Contemporary Church History Quarterly

Volume 32, Number 1 (Spring 2026)

Review of Bauer, M. Sigram, Alban Buckel, Dominicus M. Maier et. al. Gestapo-Klostersturm im Hochsauerland. Texte zur Auflösung der missionsbeneditinischen Niederlassungen in Meschede und Olpe. Norderstedt: BoD, 2020.

By Martina Cucchiara, Bluffton University

This volume is the third in a projected four-part series on the Klostersturm (storming of the cloisters) in the archdiocese of Paderborn in Nazi Germany. Upon completion, the series will document in detail eight Catholic cloisters in the archdiocese that were closed and confiscated by the Gestapo between 1939 and 1941. The third and most recent volume focuses on the dissolution of the missionary Benedictine communities in the Sauerland: the Benediktinerkloster Königsmünster in Meschede and the Missions-Benediktinerinnen von Tutzing in Olpe. Divided into two parts, the book opens with Peter Bürger’s analysis and overview of the histories of the two religious communities. It is followed by a documentary section that brings together primary sources, personal testimonies, and previously published studies on the Benedictines in Meschede and Olpe as well as on the Klostersturm more broadly. Seeking to provide foundational material to scholars, the volume and series will mainly be of interest to scholars specializing in the history of the Catholic Church under Nazism.

Researchers and readers new to the topic will appreciate Bürger’s two introductory chapters, in which he situates the volume within the regime’s broader campaign against religious institutions. Repressive measures included the currency and morality trials, the closure of schools and novitiates, and the compulsory use of church properties during World War II. Continue reading →