Franz Jagerstatter: Letters and Writings from Prison

Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer, a devoted husband and father, and a devout Catholic, was executed in 1943 as a result of his refusal to serve in the Nazi army. Before taking this stand Jägerstätter consulted both his pastor and his local bishop, who instructed him to do his duty to the fatherland and to obey the law, an instruction that violated his conscience. For many years Jägerstätter's solitary witness was honored by the Catholic peace movement, while viewed with discomfort by ...