reprisals throughout his life.
After 1969 he never set foot in Italy again.
Nothing is known of signs of remorse in Filetto.
Pöckinger auxiliary bishop has split off military past
When Schnitzler found out about this background from a newspaper report two years ago, he commissioned the Pöcking-based history professor Marita Krauss to conduct in-depth research.
These essentially confirmed the KNA report.
As a churchman, Defregger completely split off his military past.
This is how the historian interprets her findings.
He maintained intensive contact with his old war comrades.
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In the Pöckinger town hall, people are disappointed that Defregger was not able to make a gesture of reconciliation in Filetto during his lifetime.
The municipal council now wants to make up for this with its trip.
Krauss recently received mail from the Federal President.
Far too little is known in this country about German crimes in Italy, writes Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“But the victims, their descendants and the survivors have a right not to be forgotten.
That's why I thank you and the municipality of Pöcking very much for your important initiative.” It is quite possible that the Auxiliary Bishop Defregger Path will soon be renamed.
Krauss emphasizes that the memory of him will by no means be erased in Pöcking.
From now on, however, he will be remembered as "the double Defregger".
Like in Filetto di Camarda, where he is immortalized on an information board: as a Wehrmacht captain who later became an auxiliary bishop.
- Christoph Renzikowski
You can find more current news from the district of Starnberg at Merkur.de/Starnberg.
