Arnstein Monastery on the Lahn was the first settlement of the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts in Germany. After this settlement, the fathers in Germany were called ‘Arnstein Fathers’.
In 1941, the superior, Father Alfons Spix, was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Dachau concentration camp. The reason: forbidden pastoral care for Polish forced labourers. He died in the Dachau concentration camp on 9 August 1942.
All the dead were cremated. If the family wanted the ashes of a deceased person, ashes and bone fragments were simply swept up from the floor of the crematorium and placed in the urn.
The grave cross in the Arnstein monastery cemetery bears the name of Father Alfons Spix, but the urn from Dachau contains the ashes and bone fragments of other prisoners. That is why the grave is a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
Since Sunday, 10 August 2025, these victims have been visible and are remembered and honoured: a memorial stele was inaugurated at the grave of Father Spix.
‘Only when the victims are forgotten have the perpetrators won!’ The stele ensures that the victims are not forgotten and serves as a reminder of the atrocities of the Nazi dictatorship.
Stefan Diefenbach
09/01/2025