Bishop Augustin Pacha (1870-1954)
Bishop Augustin Pacha (1870-1954)

The Years of Imprisonment and His Release Shortly before His Death

Summary/Abstract: Augustin Pacha, Bishop of the Diocese of Timisoara, shepherded the Catholics of Banat for over three decades. He lived through the dualist monarchy, the First World War, as well as through the social changes of the interwar period. An enemy to nationalism and socialism, and a supporter of the German Christian Catholic identity of the Swabians in Banat, Pacha was a member of the intellectual elite persecuted and even eliminated by the communists after 1948. Arrested in 1950 and sentenced to prison in 1951 in a show trial, the old bishop was released in the summer of 1954. The communist regime knew he was dying. This decision is interesting in the context of the time and even today, 60 years later.

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