1. Lothar Kreyssig was the only German judge who attempted to stop the mass-murder of persons deemed "unworthy of living" under the Aktion T4 "involuntary euthanasia" program, an intervention that cost him his job.
21 Facts About Lothar Kreyssig
1. 2.
Lothar Ernst Paul Kreyssig was born in Floha, Saxony, the son of a businessman and grain merchant.
3.
Lothar Kreyssig set aside his education and enlisted in the army in 1916 during the First World War.
4.
In 1933, Kreyssig was pressured to join the Nazi party, but refused, citing his need for judicial independence.
5.
Lothar Kreyssig was still able to work in his profession and in 1937, he was transferred to Brandenburg an der Havel to the lower district court.
6.
Lothar Kreyssig bought an estate in nearby Havelsee, where he practiced biodynamic farming.
7.
Lothar Kreyssig reported his suspicions in a letter to Minister of Justice Franz Gurtner, dated July 8,1940.
8.
Lothar Kreyssig addressed the disenfranchisement of prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, making all his arguments on firm legal grounds.
9.
Lothar Kreyssig then filed a charge against Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler for murder.
10.
Lothar Kreyssig filed an injunction against the institutions in which he had housed his wards, prohibiting them from transferring the wards without his consent.
11.
On 13 November 1940 Lothar Kreyssig was summoned by Gurtner, who laid before Lothar Kreyssig Hitler's personal letter that had started the euthanasia program and which constituted the sole legal basis for it.
12.
Lothar Kreyssig replied, "The Fuhrer's word does not create a right," clearly signifying that he did not recognize this as a legal right.
13.
Lothar Kreyssig then devoted himself to organic farming and church work.
14.
Lothar Kreyssig hid two Jewish women on his property until the end of the war.
15.
Lothar Kreyssig espoused an ecumenism of Christians, but one that would include Judaism.
16.
Lothar Kreyssig turned against the Wiederbewaffnung and rejected the division of Germany into two countries.
17.
Lothar Kreyssig established church institutions and programs, such as the Protestant Academy of the Church Province of Saxony, and a hotline.
18.
Lothar Kreyssig founded the Aktionsgemeinschaft fur die Hungernden, a communal action to combat hunger, which was a precursor of the NGO Action for World Solidarity.
19.
Lothar Kreyssig called for the founding of this action in 1958, saying that young Germans should go to former enemy countries and to Israel to ask for forgiveness and show, by volunteering to do good deeds to atone for the bombing and crimes of World War II and the Nazi regime, to show signs of atonement, to work toward reconciliation, and for peace.
20.
Lothar Kreyssig lived in a nursing home from 1977 in Bergisch Gladbach until his death in 1986.
21.
Lothar and Johanna Kreyssig were recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2016.