ALSATIAN PRIESTS CONSCRIPTED BY FORCE REMEMBER

There are many thoroughly documented works on the forced conscription of young Alsatians and Mosellans by the Nazi authorities in annexed Alsace-Moselle during the war of 1939–45. The particular feature of the present work is that it gathers testimonies from young men who at the time were considering a vocation to the priesthood or religious life — in a seminary, a faculty of theology or at secondary school — and who were conscripted like all the other young men. Born between 1922 and 1928, they shared in every respect the life and ordeals of their comrades on the various battlefields of Europe: the Eastern Front, Russia, Poland, the Tambov camp, Italy, the Balkans, Normandy. Moreover, they frequently had to endure the mockery of the German military authorities on account of their faith and their vocation. After the war, they completed or began their theological training, strengthened by a maturity grounded in that experience of human tribulation. As Bishop Ravel states in his preface: "The poignant account these priests give us must therefore not only be received as a testimony that enriches history, but also as a lesson that sheds light on the abysses our humanity is sometimes capable of generating." The author: Joseph Sifferlen, a priest who was conscripted by force yet remained a member of the Resistance.