Maurice Bavaud: One Swiss Alone Against Hitler

On November 9th, 2008, it will be 70 years since Maurice Bavaud tried to assassinate Hitler in Munich. After prolonged torture, he was murdered by the Nazis on May 14th, 1941, after ‘legal’ proceedings followed by a sentence to death. He was officially rehabilitated by Germany in 1956.

Maurice Bavaud

In his letter to the people and the nation of Switzerland of November, Swiss President Pascal Couchepin reminded his fellow ‘comrades in oath’ (the official term used for all Swiss nationals ‘Eidgenossen’) of Maurice Bavaud. He drew attention to the perspicacity of the then 22 year old in seeing in Adolf Hitler a danger to Humanity, Switzerland, and the Catholic Church. The passage in the text of the President’s speech was taken directly from Bavaud’s statement in the process in Germany leading to his death sentence. His exemplary sacrifice should be remembered and honoured by the nation and the world now and in future times.

Maurice Bavaud was born in 1916 in Neuchâtel, capital in the State and Republic of the same name, a French speaking canton of Switzerland. After finishing technical school in his home city, he entered the seminary at the University of Fribourg in the neighbouring canton to become a Catholic missionary and priest. In October 1938 he travelled to Germany, spending first time in Munich to establish himself as an ardent follower of Hitler and later in Berchtesgaden.

In Berchtesgaden, he tried to gain entry into Hitler’s highly secured retreat. His disguise as a fervent Nazi worked and he was allowed into the grounds, only to find that the Fuhrer had already left earlier that morning. He therefore returned to Munich and made his way to Nuremberg.

He hoped by pretending to be a fanatical follower of the Fuhrer to be accorded a place of honour at the gathering in Nuremberg to commemorate Kristallnacht, in which he succeeded as his contacts meanwhile were considerable. Concealing a pistol in his mantle, he failed to execute the deed due to a too great distance between his seat and Hitler. He was murdered by guillotine in 1941. For all that, he should have been sainted by the Catholic Church a long time ago.

It is a clear sign that the Catholic Church was run by Nazis during and after the Second World War, that he has not been canonised earlier. It is a sign of the present Nazi leadership of the Catholic Church that he has not been amongst the many newly canonised of last month. As the Pope was an active member of Hitler Youth movement, this may hardly surprise though.

Amongst the canonised of the current incumbent on Saint Peter’s chair are the, outside of Venezuela, completely unknown nun Mother Bernarda of Switzerland and the gay Cardinal Newman, a former Church of England vicar. The exclusion of Maurice Bavaud in such proceedings that include unknown and controversial figures has therefore the greatest significance. It is to be hoped that upon the succession to the present popelet a born Christian may be chosen to lead the Catholic Church.

Further reading
Cheating Hermann Goering
The Life of Irmingard Princess of Bavaria
The First Woman Employee at the Vatican