Józef Berger

Józef Berger (14 March 1901 in Orłowa - 11 June 1962 in Bratislava) was a Polish Lutheran pastor, theologian and politician from the region of Zaolzie, Czechoslovakia. He was a member of the Polish People's Party, a political party active amongst middle-class Lutherans of the Polish minority in interbellum Czechoslovakia.

Józef Berger
Józef Berger
Member of the Silesian Parliament
In office
1938–1939
Personal details
Born(1901-03-14)14 March 1901
Orłowa, Austria-Hungary
Died11 June 1962(1962-06-11) (aged 61)
Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Resting placeRopica
NationalityPolish
Political partyPolish People's Party
Spouse(s)Katarzyna Biela
ChildrenRoman, Janusz, Irena
Alma materUniversity of Warsaw
OccupationTheologian

In 1920 Berger graduated from Juliusz Słowacki Polish Grammar School in Orłowa, and in 1924 from the Theological Faculty of the University of Warsaw, where he studied the Protestant theology.

He was actively engaged in the life of the Polish community in Zaolzie. It was mainly thanks to him that the new Lutheran church was built in 1932 in Czeski Cieszyn.[1] From its foundation in 1922, he was one of the leading activists of the Polish People's Party in Czechoslovakia. After the annexation of Zaolzie region to Poland in 1938, President Ignacy Mościcki named him a deputy of the Silesian Parliament, where Berger was a deputy until the outbreak of World War II.

During the Nazi occupation he was interned in the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps.[1]

From 1945 to 1952, he worked as a pastor at the Lutheran church in Czeski Cieszyn. On 25 June 1950 he was elected a superintendent of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession.[2] In 1952, Berger was designated a professor of systematic theology at the Theological Academy in Modra near Bratislava and moved permanently to Bratislava.

Berger was also active in the tourist and skiing organizations of the Polish minority in Czechoslovakia. In his free time, he also enjoyed painting, covering mostly the landscapes of his native region.

Footnotes
  1. Marcoń, Witold (September 2012). "Sylwetki trzech posłów zaolziańskich do Sejmu Śląskiego w Katowicach". Zwrot: 38–39.
  2. 50. rocznica śmierci ks. superintendenta dr Józefa Bergera at the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession website

References
  • Gawrecki, Dan (2000). "Polské politické strany v Habsburské monarchii a v Československé republice". In Pavel Marek; et al. (eds.). Přehled politického stranictví na území českých zemí a Československa v letech 1861-1998. Olomouc: Katedra politologie a evropských studií FFUP. pp. 238–244. ISBN 80-86200-25-6.
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